

You are welcome to add them both to explore, but for this project you only need the data on protected forests. Feature classes for both categories are in the Rondônia geodatabase. Protected areas come in two types: protected forests and indigenous territory. In the above example, the boundaries are defined by protected areas, which either prohibit or greatly restrict deforestation. To see the metadata for the Deforested Area layer or any other feature layer on your map, right-click the layer in the Table of Contents and choose Data > View Item Description.Īnother noticeable pattern is that deforestation sometimes ends abruptly with fairly sharp boundaries, as in the following image: The SRC_DATE2 field gives the date of the imagery for that portion of the basemap. To see the metadata of a part of the basemap, use the Identify tool to click the map (make sure you are identifying from the World_Imagery layer by choosing it at the top of the Identify dialog box). Metadata explains when data was collected and by whom it was collected, among other things. If you want to know the last time the basemap or the Deforested Area layer was updated, you can view the layer's metadata.

The map zooms to the extent of the rectangle. Now, you'll add a layer showing cities in Rondônia and symbolize it to show the largest cities by population.

To protect the rainforest, prevention of future deforestation is key. As such, it is difficult to regrow Amazon rainforest after it has been deforested. The soil quality in the region is poor and quickly depleted of nutrients. Most of the seemingly barren terrain is actually pasture or farmland. While deforestation in the Amazon does occur for extractive purposes, such as acquiring lumber, a lot of deforestation clears land for cattle grazing or perennial agriculture. The large, barren-looking area is deforested.Īlthough the land looks barren, it is actually not. In Rondônia, however, a large portion of the land is grayish-brown terrain, with the green regions mostly in the northern and western parts of the state. When the map was zoomed to South America, the area inside the Amazon Ecoregion layer appeared greener than the area outside.
