Landscape components as predictors of vegetation coverage: the study cases of the State of Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract

The State of Michoacán, as well as a handful of other hot spot regions worldwide, harbors an outstanding overlap between natural and cultural richness as a result of intermingle climatic geological, geographical and ecological conditions. Presently both, natural and cultural heritages are jeopardized at most hot spots worldwide and policy makers seek urgently for robust base line information to restore and eventually reorient development. Spatially explicit base line data bases have been recognized as critical in order to facilitate design and implementation of public policies. In this sense, dynamics of native land cover/vegetation patterns (natural units) have helped in enormously to provide base line information and predict outcomes. A rather critical issue relies in developing replicable and robust methods to predict natural units, as a direct response of climatic, geological and geomorphological data (physical units). Often natural units are used as spatial criteria to delineate physical units, yet these latter are regarded as the responsible variables for delimiting natural units. This tautological thought has been largely neglected in most scientific literature in Mexico when constructing cartographic outputs.

Keywords

• Isobioclimas
• predicción de cubiertas de vegetación oriunda
• Michoacán
• México