Land Use Change Effects Water Recycling in Matopiba
Vegetation plays an important role in modulating weather and climate. Trees are great at recycling water back into the atmosphere, where some of it gets rained back out onto the trees. But, if you cut down those trees, you have less water put back into the atmosphere (and later rained out over the region) and more leaving the system through runoff and streamflow.
Matopiba, comprised of pieces Maranhao (MA), Tocantins (TO), Piaui (PI) and Bahia (BA), is the Cerrado's newest - and potentially last - agricultural frontier. Between 2003 and 2013, agriculture expanded by over 1 million ha, and 75% was sourced in intact Cerrado vegetation. These land-use changes are changing the regional water balance, and may end up affecting precipitation throughout the Cerrado and Amazon biomes. Read more about this work here.
Matopiba, comprised of pieces Maranhao (MA), Tocantins (TO), Piaui (PI) and Bahia (BA), is the Cerrado's newest - and potentially last - agricultural frontier. Between 2003 and 2013, agriculture expanded by over 1 million ha, and 75% was sourced in intact Cerrado vegetation. These land-use changes are changing the regional water balance, and may end up affecting precipitation throughout the Cerrado and Amazon biomes. Read more about this work here.