Four-decade (1977–2017) landscape tale of tourist reservoir hotspot El Piñol-Guatapé, Colombia
Résumé
Efficient management of land use/land cover
(LULC) features is vital for a balanced sustainable ecosystem.
Thus, this work aimed to document the LULC
changes in the less studied El Peñol-Guatapé reservoir,
Antioquia, Colombia, especially in the reservoir area
due to the construction of a hydro-electric power plant.
For this study, Landsat images of 1977, 1986, 1997, and
2017 were used and the results indicated an increase
in the settlement area and road networks by 0.10 and
0.60%, respectively, while during 1986 to 2017, cropland,
plantation, dense forest, and open forest areas presented
an increase of 0.52, 1.06, 2.87 and 2.61%, respectively.
However, the marshy vegetation, scrub forest and
fallow land decreased to − 0.51, − 3.79 and − 4.29%,
respectively, in the same period. The water body before
and after the completion of reservoir project denoted an
increase from 13.1 km2
in 1977 to 45.7 km2
in 1986. This
study provides a first-hand report on LULC dynamics in
this tourism dominated municipalities that will serve as
a reference for ecosystem management to reconcile the
conflicts between different LULC classes in ecologically
enriched regions.