Systematic review of forty years of analysis of land-use change in Mexico using geographic information systems

Abstract

Mexico lost large areas of his ecosystems in the last decades. Much of it is in the hands of rural communities and their land-use changes affect biodiversity and reduce many vital ecosystem services. In the last four decades, these processes have been analyzed by spatial analysis tools such as geographic information technologies. The objective of this study was to systematize this information, considering the affiliation centers of the first author, journals used, state of the country, the timing of the analysis, data sources, software, models, methods, analysis, ecosystems, and territorial units. 196 articles matching all the criteria were found, which were classified and analyzed. The results showed that public institutions were the ones that carried out the most studies locally and nationally, in addition to being linked to foreign universities; Michoacán and Estado de México were the most analyzed states; The publications were concentrated in ten indexed magazines and university publications; the timing of the analysis depended on the study area; Landsat was the most used data source, regression models, matrix methods and multicriteria analyzes were the most common; studies and the use of free software have increased in the last ten years; Temperate forest was the most studied ecosystem, agriculture was the most presented land-use change, and the hydrological region was the most used as a territorial unit. This systematization will serve as a guide for future analyzes and sustainable projects.

watershed

ecosystems

software

remote sensing

territory