Spatial - Temporal pattern of forest regeneration in areas deforested in the Eastern Amazon

The objective of this work was to identify and monitor forest regeneration for a period of eight years after deforestation events occurred in 2001 in the Eastern Amazon region. The study utilized Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images acquired for scene 224/65 (path/row), for the following dates: 07/06/2000 (Geocover product), 08/02/2001, 08/29/2002, 07/04/2005 (Geocover product) and 08/08/2009. Deforestation data was obtained from the PRODES deforestation mapping program for the year 2001. The results showed a large and increasing area of forest regeneration within the area and period of study. The first year after deforestation showed the highest proportion of regeneration (20%), which can be attributed to the known pattern of less intensive land use in the initial years after vegetation removal, associated with stem regeneration and germination from the remaining seed banks. The proportion of regenerated area decreased over the years (through new deforestation of regenerating areas), but still occupied 13% of the area deforested in 2001 at the end of the eight-year period (2001-2009). Another important result showed that from the total area regenerated by 2009, 60% started the recovery process immediately after the 2001 deforestation event, and had no evidence of economic use during the studied period (i.e. no justification exists for the observed deforestation in the first place). These results emphasize the importance of better understanding and quantifying the role of biophysical and socio-economic factors in the dynamics of forest regeneration in the Amazon, and could help improve carbon emission and biodiversity studies in the region.