Utilization of SAR and optical remote sensing data for habitat conservation in the tropical forest of Brazil

Only a few percent of the original vegetation cover of the Atlantic Forest of Brazilremains due to agricultural development. This unique ecosystem has many endangered endemic species, the remaining populations of which are isolated in a few remaining forest patches. The present research was undertaken with two goals; to find habitat suitable for the expansion of a forest reserve for an endangered primate [the golden-headed lion tamarin] and to examine the possibility of establishing sustainable agricultural practices in the region that would eliminate or reduce the need of further deforestation. The vegetation cover of an area near Bahia, Brazil was studied using recent Landsat multispectral images. This was not entirely successful due to inadequate spectral and spatial resolution. This agriculturally modified canopy, or cabruca, is unsuitable as tamarin habitat. Secondary forest and deforested areas were distinguishable to some extent. The authors suspected that the canopy modification of cabruca cultivation would, however, be discernable by an active sensor system with sufficiently long wavelength to penetrate the canopy and return backscatter information from larger canopy elements such as branches and tree boles. A second data gathering effort was much more successful as it culminated with the acquisitions of a previously archived Landsat Thematic Mapper image and new SAR images from the SIR-C/X-SAR mission flown in October 1994. These two datasets, when used together, allow distinction between previously confused classes and to have insights into not only canopy cover, but vegetation structure and biomass of a broad utility to biodiversity and conservation efforts.