ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGE AND FLORISTIC COMPOSITION OF KUWANKA BANZA FOREST RESERVE KEBBI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research on assessment of land use/land cover change and floristic composition of Kuwanka Banza Forest Reserve in Kebbi State was carried out to determine percentage change and extent of forest cover of the Reserve area between 1984 and 2013, the current land uses in the forest area as well as the distribution and abundance of woody species. Remote sensing techniques were used in this study, where 1984 and 2013 landsat imagries were processed and analyzed within the Idrissi and ArcGIS environments. With maximum likelihood supervised classification method preceded by unsupervised classification and ground truthing, eight classes of land use type namely rocky/bare surface, sparse grassland, dense grassland, fallow/cultivation, scrubs land, shrub land, forest and water were determined at 91% degree of classification accuracy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the changes between both dates. Results showed that between 1984 and 2013 rocky/bare surface expanded by 66%, sparse grassland decreased by 4%, dense grassland expanded by 11%, fallow cultivation expanded by 15%, scrub land reduced by 81% between 1984 and 2013, shrub land also reduced by 60% from 1984 to 2013, forest increased by 86% from 1984 to 2013 and water increased to 26%. Four sample plots each measuring 100x100m were randomly selected within the forest reserve and woody species found were enumerated by Point Centered Quarter Method (PCQ). A total of 331 woody species were encountered in the Reserve, belonging to twenty species, genera and 11 families. Caesalpiniaceae family had the highest number of five species in five genera, followed by combretaceae with three species belonging to three different genera. Families Sterculiaceae, Annonaceae, Sapotaceae, Mimosaceae, Meliaceae, Aselepiadeceae and Eblepiadeceae had one species each, while family Fabaceae had three species of Prosopis. Detarium microcarpium had the highest relative density and dominance of 19% and 21.49%, followed by Terminalia avicenoides with 18% an 20% respectively and the least was Lannea acida having 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Shannon’s diversity index was 2.41, species evenness (EH) stood at 0.12, and species richness (d) was 1.09. The study concluded that the area will continue to undergo forest degradation in the face of human activities without effective forest management. Public enlightenment, tree planting, establishment of cattle grazing and employment of more forest guards for improved forest management are recommended ABSTRACT This research on assessment of land use/land cover change and floristic composition of Kuwanka Banza Forest Reserve in Kebbi State was carried out to determine percentage change and extent of forest cover of the Reserve area between 1984 and 2013, the current land uses in the forest area as well as the distribution and abundance of woody species. Remote sensing techniques were used in this study, where 1984 and 2013 landsat imagries were processed and analyzed within the Idrissi and ArcGIS environments. With maximum likelihood supervised classification method preceded by unsupervised classification and ground truthing, eight classes of land use type namely rocky/bare surface, sparse grassland, dense grassland, fallow/cultivation, scrubs land, shrub land, forest and water were determined at 91% degree of classification accuracy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the changes between both dates. Results showed that between 1984 and 2013 rocky/bare surface expanded by 66%, sparse grassland decreased by 4%, dense grassland expanded by 11%, fallow cultivation expanded by 15%, scrub land reduced by 81% between 1984 and 2013, shrub land also reduced by 60% from 1984 to 2013, forest increased by 86% from 1984 to 2013 and water increased to 26%. Four sample plots each measuring 100x100m were randomly selected within the forest reserve and woody species found were enumerated by Point Centered Quarter Method (PCQ). A total of 331 woody species were encountered in the Reserve, belonging to twenty species, genera and 11 families. Caesalpiniaceae family had the highest number of five species in five genera, followed by combretaceae with three species belonging to three different genera. Families Sterculiaceae, Annonaceae, Sapotaceae, Mimosaceae, Meliaceae, Aselepiadeceae and Eblepiadeceae had one species each, while family Fabaceae had three species of Prosopis. Detarium microcarpium had the highest relative density and dominance of 19% and 21.49%, followed by Terminalia avicenoides with 18% an 20% respectively and the least was Lannea acida having 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Shannon’s diversity index was 2.41, species evenness (EH) stood at 0.12, and species richness (d) was 1.09. The study concluded that the area will continue to undergo forest degradation in the face of human activities without effective forest management. Public enlightenment, tree planting, establishment