Survey of Vegetation cover Changes in Forcados Area of the Niger Delta

Abstract

Time Lapse Analysis revealed that Water class changed slightly across the three epochs. The water class was 312.39km 2 in 1988, 312.55km 2 in 1998 and 312.81km 2 in 2008. Mature forest (Forest I) occupied 69.96 km2 1988 and decreased continuously to 55.59 km 2 in 1998 and 41.9km 2 in 2008. Forest II (Secondary forest) was 3.43km 2 in 1988. This increased to 21.56km 2 in 1998 and 31.41km 2 in 2008. Mangrove class which covered 15.97km 2 in 1988 decreased to 10.76 km 2 in 1998 and 10.22km 2 in 2008. Stressed Vegetation occupied 2.42km 2 in 1988, and increased to 2.6 km 2 in 1998 and then increased to 3.33 km 2 in 2008. Urban/Industrial/Sand class increased across the epochs; from 1.94km 2 in 1988 to 3.05 km 2 in 1998, and 6.44km 2 in 2008. The major changes are the decline in the areal coverage of mature forest by about 21% between 1988 and 1998 and 40% from 1988-2008; phenonmenal increase of secondary forest by over 800% between 1988 and 2008; decline in the areal coverage of mangrove vegetation by about 37% from 1988-2008; and progressive increase in the area occupied by stressed vegetation by 7% from 1988-1998 and 38% from 1988-2008. The results of this study underscore the need for a field study to verify the results obtained from the unsupervised image classification carried out in this work. That some major changes have taken in the biophysical environment around Forcados between 1988 and 2008 is not in doubt from this study. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage . Dec, 2012, Vol. 16 (4) 371-384