Resumo

MONROY HERNANDEZ, Julieth. Landscape Analysis of the Fucha Basin (Bogotá, Colombia): A Diagnostic for Improving Ecosystem Services. Invest. Geog [online]. 2020, n.101, e59831.  Epub 01-Ago-2020. ISSN 2448-7279.  https://doi.org/10.14350/rig.59831.

This paper reports the results of the project "Spatial Analysis of Landscape Configuration in Three Protection and Management Areas of Bogotá D.C.: Formulation of Integrated Landscape Management Guidelines for Impro- ving Ecosystem Services". The project was carried out by the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services research team at the Scientific Subdirectorate of Bogotá Botanical Garden. The project analyzes landscape elements and their potential linkages to strategic management areas related to the Fucha basin: the Bosque Oriental de Bogotá Forest Protection Reserve and the Priority Public Occupation Areas of the Franja de Adecuación, a buffer zone between the city and the eastern hills. The main objectives of the study were to identify the zones with less availability of urban green areas and show a increasing these areas could expand the spaces suitable for supplying cultural ecosystem services.

The study followed the "Model for Studying Landscapes in Mountainous Zones" methodological approach. This model examines three landscape dimensions: verticality, horizontality, and transversality. Verticality addresses the multiple elements of the landscape along the river axis; horizontality analyzes the organization pattern and spatial configuration of the landscape; and transversality assesses the relationships between landscape elements by means of network and proximity analyses.

Landscape elements of the Fucha river basin were analyzed using geographic information system tools and field work. The river has been channeled in the urban portion of its basin, where the main land-use is residential, especially along the riverbank in the middle basin, where large green areas and parks with recreational infrastructure exist. By contrast, the lower part of the urban basin harbors mainly industrial and commercial sectors, characterized by constructions standing very close to the canal, few green spaces, and presence of solid waste. In the upper middle basin, groups of street dwellers live along the canal, along with small settlements and self-construction neighborhoods. The upper basin corresponds to the forest reserve, where the vegetation cover includes shrublands, secondary forest and moorland, interspersed with patches of eucalyptus and pine plantations, and some acacias at the edge of the reserve.

Landscape metrics were calculated and analyzed using the ArcGIS IndiFrag tool. These showed that 61% of the landscape elements correspond to urban areas or artificial surfaces, including commercial, residential, industrial, ser- vice and recreation areas, urban facilities and public spaces, canals, roads and railways. The remaining 39% corresponds to undeveloped areas such as urban green areas, water bodies (wetlands and rivers), unbuilt areas, and protected areas. Aggregation metrics showed that, although industrial uses occur in high density, they do not comprise a large number of buildings; therefore, they correspond to units located in a specific sector to the center of the urban basin. The most widely scattered elements are recreational spaces, urban facilities, and green areas, which show a low probability of occurrence is the landscape. The analysis of the expansion of urban green areas toward unoccupied areas revealed that a ~50% increase does not contribute to better meet the demand, given the current distribution of landscape elements in the urban basin.

The connections with the lowest displacement costs between urban green areas were analyzed using the ArcGIS Matrix Green tool. Three critical sectors demanding attention were identified. The first is located in the lower basin, where small urban green areas are found with no connections with large green areas. The second sector is located in the middle basin, where a recently developed urban zone, along with a low availability of spaces for developing green areas were identified. The third is located in the northeast part of the middle basin, characterized by the lowest availability of green areas and no spaces available for their development. Finally, the upper part of the basin has been identified as an area that could supply cultural ecosystem services for the city, and potential access routes to that zone were identified by conditioning the connections with the slope.

Palavras-chave : Urban landscape; urban basin; urban green areas; ecosystem services; Fucha river.