Abstract

RAMIREZ RAMIREZ, Isabel. Land-covers changes in the Angangueo mountain range, Michoacán and State of Mexico, 1971-1994-2000. Invest. Geog [online]. 2001, n.45, pp.39-55. ISSN 2448-7279.

In the last two decades, the Angangueo mountain range, the Monarch butterfly's overwintering habitat in Mexico has become an area of utmost importance for biodiversity conservation at both national and international levels. Nevertheless, there is a lack of recent land-use and land-cover cartography, at medium or detailed scales, essential for natural resources planning and management. Therefore, this work attempts to make a contribution to cartography in the region of study, identifying at the same time areas where plant caver has been modified and trends in this respect. For the period of analysis, the deforestation rate has been 0.2% lower than the national and regional averages. This is due to the fact that, although there have been considerable damages and cover loss In some woodland areas, in others forests are undergoing a recovery process. An expansion of and devoted to irrigation agriculture has also been observed, which includes large areas of fruit orchards. The generated cartography allows to determine the location of each of these changes, facilitating to concentrate conservation efforts where they are most needed.

Keywords : Land-covers changes; Monarch butterfly habitat.