Land-Cover and Land-Use Change in the Southern Yucatan Peninsula Region (SYPR)

The SYPR project is a collaboration among the George Perkins Marsh Institute (Clark University), Harvard Forest (Harvard University), and El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), with assistance and support from the Center for Integrated Studies (Carnegie Mellon University). Its major objectives and three integrated research foci are: • to further understanding of the dynamics of deforestation and other land-use/cover change in the region and • to produce new modes and forms of spatially explicit models that explain these dynamics and project their near-term outcomes under different scenarios. • Focus 1: Historical and Household Studies for Econometric Models— (1) to create an historical narrative of regional changes in land use and cover, and (2) an in-depth household data base on production systems and decisions (3) to use these data and information to develop multi-logic models of LCLUC that can be linked to the remotely sensed data of the same and (4) to assess the robustness and costs of this modeling approach compared to that of Focus 2 • Focus 2: MSS and TM Imagery Studies for Empirical Diagnostic Models— (1)to create a land-cover (and land-use) classification and accuracy assessment and (2) biophysical and social data information layers to couple with the imagery results through the use of GIS to use these data and information to create probability models of LCLUC and (4) to assess the robustness and costs of this modeling approach compared to that of Focus 1 • Focus 3: Forest and Land-Cover Ecology—(1) to create a detailed classification of land-covers, including vegetation structure and composition as a function of climate, soils, and disturbance history (2) to evaluate the ecological impacts of land use on ecosystem structure, composition and function (3) to link this information as inputs and outputs to the modeling efforts of Foci 1 and 2 and (4) to provide background information for additional and future studies on the long-term history of vegetation, landuse and natural disturbance in the region. The first phase of the project involved coordinating the various units and establishing a field station in the center of the SYPR. Two workshops were held (Summer 1997 January 1998) in which research, field study, and logistical issues were developed. A field station was established in Zoh Laguna, Campeche, from which the various foci personnel operate while in the field.