Drivers of Anthropogenic Threats to Tree Species Volume, Diversity, and Plant Species Richness, Within the Vegetation Types of Mramba Forest Reserve in Mwanga District, Northern Tanzania
الملخص
Plant species evaluation is a panacea for a sustainable management plan of forest reserves. An assessment of anthropogenic threats to tree species volume, diversity, and plant species richness, at Mramba Forest Reserve was conducted in December 2022. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to mark the plots together with the available shape files to produce the map of the study area. Plots of 20 m x 20 m were established, and trees with a diameter ≥ 5cm were measured at 1.3 m from ground level. 2 m x 5 m nested plots were set to determine woody non-trees, and 1 m x 1m sub-plots for determining the non-woody plants. Anthropogenic threats were recorded. The described vegetation types were; dry montane forest, shrubland with emergent trees, bushland, woodland, and wooded grassland. The calculated volume per diameter class was the highest in the fewer stems but with the largest trunk diameter. The diameter class of >50 cm got the largest volume (m3) of all (36,420 m3), followed by the diameter class of ≤30 -≥20 cm (11,617.14 m3), ≤40 - ≥31 cm (8,448.42), ≤20 - ≥11 cm (3,727.31 m3), ≤10 - ≥5 (659.617 m3). The woodland got the largest volume (44,450.85 m3) with 58 tree species, followed by dry montane forest (11,976.89 m3) with 29 tree species, bushland (6,430.64 m3) with 56 species, and wooded grassland got the least volume (153.99 m3) with 4 species. This implied that the difference in volume was contributed by the differences in the diameter sizes, heights, and the number of the measured tree stems. A total of 245 plant species were recorded, and of those 102 were trees with H' of 4.0318 implying high diversity tree diversity for MRAFR. The non-tree woody plants richness (S) was 70, and the non-woody plants richness (S) was 73. The recorded anthropogenic threats to the tree species volume, and plant S of MRAFR were; firewood collection, livestock grazing, charcoal making, poles and rods cutting. MFR comprises high plant taxa of different growth forms disturbed by anthropogenic activities, thus calling for further studies, regular patrols, alternative sources of energy provision, awareness creation and cons education to the community
التنزيلات
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الحقوق الفكرية (c) 2025 Canisius John Kayombo, Philipina F. Shayo, Grace A. Nchimbi, Andambike T. Mgogo
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