SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE PATTERNS IN THE CATOLÉ WATERSHED, NORTHERN MINAS GERAIS1

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to quantify the spatio-temporal changes in land use/ cover (LULC), as well as analyze landscape patterns over a 20-year period (1995 - 2015) in the Catolé watershed, northern Minas Gerais State, using landscape metrics. The LULC maps were obtained using Landsat 5 and 8 data (Processing level 1) through supervised classification using the maximum likelihood classifier. Seven thematic classes were identified: dense vegetation, sparse vegetation, riparian vegetation, cropland, planted forest, bare soil, and water. From the LULC maps, classes related to the natural landscape (dense, sparse, and riparian vegetation) were grouped into forest patches, which was then ordered by size: very small (