EVALUATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVIDED BY CAATINGA VEGETATION IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF ACARI/RN
Caatinga; Semiarid; Ecosystemservices; Land use andoccupation.
In recentdecades, natural areashaveundergonesignificantchangesthroughtheprocessofhumanoccupationandexploitation, alteringthephysical-natural andsocio-culturalareas, whosephysicalandbiologicalaspectsofthelandscapeprovidebiodiversityandanestimatedgeologicalheritage. In relationtothe Caatinga, thisecosystemprovidesheterogeneousphysiognomiesandplantformations in themostdifferentlandscapes, where mountain environments stand out, with a concentrationof more developedandpreservedenvironments. However, despitethebiologicaldiversityofthisbiome, it hasbeensufferingsignificantimpactsfromhumanactions, resulting in lossoflandscape. In thiscontext, themunicipalityof Acari, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, ispartofthesemi-aridhinterlandsand residual reliefswhosevegetation cover, soil use andecosystemservices are littlestudied. Thatsaid, themainobjectiveistoevaluatehowtheformsofland use andland cover influencetheprovisionofecosystemservices in themunicipalityof Acari/RN. For this, land use mappingscorrespondingtotheyears 1987 and 2022 werecarried out, usingimagesfromthe LANSAT 5 and 8 satellite, madeavailablebythe United StatesGeologicalSurvey (USGS) andprocessedusingthefree software QGIS v. 3.22. Secondly, theidentificationandevaluationoftheecosystemservicesprovidedbythevegetation cover willbecarried out, through a Checklist for in situ identification. In thepreliminaryresults, irrelevantvalues are observedregardingthesizeofthe classes, however, therewasanexpressivefragmentationofthelandscapethroughthepastureareasthroughouttheterritory. In thissense, a floristicsurveywascarried out oftheplantspeciesthatmakeupthevegetation cover classes: Anthropized Caatinga, whichprovedtoberich in plantspecies, andConservated Caatinga, withgreaterbiologicalrichnessidentified in mountain areas, includingrarespeciesand, endangeredspecies, typicalofhumidareas, associatedwithhigherhumiditymicroenvironmentsprovidedbygeomorphologicalfeatures. Therefore, giventheimportanceofvegetation cover in thephysiognomyand dynamics ofthelandscape, whereanthropicactions, analyzedthroughland use andoccupationthat interfere withthemaintenanceofecosystemservices, thisresearchaimstoprovidebetterdevelopmentofthe management andenvironmentalplanningofthe Caatinga biome, in favor ofmaintainingecosystemservicesandcontrollingenvironmentaldegradation.