Impacts of land use and land cover changes in phytophysiognomies in the atlantic forest

Abstract

We evaluated the landscape of the North and Northwest of Rio de Janeiro, determining changes in forest cover by phytophysiognomy using collection 6 of MapBiomas (1985–2020). We worked in the R environment and QGIS. Among the phytophysiognomies, the Lowland forests showed the greatest area loss until 1985 (93%), becoming highly fragmented and isolated in the landscape. Between 1985 and 2020 the loss of forest was reduced. However, this result is related to the balance of secondary vegetation increase that covers up the losses of mature vegetation, with risks to biodiversity. The main driver of vegetation loss was agriculture, and currently less than 8% of the vegetation is protected. The procrastination in the establishment of conservation units and restoration of permanent protection areas will have serious negative consequences for the conservation of the vegetation in this region.