Análisis de la incidencia de la cobertura vegetal en el balance hídrico del volcán Igualata en el periodo 1990-2020

Abstract

The Igualata volcano is an important water recharge area that provides water to several communities in Guano and Quero cantons, however, anthropogenic activities such as the advance of the agricultural frontier in the area are compromising the availability of water resources. Therefore, the objective of this research was to analyze the incidence of vegetation cover on the water balance of Igualata volcano in the period 1990-2020. Due to the study area covers an area of 556.58 square kilometers, geographic information systems were used to: estimate the Thornthwaite and Mather climatic water balance, develop a multi-temporal analysis of vegetation cover change (NDVI), analyze the correlation between the water balance and vegetation cover, and propose sustainable management activities for the different land uses in the study area. Using this methodology, it was determined that the highest values of water balance tend to be shown at the top of the volcano, as well as the vegetation cover has suffered a clear degradation during the study period, in addition to the fact that there is a direct correlation between the two previously mentioned variables, and finally sustainable management activities were proposed considering the water balance, slope and land uses. In this context, it is concluded that the most important aspect of the research is the spatial analysis that allows us to demonstrate the variations in water availability, the increase or decrease in the health of the vegetation cover and the areas in which the cover has the most impact, vegetation in the water balance, which allowed the spatialization of sustainable management technologies in the study area.