Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Geography
First Advisor
Martha A. Works
Term of Graduation
Spring 2002
Date of Publication
4-29-2002
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Geography
Department
Geography
Language
English
Subjects
Landscape ecology -- Mexico -- Michoacan, Forest landscape design -- Mexico -- Michoacan, Forest landscape management -- Mexico -- Michoacan, Purepecha Indians -- Mexico -- Michoacan
DOI
10.15760/etd.6035
Physical Description
1 online resource (vi, 106 pages)
Abstract
Social, political, economic, and environmental factors converge in developing countries to stimulate high rates of deforestation. Forest conversion reduces biodiversity, contributes to carbon loading of the atmosphere, alters the global water balance, and degrades the quality of life for rural people. Mexico is the fifth most biologically diverse country in the world and temperate and tropical forests in Mexico are rapidly disappearing with environmental and cultural repercussions for people and ecosystems.
Social, political, economic, and environmental factors converge in developing countries to stimulate high rates of deforestation. Forest conversion reduces biodiversity, contributes to carbon loading of the atmosphere, alters the global water balance, and degrades the quality of life for rural people. México is the fifth most biologically diverse country in the world and temperate and tropical forests in México are rapidly disappearing with environmental and cultural repercussions for people and ecosystems.
This study examines changes in the forest landscape surrounding two communidades indigenas in Michoacán, México over a 15-year period. The research area includes communal forest, pasture, and agricultural land within the adjacent municipal boundaries of two Purépecha Indian communities: Sevina and San Francisco Pichátaro. The economies of both villages depend in part on wood products manufacturing with timber harvested in local mixed-pine forests. As a result, forest landscapes surrounding the towns are at risk for potentially rapid land cover change and environmental degradation.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/23863
Recommended Citation
Chase, John Malcolm, "Forest Landscape Change Detection in the Meseta Purépecha, Michoacán, México" (2002). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4163.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6035
Comments
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