Over the entire study area, annual forest clearings occurred on an average of 1552 clearings per year with an average area of 1951 ha per year. The extent of deforestation peaked for the year 2009 with 6237 ha of forest cleared in 4272 events. The year with the lowest forest clearing detected was 2001, with only 261 ha of forest cleared. In general, the dynamics of forest removal were highly variable during the whole study period. We observed the highest and the lowest forest area cleared during the first ten years. After 2011, clearings peaked in 2019, with 3154 ha cleared in 1948 events. Spatially, clearings were mostly clustered outside the boundaries of the PBSR and less frequent inside the PBSR.

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These results indicate that the study area has experienced lower deforestation rates compared to the reported statewide and regional deforestation processes in the Yucatan peninsula. Our results also show that forest clearing activities have remained low and stable within the PBSR, and although more frequent than within the PBSR, forest clearing has remained stable in the surroundings of the PBSR.
The comparison of the annual forest clearing dataset to remotely sensed carbon density and tree species models further reveals that the PBSR is controlling agricultural dynamics within its boundaries. Our results show that landowners are clearing forests with lower carbon density and tree species diversity in relation to what is available for them at the landscape scale.