Identificação e análise dos padrões de uso do solo e cobertura vegetal do município de Portalegre/RN

This study aimed to identify and characterize the classes usage of the land and vegetation cover of the Municipality of Portalegre through the use of means of geoprocessing and thematic maps. Studies of this nature are associated with the need to specialize and monitor the human actions on geographical spaces, especially those that still retain their biotic and abiotic characteristics. Thus, located in the Serrano region of Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil, Portalegre presents environmental characteristics that distinguishes it from other municipalities in the northeastern semi-arid region and deserves special attention. It is observed in the local landscape the presence of perennial springs, waterfalls, natural rainwater micro dams, areas with wet vegetation and Caatinga from medium to large size and climate Aw' hot tropical with wetlands. In the implemented methodology sought to build a database based on bibliographic research, images from the satellite RapidEye and digital mapping, all attached to a Geographic Information System (GIS) and treated and processed in ArcGis 10.1 and QGis Versao 2.18.13 Las Palmas. In the results obtained, it was possible to identify and classify seven classes related to land usage and five classes of vegetation cover. The data also indicate that of the total area of the municipality, 63.56% still presents conservation status. In areas classified as anthropic usage, mainly occurs the development of agriculture and stock breeding activities which are mainly responsible for the degradation of native vegetation.