Monitoring forest fragmentation and carbon storage in the Cerrado Biome of Mato Grosso using optical and SAR satellite images. Dissertation for the award of the degree "Doctor rerum naturalium" (Dr.rer.nat.) in Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen within the doctoral program of Geoscience and Geography of the Georg-August University School of Science (GAUSS) submitted by Flávia de Souza Mendes from Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil Göttingen, 2019 Thesis Commitee Prof. iR. Dr. Gerhard Gerold (thesis supervisior) Department of Landscape Ecology, Georg-August Universität Göttingen Dr. Stefan Erasmi Department of Physical Geography, Georg-August Universität Göttingen Members of Examination Board 1st Referee: Prof. iR. Dr. Gerhard Gerold Department of Landscape Ecology, Georg-August Universität Göttingen 2nd Referee: Prof. Dr. Daniela Sauer Department of Physical Geography, Georg-August Universität Göttingen Further members of Examination Board Prof. Dr. Heiko Faust Department of Human Geography, Georg-August Universität Göttingen Dr. Stefan Erasmi Institute of Farm Economics, Thünen Institute Prof. Dr. Veraldo Liesenberg College of Agriculture and Veterinary, Santa Catarina State Universtiy (UDESC) Prof. Dr. Martin Kappas Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Georg-August Universität Göttingen Data of oral examination: 27th January, 2020 “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth…” (Pope St. John Paul II) iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my mentors Prof. iR. Dr. Gerhard Gerold and Dr. Stefan Erasmi for years of mentoring, opportunities, support, great leadership, who have always been available to openly discuss ideas and science. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Daniela Sauer and Frau Hesse for the support offered in these PhD years. I would also like to support you from the CAPES, the University of Gottingen, GeoGender and GAUSS which provided me with financial and infrastructure assistance for this Ph.D. research. To my friends and colleagues who made my work environment much happier and more effective. I would especially like to thank Kwabena, Stephen, Claudia, Collins and Larissa. I would like to thank all scientists and technicians who collaborated and participated in my PhD, especially colleagues from INPE-Brazil, Prof. Veraldo and Luciana. I would like to thank you all the support, love, prayer and care of my dear Brazilian friends, especially Michael, Samanta, Naty, Creusa, Mariane, Camila, Luciana, Rosangela, Virgilina, Teresa, Nilsy, Dona Regina, Sr. Antônio, Lucia, Shirley and Cidinha. I would like to thank the support of all my Brazilian friends in Göttingen, especially Sâmela and Rodolfo and the people who had the privilege of sharing my WG, Andreas, Cornelia, Lareen and Mireia. I would like to thank all the love in Christ of my dear friends of KhG and the prayer group, the rosary of St. Michael Kirche, especially Father Francisco, Father Hans-Martin, Steffi and Ghert. I would like to thank my parents (Carmen and José) and my sister for their lifelong support and for prioritizing their resources and attention for my education. I would like to thank Marco for all the affection and care in these PhD years. Filipa, thank you so much for your support and prayers, you have been a great sorrow of God in my life. Luisa, I have no words to thank you for all the care, time, love, advice, support you gave me in these 4 years. You were the best thing Göttingen gave me. You are the most intelligent, loving, and friendly person I have ever met in my life. iv Table of Contents 1. General Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Tropical Savanna.................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The Cerrado Biome and the ongoing threat of deforestation and land use ........................ 2 1.3 Remote Sensing ................................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Remote Sensing for mapping and monitoring Savanna and Cerrado .................................. 9 1.5 Fragmentation and edge effect ......................................................................................... 11 1.6 Aim of Thesis ..................................................................................................................... 14 1.7 Outline of the thesis .......................................................................................................... 15 1.8 Study Area ......................................................................................................................... 15 1.9 Materials and Methods ..................................................................................................... 18 1.9.1 Remote Sensing data ................................................................................................. 18 1.9.2 Field Data................................................................................................................... 19 1.9.3 Statistical Analysis ..................................................................................................... 21 2. Optical and SAR Remote Sensing Synergism for Mapping Vegetation Types in the Endangered Cerrado/Amazon Ecotone of Nova Mutum—Mato Grosso ............................................................ 24 2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 25 2.2 Materials and Methods ..................................................................................................... 28 2.2.1 Study Sites ................................................................................................................. 28 2.2.2 Satellite Data ............................................................................................................. 31 2.2.3 Data Processing ......................................................................................................... 33 2.2.4 Classification .............................................................................................................. 36 2.3 Results ............................................................................................................................... 39 2.3.1 Forest and Non-Forest ............................................................................................... 39 2.3.2 Forest Type ................................................................................................................ 40 2.4 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 50 2.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 53 3. Aboveground Biomass and carbon stock in the Cerrado forests, Mato Grosso, Brazil .......... 56 v 3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 57 3.1.1 Cerrado vegetation types and deforestation ............................................................. 57 3.2 Study Area ......................................................................................................................... 61 3.3 Material and Methods ....................................................................................................... 65 3.3.1 Sample design ........................................................................................................... 65 3.3.2 Data Collection .......................................................................................................... 67 3.3.3 Allometric Biomass Models ....................................................................................... 68 3.3.4 Statistical Evaluation.................................................................................................. 71 3.4 Results ............................................................................................................................... 71 3.4.1 Cerradão and Cerrado Denso Characteristics ............................................................ 71 3.4.2 Aboveground Biomass and Carbon Stock .................................................................. 77 3.5 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 79 3.5.1 Plot Characteristics .................................................................................................... 79 3.5.2 AGB and C Estimation ................................................................................................ 82 3.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 85 4. Time series of optical remote sensing to assess the edge effect in fragments of Cerrado biome..................................................................................................................................................88 4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 89 4.2 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 91 4.3 Results