Zonas funcionales y unidades de paisaje fisico-geográfico en la microcuenca Potrero de la Palmita, Nayarit, México

The functional zones and the landscape units of a micro-basin allow systematically analyzing the current and future processes in the subsystems and historical-evolutionary dynamics of its components (environmental, social and economic), while allowing to work with different scales of analysis. This work aims at defining functional zones and the classification of physical-geographical landscape units in the Potrero de la Palmita micro-basin, Nayarit, Mexico to describe, diagnose and contribute to the planning and management of actions for the use of natural resources. In order to fulfill the objective, the method of defining functional zones at national level (Mexico) and the method for the semi-automated generation of physical-geographic landscape units adapted at a local scale (1: 10,000) were used. The result was the delimitation of three functional zones; reception (high), transition (mid) and discharge (low). In addition, 39 landscape units were identified for the three zones -17 correspond to the upper zone, 18 to the middle zone, and 4 to the lower zone. The research represented a viable methodology to work on a scale of great detail. This because the analysis of the vertical and horizontal structure of the units of physical-geographical landscape helped obtain a basis of the dynamics and processes that are carried out in the micro watershed to contribute in strategies aimed at the management, planning, and use of the resources of a territory.