Land‐cover classification in the Andes of southern Ecuador using Landsat ETM+ data as a basis for SVAT modelling

Göttlicher, Dietrich; Obregón, André; Homeier, Jürgen; Rollenbeck, Rütger; Nauss, Thomas; Bendix, J.

doi:10.1080/01431160802541531

Cited by 60 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…However, previous research only focused on particular subjects related to land cover and land cover change, with some of them relying only on analysis of one or a few satellite images covering short time periods. These few studies revealed a high degree of deforestation related to topography and road infrastructure [35,41,42]. Other socioeconomic studies from this area found a strong relationship between land cover change and private land tenure systems, cattle ranching, and decrease of local traditional ecological knowledge on plant use [34,36,43].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…In the San Francisco Valley breaching the south-eastern Ecuadorian Andes and its surroundings (refer to Section 2.1), large areas of tropical mountain forest have been cleared, mostly for agricultural expansion of smallholder cattle-ranching [34][35][36][37][38][39]. Since 2002, this location has been the subject of two consecutive multidisciplinary projects that have been investigating the ecosystem functioning and services for sustainable land use management [38,40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land Cover Change in the Andes of Southern Ecuador—Patterns and Drivers

et al. 2015

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Abstract:In the megadiverse tropical mountain forest in the Andes of southern Ecuador, a global biodiversity hotspot, the use of fire to clear land for cattle ranching is leading to the invasion of an aggressive weed, the bracken fern, which is threatening diversity and the provisioning of ecosystem services. To find sustainable land use options adapted to the local situation, a profound knowledge of the long-term spatiotemporal patterns of land cover change and its drivers is necessary, but hitherto lacking. The complex topography and the high cloud frequency make the use of remote sensing in this area a challenge. To deal with these conditions, we pursued specific pre-processing steps before classifying five Landsat scenes from 1975 to 2001. Then, we quantified land cover changes and habitat fragmentation, and we investigated landscape changes in relation to key spatial elements (altitude, slope, and distance from roads). Good classification results were obtained with overall accuracies ranging from 94.5% to 98.5% and Kappa statistics between 0.75 and 0.98. Forest was OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2015, 7 2510 strongly fragmented due to the rapid expansion of the arable frontier and the even more rapid invasion by bracken. Unexpectedly, more bracken-infested areas were converted to pastures than vice versa, a practice that could alleviate pressure on forests if promoted. Road proximity was the most important spatial element determining forest loss, while for bracken the altitudinal range conditioned the degree of invasion in deforested areas. The annual deforestation rate changed notably between periods: ~1.5% from 1975 to 1987, ~0.8% from 1987 to 2000, and finally a very high rate of ~7.5% between 2000 and 2001. We explained these inconstant rates through some specific interrelated local and national political and socioeconomic drivers, namely land use policies, credit and tenure incentives, demography, and in particular, a severe national economic and bank crisis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Cover Change in the Andes of Southern Ecuador—Patterns and Drivers

et al. 2015

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“…and is characterized by steep valleys with an average slope of 63 %. Seven main tributaries feed the San Francisco River, their catchment areas vary in size from 0.7 to 34.9 km 2 and in their land cover, constituted mainly by pristine forest and pastures (Goettlicher et al, 2009). According Timbe et al (2014), who used weekly isotope data, MTT of water in the surficial horizons is on the order of few weeks to months.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Sampling frequency trade-offs in the assessment of mean transit times of tropical montane catchment waters under semi-steady-state conditions

Timbe

Windhorst²,

Célleri

et al. 2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Precipitation event samples and weekly based water samples from streams and soils were collected in a tropical montane cloud forest catchment for 2 years and analyzed for stable water isotopes in order to understand the effect of sampling frequency in the performance of three lumped-parameter distribution functions (exponential-piston flow, linear-piston flow and gamma) which were used to estimate mean transit times of waters. Precipitation data, used as input function for the models, were aggregated to daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and bi-monthly sampling resolutions, while analyzed frequencies for outflows went from weekly to bi-monthly. By using different scenarios involving diverse sampling frequencies, this study reveals that the effect of lowering the sampling frequency depends on the water type. For soil waters, with transit times on the order of few weeks, there was a clear trend of over predictions. In contrast, the trend for stream waters, which have a more damped isotopic signal and mean transit times on the order of 2 to 4 years, was less clear and showed a dependence on the type of model used. The trade-off to coarse data resolutions could potentially lead to misleading conclusions on how water actually moves through the catchment, notwithstanding that these predictions could reach better fitting efficiencies, fewer uncertainties, errors and biases. For both water types an optimal sampling frequency seems to be 1 or at most 2 weeks. The results of our analyses provide information for the planning of future fieldwork in similar Andean or other catchments.

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“…The southern part of the catchment is mainly vegetated by primary forest. In the northern part, the natural forest has been replaced by extensive pastures in parts and is further characterized by a mix of shrubs, reforestation sites and sub-paramo (Göttlicher et al, 2009). Average annual sums of precipitation, for the period 2002 to 2008, amount to 1500 to 4900 mm a −1 with a large spatial variability .…”

Section: Location and Climate Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of elevation and weather patterns on the isotopic composition of precipitation in a tropical montane rainforest

Windhorst¹,

Waltz²,

Timbe

et al. 2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This study presents the spatial and temporal variability of δ 18 O and δ 2 H isotope signatures in precipitation of a south Ecuadorian montane cloud forest catchment (San Francisco catchment). From 2 September to 25 December 2010, event sampling of open rainfall was conducted along an altitudinal transect (1800 to 2800 m a.s.l.) to investigate possible effects of altitude and weather conditions on the isotope signature.The spatial variability is mainly affected by the altitude effect. The event based δ 18 O altitude effect for the study area averages −0.22 ‰ × 100 m −1 (δ 2 H: −1.12 ‰ × 100 m −1 ). The temporal variability is mostly controlled by prevailing air masses. Precipitation during the times of prevailing southeasterly trade winds is significantly enriched in heavy isotopes compared to precipitation during other weather conditions. In the study area, weather during austral winter is commonly controlled by southeasterly trade winds. Since the Amazon Basin contributes large amounts of recycled moisture to these air masses, trade wind-related precipitation is enriched in heavy isotopes. We used deuterium excess to further evaluate the contribution of recycled moisture to precipitation. Analogously to the δ 18 O and δ 2 H values, deuterium excess is significantly higher in trade wind-related precipitation. Consequently, it is assumed that evaporated moisture is responsible for high concentrations of heavy isotopes during austral winter.

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Land‐cover classification in the Andes of southern Ecuador using Landsat ETM+ data as a basis for SVAT modelling

Cited by 60 publications

References 30 publications

Land Cover Change in the Andes of Southern Ecuador—Patterns and Drivers

Land Cover Change in the Andes of Southern Ecuador—Patterns and Drivers

Sampling frequency trade-offs in the assessment of mean transit times of tropical montane catchment waters under semi-steady-state conditions

Impact of elevation and weather patterns on the isotopic composition of precipitation in a tropical montane rainforest

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