Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the southern Brazilian Amazon
University of Maryland, College Park · Goddard Space Flight Center · +5 more institutions
Abstract
Intensive mechanized agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon grew by >3.6 million hectares (ha) during 2001-2004. Whether this cropland expansion resulted from intensified use of land previously cleared for cattle ranching or new deforestation has not been quantified and has major implications for future deforestation dynamics, carbon fluxes, forest fragmentation, and other ecosystem services. We combine deforestation maps, field surveys, and satellite-based information on vegetation phenology to characterize the fate of large (>25-ha) clearings as cropland, cattle pasture, or regrowing forest in the years after initial clearing in Mato Grosso, the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate and soybean…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 44.74
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 41
Authors
8- DCDouglas C. Morton
University of Maryland, College Park
- RSRuth S. DeFriesCorresponding
Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park
- YEYosio Edemir Shimabukuro
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
- LOLiana O. Anderson
University of Oxford, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
- EAEgídio Arai
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
Topics & keywords
- Deforestation (computer science)
- Clearing
- Amazon rainforest
- Agroforestry
- Pasture
- Geography
- Land use, land-use change and forestry
- Ecosystem services