Abstract：
Land cover changes threaten biodiversity and alter the geographic distribution of forests worldwide. Studies on this topic are important to establish conservation strategies and public policies. However, different studies may propose different spatial representations due to differences when identifying, classifying, and/or mapping the same vegetation formation, as observed for the Cocais Forest region. This palm-dominated ecosystem predominates the Brazilian mid-north region in an ecotone region with 3 of the 6 Brazilian biomes. In this study, we conducted a literature review of studies that delineated and mapped the Cocais Forest, aiming to compare different mapped regions and to establish a new distribution map integrating these spatial data. We found seven sources that revealed spatial divergences in identifying the spatial distribution of Cocais Forest, including its characteristics in terms of size and shape, which could affect the conservation, socioeconomic, and cultural policies and studies carried out on this emblematic vegetation formation and influence area. The delineation proposed by de Sousa Nascimento and Lima (Revista de Políticas Públicas 189-192, 2016) encompassed the largest area. In addition, there was a lack of consensus regarding the nomenclature for this ecosystem, and few works offered a detailed description of the mapping process. Despite the different spatial distributions found for the Cocais Forest, we succeeded in establishing a common area by overlapping individual maps, resulting in the identification of a core region exclusive located in the State of Maranhão.
摘要：
土地覆盖变化威胁着生物多样性，并改变了全球森林的地理分布。有关该主题的研究对于建立保护策略和公共政策很重要。然而,由于识别时的差异，不同的研究可能会提出不同的空间表示，分类，和/或绘制相同的植被形成图，正如在科卡斯森林地区观察到的那样。这种以棕榈为主的生态系统在过渡带地区的巴西中北部地区占主导地位，其中6个巴西生物群落中有3个。在这项研究中,我们对描绘和绘制科卡斯森林的研究进行了文献综述，旨在比较不同的地图区域，并建立整合这些空间数据的新分布图。我们发现了七个来源，这些来源揭示了在确定科卡斯森林的空间分布时的空间差异，包括它在大小和形状方面的特征，这可能会影响保护，社会经济,以及对这一标志性植被形成和影响区进行的文化政策和研究。deSousaNascimento和利马提出的划界（RevistadePolíticasPúblicas189-192，2016）涵盖了最大的区域。此外,关于这个生态系统的命名缺乏共识，很少有作品提供了映射过程的详细描述。尽管Cocais森林的空间分布不同，我们通过重叠单独的地图成功地建立了一个共同的区域，从而确定了位于马拉尼昂州的专属核心地区。
