This chapter is a comprehensive summary and an illustrated report of our observations over 30 years of research on flora, vegetation, and geoprocessing based on intensive fieldwork throughout the Pantanal plain and highlands, associated to data compiled from the literature. There is a unique phytogeographic diversity in the Pantanal, a region of confluence of various biogeographic provinces, such as Cerrado, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Chaco, plus a wide distribution group and the exotic plants. The proportions of the flora are approximately 50% wide-ranging species, 30% Cerrado species, and 20% shared among other phytogeographic origins. Considering the 350 woody plants, the Cerrado group is the most numerous (66 species), followed by Cerrado and seasonal forest (47), wide distribution (31), Chaco (29), and seasonal forest (23). There is little endemism, probably due to the recent geological age of the Pantanal. So far, the Pantanal is yet the most conserved biome in Brazil. The vegetation is very resilient, flexible, and adapted to wet-and-dry seasonal and decadal cycles, including fire, and shall remain diverse as long as the hydrological balance is not disrupted by homogenization toward either an entirely dry or a fully wet system.
Analyzing the urban space related to its own growth allows to identify the identification of the dynamics of the natural elements and the way the intensified anthropic action shapes and at the same time degrades the landscape, which in the present study is the Pantanal biome. The objective of this study is to use high resolution images and vegetation cover indexes to analyze the urban expansion of Cáceres/MT, and to generate financial support for municipal planning and management. For the execution of this research, remote sensing images and a Geographic Information System (GIS) were used, as well as demographic census data. The urban expansion contributed to the removal of 19.62% of the vegetation and to the increase of 15.28% of anthropic use. The Caceres Vegetation Cover Index is high, with vegetation percentages above 30% occurring in 74.42% of the neighborhoods. From the date of the study on the Index of Vegetation Cover for Inhabitant (ICVH) decreased by 37.20%, remained at 32.55% and increased by 30.25%. It was concluded that an increase in the use of urban space contributed to the reduction of vegetation, as well as the decrease of the population associated to the vegetation of the neighborhoods influenced on the decrease of the ICVH
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