title: Detecting Trends in Landuse and Landcover Change of Nech Sar National Park, Ethiopia.
abstract: Nech Sar National Park (NSNP) is one of the most important biodiversity centers in Ethiopia. In recent years, a widespread decline of the terrestrial ecosystems has been reported, yet to date there is no comprehensive assessment on degradation across the park. In this study, changes in landcover were analyzed using 30 m spatial resolution Landsat imagery. Interannual variations of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were examined and compared with climatic variables. The result presented seven landcover classes and five of the seven landcover classes (forest, bush/shrubland, wooded grassland, woodland and grassland) were related to natural vegetation and two landcover types (cultivated land and area under encroaching plants) were direct results of anthropogenic alterations of the landscape. The forest, grassland, and wooded grassland are the most threatened habitat types. A considerable area of the grassland has been replaced by encroaching plants, prominently by Dichrostachys cinerea, Acacia mellifera, A. nilotica, A. oerfota, and A. seyal and is greatly affected by expansion of herbaceous plants, most commonly the species of the family Malvaceae which include Abutilon anglosomaliae, A.bidentatum and A.figarianu. Thus, changes in vegetation of NSNP may be attributed to (i) degradation of existing vegetation through deforestation and (ii) replacement of existing vegetation by encroaching plants. While limited in local meteorological station, NDVI analysis indicated that climate related changes did not have major effects on park vegetation degradation, which suggests anthropogenic impacts as a major driver of observed disturbances.
authors: Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development, Chair of Ecosystem Planning and Management, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 518, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. aramde74@gmail.com.|Department of Natural Resource Management, Debremarkos University, P.O. Box 269, Debre Markos, Ethiopia. aramde74@gmail.com.
authors: Aramde
authors: A
authors: Fetene
authors: College of Forestry, Oregon State University, 231 Peavy Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Hilker
authors: Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development, Chair of Ecosystem Planning and Management, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 518, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors: Kumelachew
authors: K
authors: Yeshitela
authors: Institute of Environmental Planning, Leibniz University of Hannover, Herrenhäuser Straße 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany.
authors: Ruediger
authors: R
authors: Prasse
authors: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
authors: Warren
authors: W
authors: Cohen
authors: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
authors: Zhiqiang
authors: Z
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000639:trends*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005002:Ethiopia; D065928:Forests; D065948:Grassland; D000068316:Parks, Recreational
keywords: Degradation; Landcover; Landsat; NDVI; Nech Sar; Terrestrial