Almeida, Adriana Monteiro deFarias, Maria Antônia Leite2025-12-182025-12-182025-11-26FARIAS, Maria Antônia Leite. Dinâmica de uso e cobertura do solo na APA Piquiri-Una: análise comparativa dos anos de 2003, 2013 e 2023. Orientadora: Adriana Monteiro de Almeida. 2025. 47 f. Monografia (Graduação em Ecologia) – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Centro de Biociências, Natal, 2025.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/67206The way humans interact with nature is marked by the exploitation of natural resources. These actions cause changes in vegetation and land use, affecting the climate, biodiversity, and local communities. Environmental Protection Areas (APAs) are Sustainable Use Protected Areas that aim to unite natural resources protection with humans (BRAZIL, 2000). Areas such as the Piquiri-UNA APA, in Rio Grande do Norte, are especially important because they protect both Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes, home to a wide variety of species. In addition to its ecological value, the Piquiri-UNA APA holds a great cultural importance, mainly because of the presence of the Indigenous Community Katu, which depends on the area for both its livelihood and cultural identity. Nowadays, the region faces challenges to its conservation and Sustainability, due to the expansion of human activities and land use change, which makes it urgent to map the area to define effective strategies. To observe land cover and land use changes in the area, we compared satellite images from 2003, 2013, and 2023. We observed that small scale agriculture was mainly substituted by temporary crops (mainly sugarcane) and also an increase in non-vegetated areas. Non-vegetated areas, include young plants of suggarcane or recently suggarcane harvested Fields. We also noted smaller changes, such as an increase in urban areas and a reduction in wetlands, rivers, and lakes. We conclude that, through the past two decades, agriculture changed from small-scale crops to large-scale cultivation focused mainly on sugarcane. We understand that mapping land cover and land use in the Piquiri-UNA APA is essential to identify its environmental pressures, plan conservation actions, and ensure the sustainability of the natural and cultural resources present in the area.pt-BRAttribution 3.0 Brazilhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/br/Área de proteção ambientalAgropecuáriaComunidade indígena KatuCobertura vegetalMapeamentoEnvironmental protection areaAgricultureIndigenous Katu communityVegetation coverMappingbachelorThesis