Assessing Dominant Production Systems in the Eastern Amazon Forest

The expansion of agricultural frontiers in the Amazon region poses a significant threat to forest conservation and biodiversity persistence. This study focuses on Pará state, Brazil, aiming to identify and characterize the predominant production systems by combining remote sensing data and landscape structure metrics. A rule-based classification tree algorithm is applied to classify hexagonal cells based on land cover, deforestation patterns, and distance from dairy facilities. The results reveal three dominant production systems: Natural Region, Non-Intensive Beef, and Initial Front, with livestock production being prominent. The analysis indicates that there is a correlation between the productive area and deforestation, emphasizing the role of agriculture as a driver of forest loss. Moreover, road networks significantly influence production system spatial distribution, highlighting the importance of infrastructure in land use dynamics. The Shannon diversity index reveals that areas with production systems exhibit greater diversity in land use and land cover classes, reflecting a wider range of modifications. In contrast, natural vegetation areas show lower Shannon values, suggesting that these areas are more intact and are less affected by human activities. These findings underscore the urgent need for sustainable development policies that will mitigate threats to forest resilience and biodiversity in Pará state.