of cattle grazing and employment of more forest guards for improved forest management are recommended ABSTRACT This research on assessment of land use/land cover change and floristic composition of Kuwanka Banza Forest Reserve in Kebbi State was carried out to determine percentage change and extent of forest cover of the Reserve area between 1984 and 2013, the current land uses in the forest area as well as the distribution and abundance of woody species. Remote sensing techniques were used in this study, where 1984 and 2013 landsat imagries were processed and analyzed within the Idrissi and ArcGIS environments. With maximum likelihood supervised classification method preceded by unsupervised classification and ground truthing, eight classes of land use type namely rocky/bare surface, sparse grassland, dense grassland, fallow/cultivation, scrubs land, shrub land, forest and water were determined at 91% degree of classification accuracy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the changes between both dates. Results showed that between 1984 and 2013 rocky/bare surface expanded by 66%, sparse grassland decreased by 4%, dense grassland expanded by 11%, fallow cultivation expanded by 15%, scrub land reduced by 81% between 1984 and 2013, shrub land also reduced by 60% from 1984 to 2013, forest increased by 86% from 1984 to 2013 and water increased to 26%. Four sample plots each measuring 100x100m were randomly selected within the forest reserve and woody species found were enumerated by Point Centered Quarter Method (PCQ). A total of 331 woody species were encountered in the Reserve, belonging to twenty species, genera and 11 families. Caesalpiniaceae family had the highest number of five species in five genera, followed by combretaceae with three species belonging to three different genera. Families Sterculiaceae, Annonaceae, Sapotaceae, Mimosaceae, Meliaceae, Aselepiadeceae and Eblepiadeceae had one species each, while family Fabaceae had three species of Prosopis. Detarium microcarpium had the highest relative density and dominance of 19% and 21.49%, followed by Terminalia avicenoides with 18% an 20% respectively and the least was Lannea acida having 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Shannon’s diversity index was 2.41, species evenness (EH) stood at 0.12, and species richness (d) was 1.09. The study concluded that the area will continue to undergo forest degradation in the face of human activities without effective forest management. Public enlightenment, tree planting, establishment of cattle grazing and employment of more forest guards for improved forest management are recommended ABSTRACT This research on assessment of land use/land cover change and floristic composition of Kuwanka Banza Forest Reserve in Kebbi State was carried out to determine percentage change and extent of forest cover of the Reserve area between 1984 and 2013, the current land uses in the forest area as well as the distribution and abundance of woody species. Remote sensing techniques were used in this study, where 1984 and 2013 landsat imagries were processed and analyzed within the Idrissi and ArcGIS environments. With maximum likelihood supervised classification method preceded by unsupervised classification and ground truthing, eight classes of land use type namely rocky/bare surface, sparse grassland, dense grassland, fallow/cultivation, scrubs land, shrub land, forest and water were determined at 91% degree of classification accuracy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the changes between both dates. Results showed that between 1984 and 2013 rocky/bare surface expanded by 66%, sparse grassland decreased by 4%, dense grassland expanded by 11%, fallow cultivation expanded by 15%, scrub land reduced by 81% between 1984 and 2013, shrub land also reduced by 60% from 1984 to 2013, forest increased by 86% from 1984 to 2013 and water increased to 26%. Four sample plots each measuring 100x100m were randomly selected within the forest reserve and woody species found were enumerated by Point Centered Quarter Method (PCQ). A total of 331 woody species were encountered in the Reserve, belonging to twenty species, genera and 11 families. Caesalpiniaceae family had the highest number of five species in five genera, followed by combretaceae with three species belonging to three different genera. Families Sterculiaceae, Annonaceae, Sapotaceae, Mimosaceae, Meliaceae, Aselepiadeceae and Eblepiadeceae had one species each, while family Fabaceae had three species of Prosopis. Detarium microcarpium had the highest relative density and dominance of 19% and 21.49%, followed by Terminalia avicenoides with 18% an 20% respectively and the least was Lannea acida having 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Shannon’s diversity index was 2.41, species evenness (EH) stood at 0.12, and species richness (d) was 1.09. The study concluded that the area will continue to undergo forest degradation in the face of human activities without effective forest management. Public enlightenment, tree planting, establishment of cattle grazing and employment of more forest