Period: 2017 - 2019
Team: Marcos Heil Costa (coordinator); Undergraduate Students (3); Graduate Students (3); Other (2)
Supporters: AIBA
Changes in land use and management, whether through deforestation, reforestation, intensification of agriculture, irrigation, among other practices, alter photosynthesis and evapotranspiration of vegetation, causing changes in surface water and carbon balance. In regions where the rate of land use change is very rapid, such as the MATOPIBA region generally, or more specifically in western Bahia the changes introduce rapid changes in the hydrological series, which are no longer stationary, that is, the statistical parameters of the hydrological series change rapidly over time, causing errors in their interpretations.
West Bahia irrigators consistently depend on both surface and groundwater resources. The region coincides with the Urucuia Aquifer, a regionally wide underground spring, which is recharged by deep water drainage after percolating through all the superficial layers of the soil.
This recharge is a still unknown fraction of the difference between precipitation and regional evapotranspiration. Another concern about rapidly developing regions such as West Bahia is whether regional development is sustainable. In addition to concerns about the consumption of regional water resources, the regional carbon balance should also be monitored. Agricultural activities emit greenhouse gases, such as CO2 emitted during deforestation and changes in soil management, methane (CH4) emitted by enteric fermentation of ruminants (cattle), and nitrous oxide (N2 O) emitted when fertilization is applied. excess nitrogen. On the other hand, agricultural activities can also represent an important sink of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, in soils 1 under proper management. In a region under rapid land use change and rapid development, it is important to calculate the region's carbon balance in order to verify the sustainability of regional agriculture. Thus, the main objective of this project is to quantify the historical evolution (since 1990) of land use in the Western Bahia Region and the Urucuia Aquifer. In addition, the carbon balance and recharge rate of the Urucuia aquifer associated with historical changes in regional land use will be determined.
