Landscapes as continuous entities: forest disturbance and recovery in the Albertine Rift landscape |
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| Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Joel?HartterEmail author Email author" target="_blank">Sadie?J?RyanEmail author Jane?Southworth Colin?A?Chapman |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geography, University of New Hampshire, 102 Huddleston Hall, 73 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824, USA;(2) Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, Illick Hall, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, (SUNY-ESF), Syracuse, NY 13210, USA;(3) Department of Geography, Land Use and Environmental Change Institute (LUECI), PO Box 117315, 3141 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA;(4) McGill School of Environment, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T7, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Kibale National Park, within the Albertine Rift, is known for its rich biodiversity. High human population density and agricultural
conversion in the surrounding landscape have created enormous resource pressure on forest fragments outside the park. Kibale
presents a complex protected forest landscape comprising intact forest inside the park, logged areas inside the park, a game
corridor with degraded forest, and forest fragments in the landscape surrounding the park. To explore the effect of these
different levels of forest management and protection over time, we assessed forest change over the previous three decades,
using both discrete and continuous data analyses of satellite imagery. Park boundaries have remained fairly intact and forest
cover has been maintained or increased inside the park, while there has been a high level of deforestation in the landscape
surrounding the park. While absolute changes in land cover are important changes in vegetation productivity, within land cover
classes are often more telling of longer term changes and future directions of change. The park has lower Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI) values than the forest fragments outside the park and the formerly logged area—probably due to forest
regeneration and early succession stage. The corridor region has lower productivity, which is surprising given this is also
a newer regrowth region and so should be similar to the logged and forest fragments. Overall, concern can be raised for the
future trajectory of this park. Although forest cover has been maintained, forest health may be an issue, which for future
management, climate change, biodiversity, and increased human pressure may signify troubling signs. |
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