Spatiotemporal dynamics of the processes of desertification and natural revegetation in the dry enclave of la Tatacoa, Colombia

Abstract

Soil degradation and diminished production in the desert of La Tatacoa are attributed to both environmental and anthropic factors. This article assesses the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil coverage in a discontinuous period of 23 years (1987-2001-2010), identifying areas of loss and recovery of vegetation. Geometric and radiometric corrections were applied, in addition, a quantitative analysis was performed by applying supervised classification to Landsat images. Spatiotemporal dynamics were identified through change matrices and the Kappa index. Multitemporal analysis showed a decrease in the areas of degraded soils (16.7%) and an increase in vegetal coverage (13.4%), which evinces a recovery process of 124 ha/year. The areas of stable natural vegetation and of greatest positive variation in the vegetal coverage are located to the north, northeast, and east, while the negative variation can be observed in the region adjacent to the Magdalena river. These results serve as the basis for new research on the biotic, abiotic, and socioeconomic factors that have generated the recovery of natural vegetation areas in some sectors and desertification in others. They seek to contribute to the formulation of sectorized measures such as ecological restoration as well as silvopastoral and agroforestry systems in according to social and environmental issues in a context of climate change.