Una base de datos compartida para monitorear la desertificación en zonas áridas y semiáridas = A shared data base for desertification monitoring purposes in semiarid and arid areas

Abstract

El monitoreo de variables biofísicas de cambio lento de vegetación y suelos se hace a escalas regionales y en períodos que se cuentan en décadas. Requiere colaboración de equipos científicos, de instituciones en diversas biozonas que deben acordar métodos comunes y compartir información georreferenciada. Se presenta en este trabajo la base de datos de la red MARAS (monitores ambientales para regiones áridas y semiáridas) de 366 monitores en Patagonia argentina y chilena que se desarrolló desde 2008 e incluye sitios del Observatorio Nacional de Tierras y Desertificación. La base está disponible para desarrolladores como Software Libre, bajo la Licencia Pública General de GNU (GPL). Incluye información del establecimiento y características del paisaje.

Monitoring biophysical aspects of desertification requires the description of slow changing variables at regional scales and time lapses of decades, and cooperation of scientific teams working in different institutions and biozones. Common sampling methods and storing and sharing georeferenced information is also needed. We present a data base MARAS (environmental monitors for arid and semiarid regions) that has 366 monitors in Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia region since 2008 and includes sites of the Observatorio Nacional de Tierras y Desertificación. The database was developed with open software tools and is available for the programming community with a Public General License GNU (GPL). Information for each monitor includes location and general characteristics of landscape. In each reassessment at a lapse of approximately 5 years, 7 high resolution field photographs, 500 point intercepts for biodiversity and cover, and 50-m canfield lines for patch –interpatch analysis and 11 estimations of plots of landscape function analysis and soil sample analysis including pH, conductivity, organic matter, N and texture are included. An external access to this database is under development, and it will reports of change at monitor and regional scale for producers, scientists and decision makers in order to make this information usable.