The dynamics of land use and land cover change in Nakasongola district
Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2012, Vol 2, Issue 5
Abstract
Landsat (TM) of 1986 and 1990 and Landsat (ETM+) of 2000 and 2004 for Nakasongola district were obtained and analyzed using the ILWIS 3.6 software using unsupervised classification. An overlay analysis of satellite images was conducted in order to understand the patterns of land use and cover change. Cultivation, coniferous plantations, bush and woody encroachment were the most pervasive land use and cover types encroaching on grasslands. The area covered by grassland decreased by 13.1% between 1986 and 2004. Between 1986 and 1990, much of the grasslands were converted to bushland (38,608 ha), woodland (19,659 ha) and cropland (9,159 ha) while between 1990 and 2000 were converted to woodland (21,838 ha), cropland (5,912 ha) and bushland (4,506 ha) and between 2000 and 2004, 33,354, ha were converted to woodland, 12,029 ha to bushland and 6,114 ha to cropland. Bush and woody encroachment engulfed 65%, 50% and 54% of grasslands in the periods of 1986 – 1990, 1990 – 2000 and 2000 – 2004 respectively. The rate at which grassland is lost to other land use/cover types is greater than the rate of grassland expansion meaning that grasslands are at the verge of disappearing if no conservation measures are instated to protect them.
Authors and Affiliations
Emmanuel Zziwa, Geoffrey Kironchi, Charles Gachene, Swidiq Mugerwa, Denis Mpairwe
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP37247
- DOI -
- Views 245
- Downloads 0
Growth and yield response of cotton varieties under different methods of fertilizer application
The cotton crop field experiment was conducted during khraif season 2012 in Soil Chemistry Section, at Agriculture Research Institute, Tandojam Sindh Pakistan. Objective of this study to evaluate the two cotton varieties...
Different growing substrates affect Periwinkle’s (Catharanthus roseus L.) growth and flowering
Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus L.) is one of the important ornamental and medicinal plants, due to the presence of the blue tint flowers and the indispensable anti-cancer drugs, vincristine and vinblastine. Therefore,...
Mitigation of the groundwater stresses via surface water harvesting in an arid environment
Groundwater resources are the most important water resources in many arid and semi-arid environments. Also groundwater resource is already under pressure in such area, but groundwater over extraction and climate change s...
Macroepiphytes and macroalgae (Phaeophyceae, rhodophyceae and chlorophyceae) in the nador lagoon (Morocco)
Many species of marine macroalgae support the development of attached communities on their external surfaces, studies on epiphytic algal communities are however rare in lagoonal environments. A major management plan wa...
Ecologic evaluation of cypress (Cupresuss sempervirens L.var.horizontalis) plantation in Abas Abad of Behshahr
The 26th years pure stand of cupresuss sempervirens with 40 ha and 2*2 m distance among trees in Abas Abad was selected to study increment of cupresuss sempervirens. The 100*75 m net and random-systematic method was us...