Machine Learning-Based Cerrado Land Cover Classification Using PlanetScope Imagery

Abstract

The Cerrado domain, one of the richest on Earth, is among the most threatened in South America due to human activities, resulting in biodiversity loss, altered fire dynamics, water pollution, and other environmental impacts. Monitoring this domain is crucial for preserving its biodiversity and ecosystem services. This study aimed to apply machine learning techniques to classify the main vegetation formations of the Cerrado within the IBGE Ecological Reserve, a protected area in Brazil, using high-resolution PlanetScope imagery from 2021 to 2024. Three machine learning methods were evaluated: Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). A post-processing process was applied to avoid misclassification of forest in areas of savanna. After performance evaluation, the SVM method achieved the highest classification accuracy (overall accuracy of 97.51%, kappa coefficient of 0.9649) among the evaluated models. This study identified five main classes: grassland (GRA), savanna (SAV), bare soil (BS), samambaião (SAM, representing the superdominant species Pteridium esculentum), and forest (FOR). Over the three-year period (2021–2024), SAV and GRA formations were dominant in the reserve, reflecting the typical physiognomies of the Cerrado. This study successfully delineated areas occupied by the superdominant species P. esculentum, which was concentrated near gallery forests. The generated maps provide valuable insights into the vegetation dynamics within a protected area, aiding in monitoring efforts and suggesting potential new areas for protection in light of imminent anthropogenic threats. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of combining high-resolution satellite imagery with machine learning techniques for detailed vegetation mapping and monitoring in the Cerrado domain.