Abstract

PLAZA-ORTEGA, Vianny; VALENCIA-ROJAS, Mónica Patricia  and  FIGUEROA-CASAS, Apolinar. RELATIVE INTEGRATED ANTHROPIZATION INDEX (INRA) APPLICATION IN A HIGH MOUNTAIN ECOSYSTEM. Luna Azul [online]. 2017, n.44, pp.80-93. ISSN 1909-2474.  https://doi.org/10.17151/luaz.2017.44.6.

Given the high mountain ecosystems are no strangers to the establishment of anthropic activities, the objective of the research was to estimate the level of anthropization in a wasteland lagoon system located in the Puracé National and Natural Park, by adapting the Relative Integrated Anthropization Index (INRA). To this end, a study window of 6x5Km² within the lagoon system was selected through GIS tools, which was divided in Units of Analysis (UA, from the Spanish acronym) of 0.5Km², each UA contains Subunits of Analysis (SUA, from the Spanish acronym) of 0.1Km² where different land cover (natural and anthropic) found in the ecosystem were polygonized and assigned a value of 0 to 1, according to the index scale. The results obtained with the application of RIAI, emphasized that the most frequent assessment category was the Cover without human intervention called A (69.51%), followed by the category Forests without human intervention called B (17.29%). The category related to free grazing Zones was the lowest (0.97%) while the Forests categories with anthropic intervention (Burning and grazing) and Infrastructure presented values of 4.17% and 8.02%, respectively. These results suggest that the lagoon system has a low level of anthropization which evidences that anthropic activities in the area do not generate a strong impact on the ecosystem due to their low frequency and magnitude, thus making possible to keep stable the ecosystem functions and dynamics.

Keywords : anthropization; index; páramo.

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