Estimate of the natural vegetation potential at Antonina bay’s drainage area.

Abstract

Changes man produce to the hydrographic basins that flow to the Antonina Bay must be pointed out, especially when there is a scenario in which the erosive and silting processes develop up in the mentioned bay. The objectives with this work consisted in elaborating the Potential Natural Vegetation chart and in comparing it with the recent vegetation coverage and land use. To elaborate the Potential Natural Vegetation chart we considered geological and altimetrical aspects, and they were validated considering the remaining vegetation that exists in Antonina Bay’s drainage area. The elaboration of the aforementioned chart within a setting of Geographical Information Systems allows its use in hydrologic modelling studies, as well as its use in project for the recuperation of degraded areas, especially by supplying information about what plant species should be planted at each location. From the results obtained one can notice that, in relative figures, the most degraded plant classes were those located at the coastal flatlands, with the exception of the marsh areas whose associated soils are not apt to agriculture. One may also notice the expansion of agriculture over the Sub-mountain Ombrophile Dense Forest located above 20m, which showed the greatest degradation in absolute figures (430.16 km²).