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Environmental Sciences and Ecology: Current Research
[ ISSN : 2833-0811 ]


Identification of Environmental Buffer Areas in Urbanized Catchments Based on Synthetic Ecosystem Functions

Research Article
Volume 3 - Issue 2 | Article DOI : 10.54026/ESECR/1052


Yuliana Céliz1*, Diego Pons2 , Beatriz Giobellin3 and Marcos Zefferino4

1National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina
2National Institute of Agricultural Technology-INTA-EEA, Argentina
3Observatory of Periurban Urban Agriculture and Agroecology, Argentina
4Technological University, South Central Renewable Energy Area, Urugua

Corresponding Authors

Yuliana Céliz, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina

Keywords

Land-use planning; Ecosystem services; Hydrological index; Natural area; Urban areas

Received : March 29, 2022
Published : April 11, 2022

Abstract

The Saldan river basin in the northwest of the metropolitan area of Córdoba, Argentina, was defined as a unit for the observation of ecosystem services of water regulation. The capacity of the system to retain excess rainfall through vegetation in areas with slopes was analyzed. The observation area was a wildland-urban interface. From there, a model capable of synthesizing the behavior of the most relevant variables in the event of an extraordinary rainfall event was adjusted. The result was the definition of buffer areas or exosystemic protection in the interface. The testing and adjustment of this model defined a REP indicator that was proposed as an input in the planning of the sector. For validation, soil moisture permanence values from LWI were used. The derivative was calculated for each pixel value in the basin, for both dry and wet periods, and the areas with the lowest loss in both periods were compared with those with the highest retention obtained in the model. The zones identified by both methods show great similarities.