This article discusses how analysis of remotely sensed data can be applied in rapid rural assessment and how its application can expand the spatial analysis of land-use/land-cover (LULC) change. It describes the methodological steps to carry out an LULC analysis based on Landsat Thematic Mapper image analysis under time and budget constraints. The article presents intra-and intercommunity comparisons of different LULC patterns. The discussion focuses on the trade-off between the desirable degree of land-cover class complexity, the level of class detail, and the required ground-truthing associated with each of these choices. The authors conclude that remotely sensed analysis can enhance short-term, low-budget fieldwork. Analysis of remotely sensed data can reduce costs before fieldwork by helping to inform where to concentrate data collection efforts, during fieldwork by extending spatial analysis to areas where accessibility is poor and that otherwise would not be included, and after fieldwork by improving the spatial and temporal scope of the analysis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alvarado, J. N.1982. Considerations on the Colombian Amazon Region. In Amazonia: Agriculture and land use, edited by S. B. Hecht, 41–59. Cali, Colombia: Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical.
2.
Beebe, J.1995. Basic concepts and techniques of rapid appraisal. Human Organization54 (1): 42–51.
3.
Behrens, C. A.
, ed. 1994. Recent advances in the regional analysis of indigenous land use and tropical deforestation. Human Ecology (Special issue), vol. 22(3).
4.
Bernard, H. R.1988. Research methods in cultural anthropology. 2d ed.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
5.
Brondizio, E.
, E. Moran, P. Mausel, and Y. Wu. 1994. Land-use change in the Amazon estuary: Patterns of Caboclo settlement and landscape management. Human Ecology22 (3): 249–278.
6.
Brondizio, E.
, E. Moran, P. Mausel, and Y. Wu. 1996. Land cover in the Amazon estuary: Linking of thematic mapper with botanical and historical data. Photogrammetric Engineering of Remote Sensing62 (8): 921–929.
7.
Bunyard, P.1989. The Colombian Amazon: Policies for the protection of its indigenous peoples and their environment. Bodmin, Cornwall, UK: Ecological Press.
8.
Campbell, J. B.1996. Introduction to remote sensing. 2d ed.New York: Guilford.
9.
Chambers, R.1991. Shortcut and participatory methods for gaining social information for projects. In Putting people first: Sociological variables in rural development, 2d ed., edited by M. M. Cernea, 515–537. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
10.
Chernela, J. M.1985a. Os cultivares de mandioca na área do Uaupes (Tukano). SUMA: Etnologica Brasileira1:151–158.
11.
Chernela, J. M.1985b. Indigenous fishing in the neotropics: The Tukanoan Uanano of the Blackwater Uaupes River Basin in Brazil and Colombia. Interciência10 (2): 78–86.
12.
Chernela, J. M.1993. The Wanano Indians of the Brazilian Amazon: A sense of space. Austin: University of Texas Press.
13.
Clark, K.
, and C. Uhl. 1987. Farming, fishing, and fire in the history of Upper Rio Negro region of Venezuela. Human Ecology15 (1): 1–26.
14.
Conklin, H. C.1980. Ethnographic atlas of Ifugao: A study of environment culture and society in northern Luzon. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
15.
Dufour, D. L. 1981. Household variation in energy flow in a population of tropical forest horticulturalists. Ph.D. diss., State University of New York at Binghamton.
16.
Dufour, D. L.1985. Manioc as a dietary staple: Implications for the budgeting of time and energy in the Northwest Amazon. In Food energy in tropical ecosystem, edited by C. J. Cattle and K. H. Schwerin, 1–20. New York: Gordon and Breach.
17.
Goldman, I.1963. The Cubeo: Indians of the Northwest Amazon. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
18.
Hugh-Jones, S.1979. The palm of the Pleiades. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Jensen, J. R.1996. Introductory digital image processing: A remote sensing perspective. 2d ed.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
20.
Jordan, C. F.1982a. Amazon rain forest. American Scientist70:394–401.
21.
Jordan, C. F.1982b. The nutrient balance of an Amazonian rain forest. Ecology63 (3): 647–654.