guards for improved forest management are recommended ABSTRACT This research on assessment of land use/land cover change and floristic composition of Kuwanka Banza Forest Reserve in Kebbi State was carried out to determine percentage change and extent of forest cover of the Reserve area between 1984 and 2013, the current land uses in the forest area as well as the distribution and abundance of woody species. Remote sensing techniques were used in this study, where 1984 and 2013 landsat imagries were processed and analyzed within the Idrissi and ArcGIS environments. With maximum likelihood supervised classification method preceded by unsupervised classification and ground truthing, eight classes of land use type namely rocky/bare surface, sparse grassland, dense grassland, fallow/cultivation, scrubs land, shrub land, forest and water were determined at 91% degree of classification accuracy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the changes between both dates. Results showed that between 1984 and 2013 rocky/bare surface expanded by 66%, sparse grassland decreased by 4%, dense grassland expanded by 11%, fallow cultivation expanded by 15%, scrub land reduced by 81% between 1984 and 2013, shrub land also reduced by 60% from 1984 to 2013, forest increased by 86% from 1984 to 2013 and water increased to 26%. Four sample plots each measuring 100x100m were randomly selected within the forest reserve and woody species found were enumerated by Point Centered Quarter Method (PCQ). A total of 331 woody species were encountered in the Reserve, belonging to twenty species, genera and 11 families. Caesalpiniaceae family had the highest number of five species in five genera, followed by combretaceae with three species belonging to three different genera. Families Sterculiaceae, Annonaceae, Sapotaceae, Mimosaceae, Meliaceae, Aselepiadeceae and Eblepiadeceae had one species each, while family Fabaceae had three species of Prosopis. Detarium microcarpium had the highest relative density and dominance of 19% and 21.49%, followed by Terminalia avicenoides with 18% an 20% respectively and the least was Lannea acida having 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Shannon’s diversity index was 2.41, species evenness (EH) stood at 0.12, and species richness (d) was 1.09. The study concluded that the area will continue to undergo forest degradation in the face of human activities without effective forest management. Public enlightenment, tree planting, establishment of cattle grazing and employment of more forest guards for improved forest management are recommended ABSTRACT This research on assessment of land use/land cover change and floristic composition of Kuwanka Banza Forest Reserve in Kebbi State was carried out to determine percentage change and extent of forest cover of the Reserve area between 1984 and 2013, the current land uses in the forest area as well as the distribution and abundance of woody species. Remote sensing techniques were used in this study, where 1984 and 2013 landsat imagries were processed and analyzed within the Idrissi and ArcGIS environments. With maximum likelihood supervised classification method preceded by unsupervised classification and ground truthing, eight classes of land use type namely rocky/bare surface, sparse grassland, dense grassland, fallow/cultivation, scrubs land, shrub land, forest and water were determined at 91% degree of classification accuracy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the changes between both dates. Results showed that between 1984 and 2013 rocky/bare surface expanded by 66%, sparse grassland decreased by 4%, dense grassland expanded by 11%, fallow cultivation expanded by 15%, scrub land reduced by 81% between 1984 and 2013, shrub land also reduced by 60% from 1984 to 2013, forest increased by 86% from 1984 to 2013 and water increased to 26%. Four sample plots each measuring 100x100m were randomly selected within the forest reserve and woody species found were enumerated by Point Centered Quarter Method (PCQ). A total of 331 woody species were encountered in the Reserve, belonging to twenty species, genera and 11 families. Caesalpiniaceae family had the highest number of five species in five genera, followed by combretaceae with three species belonging to three different genera. Families Sterculiaceae, Annonaceae, Sapotaceae, Mimosaceae, Meliaceae, Aselepiadeceae and Eblepiadeceae had one species each, while family Fabaceae had three species of Prosopis. Detarium microcarpium had the highest relative density and dominance of 19% and 21.49%, followed by Terminalia avicenoides with 18% an 20% respectively and the least was Lannea acida having 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Shannon’s diversity index was 2.41, species evenness (EH) stood at 0.12, and species richness (d) was 1.09. The study concluded that the area will continue to undergo forest degradation in the face of human activities without effective forest management. Public enlightenment, tree planting, establishment of cattle grazing and employment of more forest guards for improved forest management are recommended