**6. Conclusions**

The Rio Canoas State Park is the largest remaining portion of the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (Araucaria Forest) surrounding the Campos Novos Hydroelectric Power Plant dam, in the southern region of Brazil. The forest ecosystem belongs to the Atlantic Forest Domain of South America, which is under the threat of extinction in the Santa Catarina state of Brazil.

Based on the work conducted, we conclude that the Principal Component Analysis associated with specific bands after conducting a field study is effective in detecting LULC changes when comparing two or more dates, particularly in understanding exactly where the changes occurred rather than what changes occurred.

The analysis conducted in the area surrounding the Rio Canoas State Park, which is established in 2004, for the period between 1990 and 2004 demonstrated that more than 95% of the park and the surrounding areas remained intact. The area, where the park is situated had no land cover change during this period and 3.1% of the surrounding areas showed changes, due to agriculture and silviculture practices. This change was minimal due to the continuous presence of agricultural monocrops in both summer and winter in the area surrounding the Park.

For the period between 2004 and 2016, it is observed that about 5663.78 ha (12.20% of the area) of the land cover surrounding the park changed, due to the reforestation of Pinus species. Within the park, we verified that 92.51% (1048.40 ha) are no-change areas, 6.6% (75.45 ha) presented changes (this includes regeneration of native species, land cover changes, due to the abandoning of agriculture within the park and invasive species), and the rest (0.89%) is the riverbed that entered the Park after the creation of the Campos Novos Hydroelectric Power Plant. This data indicates actions regarding the preservation of the vegetation cover within the Park to reduce the impacts of anthropic activities.

The areas surrounding the Park are characterized by cellulose, paper and wood industries. The reforestation areas with exotic species (e.g., *Pinus elliottii*, *P. taeda*) surrounding the Park are old and a part of the region´s economy. From an ecological point of view, it is important to avoid contamination of natural forest in the protected areas by such invasive species (*Pinus* sp. in particular), due to the proximity to the Park.

Furthermore, we demonstrated an increase in the Rio Canoas bed with the implementation of the Campos Novos Power Plant and concluded that there was an increase of 23.67 km<sup>2</sup> in 2016 when compared to 1997. This area advanced the initial limits of the Rio Canoas State Park, changed the landscape, caused the translocation of people, and flooding of the areas previously covered by ciliary forests. The results of this study can be used in the environmental managemen<sup>t</sup> of similar kinds of parks and surrounding areas, allowing the monitoring of the environmental legislation and managemen<sup>t</sup> plan, and guide plans of action.

In a nutshell, it was concluded that after the creation of the Rio Canoas State Park, some modifications were made to its LULC, such as the clearing of larger areas with Pinus plantations, in order to facilitate the regeneration of native species and to create projects to control the expansion of exotic species. The large-scale plantations of exotic species exist prior to the creation of the park and these areas contribute to the economy of the region. However, it is known that reforestation with these invasive species, such as *Pinus eliotti* and *P. taeda*, depending on how the plantations are conducted, may lead to the decrease in some of the native species and this may alter the natural diversity of the ecosystem. After the creation of the park, expansion of exotic species into the park has been reduced, due to the control measurements taken by the authorities. These factors project the importance of a time-series monitoring of the forest fragments of mixed ombrophilous forests belonging to the core zone of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve.

**Author Contributions:** All authors contributed equally to the text; M.S.L. and D.L.S. conducted field studies and B.K.V. prepared the figures.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
