Abstract
Conservation efforts in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, are supported by the geographical information system, BIOCLIMAS. In addition to its original use in study of climatic parameters as related to plant geography, it has recently been adapted to the semiautomatic determination of degree of conservation of natural areas, producing an “Ecological Landscape Modification Map” (“Mapa de Modificaciones EcoldgicoPaisajisticas”). The method, first applied to the state of Veracruz (73 000 km2), is based on machine interpretation of information from available maps at 1:1,000,000 and produces an evaluation on a scale from 1 (very well conserved) to 8 (completely changed from natural state). The method is soon to be applied to a much larger area of the country, and eventually will be used for the whole country (2 000 000 km2) A disadvantage of the method is its use of maps made in the past; it can only be as accurate as are its source maps, some of which in Mexico are a decade old. Aside from its general use in evaluating the conservation of large areas, it is being used to evaluate existing reserve areas and planning for new reserves.
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Giddings, L.E., Chiappy, C., Soto, M., Gama, L. (1997). Machine-based Determination of Conservation in Mexico. In: Denzer, R., Swayne, D.A., Schimak, G. (eds) Environmental Software Systems. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-5041-2869-8_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-5041-2869-8_30
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