Land-change and land-use (LCLU) changes and the urban growth were quantified during a period of 25 years in Chihuahua City and its surroundings. Four scenes of Landsat 5 and 8 satellite from the years 1989, 1999, 2009, and 2014 were used. The LCLU was predicted using the methodologies of Markov chains and cellular automata. The following seven classes of LCLU were identified: crop land, urban land, shrub land, grassland, forest land, water bodies, and riparian vegetation. The KAPPA index was used to evaluate the accuracy of the LCLU classification. The shrub land area decreased from 55% in 1989 to 48% in 2014. Likewise, the grassland area showed reductions from 23% to 16% during the period 2009-2014. Conversely, urban land increased its area in about 15% from 1989 to 2014. Results from predicted scenarios show that for 2019 and 2024 areas currently occupied grassland and shrubland may be replaced by urban land cover. The data from this study can be extrapolated to other areas where urban land will increase its area on the surrounding natural ecosystems.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.