Ecosystem Resilience and Land-Use Governance: Remote Sensing Insights for Environmental Management in a Tropical Dry Forest

Ecosystem Resilience and Land-Use Governance: Remote Sensing Insights for Environmental Management in a Tropical Dry Forest | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Ecosystem Resilience and Land-Use Governance: Remote Sensing Insights for Environmental Management in a Tropical Dry Forest Lucas Nascimento da Silva, Bartolomeu Israel de Souza This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9430187/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests, such as the Caatinga, are increasingly exposed to climatic and anthropogenic pressures. This study assessed ecosystem resilience as well as the drivers of vegetation dynamics in this Brazilian biome from 2004 to 2024. Temporal trends in Net Primary Productivity (NPP) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) were analyzed, evaluating the relative contributions of climatic factors and the structural role of different governance regimes. Results indicate that NPP and WUE remained statistically stable, suggesting adaptive resilience in response to regional warming trends. Surface moisture (LSWI) emerged as the primary predictor of phenological response, surpassing the isolated effect of precipitation and highlighting the system’s water retention capacity. While climate drives interannual variability, governance regimes influence long-term land-use trajectories. Protected Areas (Conservation Units) and Indigenous Lands functioned as effective ecological refugia, exhibiting strong edge resilience and high restoration rates. In contrast, Quilombola Territories displayed a pronounced dichotomy, encompassing both near-pristine conservation and severe degradation, likely reflecting disparities in land tenure security. Legal recognition should be coupled with urgent land tenure regularization. Public policies should shift from emergency subsidies toward promoting soil water retention practices and economic incentives, particularly in currently degraded, unprotected areas. Caatinga Net Primary Productivity Governance regimes Ecosystem resilience Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SuplementaryMaterialSilva.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 17 May, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 21 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 19 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 15 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9430187","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":629912900,"identity":"b942d8f9-0b47-4a47-a932-e8b860d8b0ac","order_by":0,"name":"Lucas Nascimento da Silva","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5klEQVRIie3PPQrCMBTA8ZTA6/Jo10j9uEKh0EXQq1QKTqWLi+KgIDh5nswFQa+g2MEquHcQ2s0YFXQw7SiY/5CE8H6QEKLT/WDWcw+A2vlRHNBSTMvgRSxz7rl3AqrxD9LGxGfvN98JC7O8IGkMLBhOrlGvCYRmp52SDD0HyWUkyObQ4qF4GHhepCQRcQhZD5ZssDw0OBUEwakgtCwkCWHU4LNaBBjeCW7AyPm6BsGL30VX/MVcUcfgWwRa8RfbDM/7YpzGnQUaecmnfdtcZGcVeeQmcqMo18px2YMYRb1pnU6n+7NushA98I4W800AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lucas","middleName":"Nascimento da","lastName":"Silva","suffix":""},{"id":629912901,"identity":"280491a1-5139-4a1f-b919-ba34d5964225","order_by":1,"name":"Bartolomeu Israel de Souza","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bartolomeu","middleName":"Israel","lastName":"de Souza","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-15 18:09:00","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9430187/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9430187/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108183157,"identity":"47a96c69-7792-4afb-afd8-7e372f6a2d9a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-30 08:59:49","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4763043,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MainDocumentsilvasn.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9430187/v1_covered_04145a7b-0a28-4106-8093-d07cbac7ea13.pdf"},{"id":108139968,"identity":"4bf433ca-ce38-4794-beee-aac2973a0fbb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-29 18:44:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":255717,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SuplementaryMaterialSilva.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9430187/v1/509786e6d275d194abb548e9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Ecosystem Resilience and Land-Use Governance: Remote Sensing Insights for Environmental Management in a Tropical Dry Forest","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"environmental-management","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"emvm","sideBox":"Learn more about [Environmental Management](http://link.springer.com/journal/267)","snPcode":"267","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/267/3","title":"Environmental Management","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Caatinga, Net Primary Productivity, Governance regimes, Ecosystem resilience","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9430187/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9430187/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSeasonally Dry Tropical Forests, such as the Caatinga, are increasingly exposed to climatic and anthropogenic pressures. 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