AGRICULTURIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN A REPRESENTATIVE AREA OF THE ECOREGION OF THE PAMPAS, ARGENTINA

Abstract

Previous studies have shown the existence of the process of agriculturization in the Ecoregion of the Pampas, and Tandil County is a representative example of the process. This paper compares the areas occupied by different land uses and their environmental impacts in the Upper Basin of the Langueyú Creek and in Tandil County, in which the basin is located, in three points of time: 1988, 2002, and 2010. Supervised classification was applied on images captured by the sensor TM with adjustments to field. Between 1988 and 2010, agricultural uses in the Basin increased significantly (159.5%) while in the County, the agricultural areas increased 39.4%. Consequently, the environmental impacts on the environment, measured by sustainability indicators, were more intense in the Basin than in the County as a whole. The results allow collaborate in the development of environmental management proposals aimed at agroecological sustainability.