Análise da degradação da cobertura florestal em povoados Quilombolas da Baixada Maranhense (Amazônia) e no seu entorno

Abstract

In Maranhão (northeast of Brazil), the “quilombolas”, African slaves descendants, match a significant part of state traditional communities. Although there are studies about them, few papersconsider and relate the pressure of this communities on the ecosystems. This study, using satellite remote sensing tools and ecology landscape elements, aimed to realize the forest cover percentage in different center of distances of the community area in the twenty "quilombolas" sites of Maranhão in 2006. The central hypothesis of this study be progressive decrease in vegetation clearance from the center of the community (negative correlation between distance and percentage of forest cover), however, was not confirmed (p = 0.272). The high variation observed in the forest cover of the different communities is a significant indication of the great variability in factors involved in this type of approach, which would involve a large number of replicates the data to minimize these differences. Data obtained through a Power analysis indicated that better results would be obtained at a distance of 10km from the center of community. However, the average coverage observed (38.5%) is within the range expected from forest cover to rural areas, higher in urban areas. In addition, five communities had more than 50% of that class in the first kilometer (SJB, FER, PAL, SI and FAI), while in three it was observed under 20% in the same range (COC COT and CUP). Thus, further studies are needed, not only using other image analysis routines and other landscape indexes, but also investigating the history of communities and their social aspects, as well as their relationship with other social actors in the area.