Estudio multitemporal de la cobertura vegetal de la sub cuenca del río Patate de la provincia de Tungurahua en los años 2016, 2018 y 2020.

Abstract

The objective of this research work was to carry out the multitemporal study of the vegetation cover of the Patate River sub-basin in the province of Tungurahua in the years 2016, 2018 and 2020, for the identification and classification of the vegetation cover, atmospheric corrections were made. and the pansharpening of the Landsat 8 satellite images, later the combination of bands and the supervised classification of satellite images were carried out in the QGIS software. To obtain the percentage of similarity between the classification carried out and the samples, the confusion matrix and the Kappa index were elaborated, which were used to elaborate the thematic maps, while for the analysis the transition matrix was elaborated, which served to know the percentage of losses and gains of the hedges and a map of level curves was elaborated to determine the area to be conserved. Through the classification, the Kappa index from 0.97 to 0.99 was obtained, obtaining that the populated area, area without vegetation cover and agricultural land in the years from 2016 to 2020 had an increase in area of 9.33ha; 1.38 ha; and 15.10 ha, respectively, while the classes such as forest cover, bodies of water, moors, and shrub and herbaceous vegetation had losses of 8.81 ha; 2.98 ha; 8.50 ha; and 5.52 ha, respectively, three zones were obtained, such as production, transition, and conservation, ranging from 3,755 meters above sea level to 5,400 meters above sea level, where payment can be made for the conservation of natural ecosystems, it was concluded that anthropic activities have increased in the three periods, while the moors, native forest and herbaceous vegetation have decreased, it is recommended to implement an environmental management plan for the Patate River sub-basin.