USE OF GOOGLE EARTH™ FOR EVALUATING THE LOSS OF PLANT COVER IN CHINÁ, CAMPECHE, MÉXICO

Abstract

Through the use of the geographic information system, Google Earth™, the loss of plant cover in the ejido of Chiná, Campeche, was measured for the period of 2003-2015, showing their trends, at the same time that the pertinence of the use of this tool by scholars and authorities to save in expenses was analyzed. The results show that deforestation has increased in the last 12 years with average losses of almost one hectare per year; 21 polygons of different sizes were identified between the years 2003, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015; of these, seven were present every year, the remaining 14 were intermittent, but with higher presence in 2012 to 2015. In average an increase was observed in the accumulated loss of cover of 235.36% between 2003 and 2015. The variance analysis (95 %) did not show significant differences between the years studied for the loss of plant cover.