22.
Khon Kaen University.1987. Proceedings of the 1985 international conference on rapid rural appraisal, rural systems research and farming systems research projects. Khon Kaen, Thailand: Khon Kaen University.
23.
Klinge, H.
, E. Medina, and R. Herreira. 1977. Studies on the ecology of Amazon Caatinga forest in southern Venezuela. Acta Cient. Venezolana28 (4): 270–276.
24.
Landgrebe, D.
, and L. Biehl.1997. An introduction to MULTISPEC—Version 2.15.95. West Lafayette, IN: School of Electrical Engineering, Purdue University.
25.
Lillesand, T. M.
, and R. W. Kiefer. 1999. Remote sensing and image interpretation. 2d ed.New York: John Wiley.
26.
Liverman, D.
, E. Moran, R. Rindfuss, and P. Stern, eds. 1998. People and pixels: Application of remote sensing to social science research. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
27.
Mausel, P.
, Y. Wu, Y. Li,E. Moran, and E. Brondizio. 1993. Spectral identification of successional stages following deforestation in the Amazon. Geocarto International8 (4): 61–71.
28.
McCracken, J. A.
, J. N. Pretty, and G. R. Conway.1988. An introduction to rapid rural appraisal for agricultural development. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.
29.
Molnar, A.1989. Community forestry rapid appraisal: A review paper. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
30.
Moran, E.1991. Human adaptive strategies in Amazonian blackwater ecosystems. American Anthropologist93 (2): 361–382.
31.
Moran, E.1993. Through Amazonian eyes: The human ecology of Amazonian populations. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
32.
Moran, E.
, and E. Brondizio. 1998. Land-use change after deforestation in Amazonia. In People and pixels: Application of remote sensing to social science research, edited by D. Liverman, E. Moran, R. Rindfuss, and P. Stern, 94–120. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
33.
Moran, E.
, and E. Brondizio. 2001. Human ecology from space. In Ecology and the sacred, edited by M. Lambek and E. Messer, 64–87. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
34.
Moran, E.
, E. Brondizio, P. Mausel, and Y. Wu. 1994. Integrating Amazonian vegetation, land-use, and satellite data. BioScience44 (5): 329–338.
35.
Moran, E.
, A. Packer, E. Brondizio, and J. Tucker. 1996. Restoration of vegetation cover in the eastern Amazon. Ecological Economics18:41–54.
36.
Poole, P.
, ed. 1995. Geomatics: Who needs it?Cultural Survival Quarterly (Special issue), vol. 18.
37.
Prance, G. T.1978. The origin and evolution of the Amazon flora. Interciência3 (4): 207–221.
38.
RADAMBRASIL.1976. Levantamento dos recursos naturais, Folha NA. Brasília, Brazil: MME/DNPM.
39.
Reining, P.1979. Challenging desertification in West Africa: Insights from LANDSAT into carrying capacity, cultivation, and settlement sites in Upper Volta and Niger. Athens: Center for International Studies, Ohio University.
40.
Roberts, L.1991. Ranking the rain forests. Science251:1559–1560.
41.
Saldarriaga, J.
, and D. West. 1986. Holocene fires in the North Amazon Basin. Quaternary Research26:254–258.
42.
Sanford, R. L.
, J. K. Saldarriaga, K. E. Clark, C. Uhl, and R. Herreira. 1985. Amazon rainforest fires. Science227:53–55.
43.
Shaner, W. W.
, P. F. Philipp, and W. R. Schmehl. 1982. Farming systems research and development: Guidelines for development countries. Boulder, CO: Westview.
44.
Wilson, W. M. 1997. Why bitter cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)? Productivity and perception of cassava in a Tukanoan Indian settlement in the Northwest Amazon. Ph.D. diss., University of Colorado, Boulder.
45.
Wilson, W. M.
, and D. L. Dufour. 2002. Why bitter cassava? Productivity of bitter and sweet cassava in a Tukanoan Indian settlement in the Northwest Amazon. Economic Botany56 (1): 49–57.
