Household life cycle and land use in Santarém and Altamira, Pará, Brasil

Leah K. VanWey, Indiana University
Alvaro O. D'Antona, Indiana University
Eduardo S. Brondizio, Indiana University

This paper extends the household life cycle model of land use in the Amazon. We add larger scale socioeconomic factors in this microlevel model by comparing study areas. Altamira is a settlement area on the TransAmazon highway with regular lots and (non-indigenous) settlement beginning in the 1970s. Santarém is characterized by irregularly shaped and sized properties resulting from spontaneous settlement over a longer period. In each study area, we use graphical and regression methods to examine the relationships between land use / land cover and time since household formation, household age-sex composition, and time since acquisition of the lot by the household. Land use / land cover is measured using survey data and satellite data to test the stability of results between these two measurement strategies. We then compare the results of these models across study areas to determine the impact of differences in development between the two areas.