Mapping floristic communities in Southern Africa savannas, Mozambique

Rubens Manoel Dos Santos,Aurélio De Jesus Rodrigues Pais,Natasha Sofia Ribeiro

doi:10.1590/2175-7860202172010

Rubens Manoel Dos Santos, Aurélio De Jesus Rodrigues Pais + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-7860202172010

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Abstract

Abstract The present study was carried out in Limpopo National Park (LNP) with the objective to map floristic communities that occur inside the park. Three (3) Landsat 8 satellite images were obtained by Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) tools and were pre-processed and classified, culminating in six (6) types of land use and cover. The floristic survey consisted of stratified sampling in three (3) main LNP landscapes types, namely landscape of limestone soils, landscape of rhyolite shallow soils and landscape of deep sandy soils. The final map presents 13 floristic communities identified by the names of greatest value of ecological importance (IVI) species. The community of Terminalia sericea / Combretum apiculatum / Guibourtia conjugata / Colophospermum mopane presented a larger occurrence area. Colophospermum mopane was the most representative species among the mapped communities, mostly occurring in association with other species. The overall accuracy was 74% and the Kappa index was 68%, thus giving a good rating. The mapping also showed that human occupied areas are larger than some floristic communities areas, so we suggest that these smaller communities, should be given priority actions for their conservation, especially those without human occupation.

Highlights

Over the last century, a significant loss of forest cover has occurred at the global level due to anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, urbanization, mining and logging, jeopardizing biodiversity conservation (Geist & Lambin 2002; Díaz et al 2006; Bunting et al 2010)
Species coverage results corroborate studies done by Martini et al (2016) in Gonarezou Park, Zimbabwe, where they found greater representativeness of Colophospermum mopane in the mapped classes
C. mopane presents wide distribution in the park, this does not occur in a restricted way; it occurs associated with other species such as Combretum apiculatum, Terminalia sericea, and Guiboutia conjugata, among others (O’connor 1998; Sebego et al 2008; Gandiwa & Kativu 2009; Ribeiro et al 2010)

Summary

Introduction

A significant loss of forest cover has occurred at the global level due to anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, urbanization, mining and logging, jeopardizing biodiversity conservation (Geist & Lambin 2002; Díaz et al 2006; Bunting et al 2010). Forest resources are well known for being an integral component of a society’ economy and the environment (Chazdon 2008; Bullock et al 2011). These provide several products and ecosystem services such as food, fiber, wood and nutrient cycling (Isbell et al 2011; Ploton et al 2012), and play a vital role in maintaining ecological balance (Roy & Joshi 2002; Rai 2012). Growing awareness that forests provide multiple benefits to humankind has created a global concern for their protection and conservation (Roy & Joshi 2002; Balvanera et al 2006; Bullock et al 2011; Isbell et al 2011)

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