Uso e cobertura vegetal das regiões hidrográficas do Cerrado e as métricas dos fragmentos da classe natural do TerraClass

The Brazilian Cerrado covers about 20% of the central Brazil with the highest biodiversity and landscape among the world savannas and also contributes to the water production of 8 out of 12 hydrographic regions (HR) of Brazil. About 50% of its original area was already converted into anthropic activities, changing the spatial patterns of natural landscape.This work aimed to characterize the land cover of the Cerrado hydrological regions based on the TerraClass Cerrado mapping project and to cluster them according to the fragmentation metrics of natural class. We used the TerraClass Cerrado mosaic intersected by the hydrological regions and quantified the land cover classes distribution. We evaluated the spatial patterns of the Natural class with patches metrics and performed cluster analysis of the hydrological regions based on patches metrics patterns similarity. We found that the Amazonica hydrological region had the highest annual crops (~ 24%) cover and the Atlantico Leste e Atlantico Nordeste Ocidental, the lowest (< 1%). The Parana HR least 75% anthropic activities, highlighting pasture (~ 43%), permanent crops (~ 13%), annual crops (~ 13%), planted forestry and urban area (~ 1.2%). The Parnaiba HR showed the highest natural cover (> 80%) among the hydrological regions of the Cerrado. We found four clusters of hydrological regions: 1) Paraná; 2) Atlântico Leste and São Francisco; 3) Atlântico Leste, Atlântico Nordeste Ocidental and Paraguai; 4) Amazonica and Parnaiba. The hydrological regions analysis highlighted that the physiography regulates the anthropic occupation and the natural patches spatial configuration of natural cover.