Assessing multi-decadal land-cover - land-use change in two wildlife protected areas in Tanzania using Landsat imagery.

ABSTRACT: Landscape change in and around protected areas is of concern worldwide given the potential impacts of such change on biodiversity. Given such impacts, we sought to understand the extent of changes in different land-cover types at two protected areas, Tarangire and Katavi National Parks in Tanzania, over the past 27 years. Using Maximum Likelihood classification procedures we derived eight land-cover classes from Landsat TM and ETM+ images, including: woody savannah, savannah, grassland, open and closed shrubland, swamp and water, and bare land. We determined the extent and direction of changes for all land-cover classes using a post-classification comparison technique. The results show declines in woody savannah and increases in barren land and swamps inside and outside Tarangire National

SUBMITTER: Mtui DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5619789 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature