Land cover changes and comparison of current landscape metrics in a region of the Central Andes affected by population migration

Figures & data

Figure 1. Location of study area.

Figure 2. The different land covers identified in the present study. (a) lake; (b) high Andean grassland; (c) forest plantation; (d) wetlands; (e) rocky outcrop; (f) scrubland; (g) bare soil; (h) high Andean scrubland; (i) Croplands; and (j) scrubland of Dodonaea viscosa jacq.

Table 1. List of land cover.

Land cover	Altitude (m asl)	Characteristics
Lakes (A)	3964–4343	Located in small plains surrounded by wetlands and high Andean grasslands, the shores can freeze during the cold seasons.
High Andean grasslands (B)	3500–4650	Or the puna found on almost flat to steep terrains and dominated by high Andean Poaceae, such as Stipa ichu, Calamagrostis sp., Pycnophyllum sp., and Festuca sp., among others (Ministerio del Ambiente 2019).
Forest plantations (C)	3585–3870	Mixed with thickets and high Andean grasslands, grow in rugged terrains, involving species such as Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus globulus.
High Andean Wetlands (D)	3800–4350	Fed by rain and underground waters, with slight contractions during the dry seasons, are located in the bottoms of valleys and near the lagoons, dominated by evergreen hydrophilic herbaceous cushion vegetation, including Distichia muscoides, Plantago rigida, and Werneria caespitosa, among others (Maldonado Fonkén 2014).
Rocky outcrops (E)	4531–4912	Steep slopes previously covered by glaciers at the top of the mountains and covered by scarce to no vegetation (Ministerio del Ambiente 2019).
Scrublands (F)	2214–3800	Located on the border of the high Andean grasslands, are dominated by succulent plants such as Opuntia subulata and Agave americana, as well as shrubs like Mutisia acuminata, Ophryosporus peruvianus, Baccharis tricuneata, and Senna versicolor. Small trees such as Acacia macracantha, Schinus molle, Escallonia resinosa, and Parkinsonia aculeata are also found within this vegetation type (De la Cruz-Arango et al. 2020).
Bare soil (G)	2259–4154	Desert areas eroded by natural or anthropic events.
High Andean scrublands (H)	4000–4500	Forming small communities in contact with the High Andean grasslands and rocky outcrops, are dominated by Parastrephia., Lupinus, Hesperomeles, Locaria., and Senecio, among others (Ministerio del Ambiente 2019).
Croplands (I)	2259–3775 m asl	Mostly of Solanum tuberosum, Zea mays, Pouteria lucuma, Inga edulis, Persea americana, Caesalpinia spinose, among others.
Scrublands of Dodonaea viscosa (J)	3396–3775 m asl	Homogeneous communities of evergreen character and rapid growth, in soils with rugged relief, eroded and disturbed by anthropic action (De la Cruz-Arango et al. 2020).

Table 2. List of the multispectral images used in the present study.

Source	imagery date	Spectral bands	Spatial resolution	Web address	Reference
PeruSat-1	2017/06/17 2020/08/18 2020/08/18 2020/06/29	Blue: 0.45–0.52 µm Green: 0.53–0.60 µm Red: 0.62–0.69 µm NIR: 0.76–0.89 µm Panchromatic: 0.45–0.75 µm	2.8 m in multispectral 0.7 m in pansharpening	https://www.gob.pe/conida	(CONIDA. Manual Para El Uso de La Plataforma de Atencion al Usuario y Cliente de La CONIDA 2020)
Sentinel-2	2017/05/18 2020/07/01	Blue: 490 nm. Green: 560 nm Red: 665 nm NIR: 842 nm	10 m in multispectral	https://scihub.copernicus.eu/	(COPERNICUS Copernicus Open Access Hub. ESA. 2014)
Landsat-5	1986/01/31 1990/08/06 2000/06/30 2010/07/12	Blue: 450–520 nm Green: 520–600 nm Red: 630–690 nm NIR: 760–900 nm	30 m in multispectral	https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/nli/landsat/	(U. S. Geological Survey Landsat 8: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2013-3060 2013)
Landsat-8	2020/08/08

Figure 3. Multitemporal-LandSat verification of land cover types in district the Huanta and Luricocha, province the Huanta, Ayacucho Department, Central Andes of Peru.

Figure 4. Transition of the land covers in the multitemporal-Landsat images. (ro) rocky outcrop; (we) wetlands; (La) Lake; (HaSL) high Andean scrubland; (FP) forest plantations; (SLD) scrublands of Dodonea viscosa; (Bsl) bare soil; (cr) croplands; (sc) scrublands; and (gr) high Andean grassland.

Table 3. Estimated values of the linear regression parameters with their level of significance and coefficient of determination.

Land cover	Huanta			Luricocha
	Parameter	P-value	R2	Parameter	P-value	R2
Croplands	a = 504.038	*	0.99	a	ns	0.63
	b = 0.071	**		b	ns
Forest plantations	a	ns	0.18	a	ns	0.39
	b	ns		b	ns
High Andean grassland	a = 10760.11	*	0.46	a	ns	0.29
	b	ns		b	ns
High Andean scrubland	a	ns	0.02	a	ns	0.12
	b	ns		b	ns
Lake	a	ns	0.33	a	ns	0.62
	b	ns		b	ns
Bare soil	a	ns	0.32	a	ns	0.37
	b	ns		b	ns
Rocky outcrop	a = −457.19	.	0.98	a	ns	0.98
	b = 0.035	**		b = 0.015	**
Scrublands	a = 4597.18	**	0.76	a	ns	0.003
	b	ns		b	ns
Scrublands of Dodonea viscosa	a	ns	0.36	a	ns	0.46
	b	ns		b	ns
Wetlands	a	ns	0.43	a	ns	0.62
	b	ns		b	ns

Notes: a = intercep, b = slope.

Statistical significance : ’ *** ’: p < 0.001; ’ ** ’: p < 0.01; ’ * ’: p < 0.05; ’. ’ : p < 0.1.

ns: not significant.

Figure 5. (a) Error-adjusted estimated areas of change and associated 95% confidence intervals for land cover. (b) Error-adjusted normalized areas and confidence intervals scaled by land cover. Rocky outcrops (a), croplands (b), Wetland (c), Lake (d), high andean scrublands (e), scrublands (f), high andean grasslands (g), forest plantations (h), scrublands of dodonaea viscosa (i), bare soil (j).

Table 4. Landscape metrics.

COMUNNITY	PERUSAT	SENTINEL	LANDSAT
OCCANA
Aggregation index	97.5	81.8	88.7
Contagion	68.7	50.8	72.1
Shannon Diversity Index	1.16	1.36	0.782
UCHURACCAY
Aggregation index	98	88.5	88.9
Contagion	71.9	66.9	72.2
Shannon Diversity Index	1.05	0.943	0.818
MIO
Aggregation index	92.5	65.4	65.8
Contagion	49	31.7	35.8
Shannon Diversity Index	1.75	1.71	1.47
VILLA FLOR DE INGENIO
Índice de agregación	97.3	83.2	87.9
Contagion	71.3	55.4	76.7
Shannon Diversity Index	1.05	1.14	0.632
CUYUCHACA
Aggregation index	98.1	91.1	87.4
Contagion	69.8	71.8	72.4
Shannon Diversity Index	1.27	0.872	0.803
HUAYLLAY
Aggregation index	98	77.8	82.3
Contagion	66.1	47	64.1
Shannon Diversity Index	1.2	1.33	1.04
PARCCORA
Aggregation index	96.6	84.8	85.5
Contagion	65	58.7	71.1
Shannon Diversity Index	1.28	1.16	0.832

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