Evaluation of changes in vegetation cover and their correlations with the surrounding area through geotechnologies: a case study of Brasília Botanical Garden

Abstract

This study evaluated the phytomass variation in Brasília Botanical Garden (BBG) from 1984 to 2017 and its interaction with the surrounding area. Phytomass quantitative analysis was conducted using 35 images of the Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI series, obtaining the variation of vegetation indexes by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Vegetation suppression was identified and proved the effectiveness of the preservation of BBG and BBG’s Ecological Station (BBGES), adjacent to BBG. It was also observed a higher variation of the NDVI near the edge of contact with the urban grid, which suggests the negative influence of the urbanization process, and the importance of BBGES’ proximity to its preservation. Discrepancies between environmental protection and urban land use show the very need to create mechanisms allowing the dialogue between urbanization and the protection of green areas.

Keywords

• urban management
• vegetation index
• remote sensing