Estimation of the aboveground biomass in the trans-boundary River Sio Sub-catchment in Uganda
Loading...
Date
2010-06
Authors
Obando, Joy Apiyo
Barasa, B.
Majaliwa, M.G.J.
Lwasa, S.
Bamutaze, Y.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Port Harcourt
Abstract
The enormous land cover in Uganda is rapidly being depleted or encroached. To examine this, the study aimed at estimating the above-ground biomass in River Sio sub-catchment in Uganda. The study utilized an ortho-rectified Landsat TM/ETM image of 2004 which was classified using NDVI classification system for the aboveground biomass assessment in ILWIS 3.3 software. A total of 42 homogenous sampling sites were identified for biomass estimation along six laid transects measuring 500m long. The seven randomly selected sampling plots measured 50m X 50 m. The classification showed that Bushlands (0.17), wetlands (0.03) and small scale farming (0.29-0.03) had relatively more medium and low biomass ranges compared to grasslands (-0.41/-0.29) which mainly comprised of bare land. The above ground biomass was relatively higher in bushlands (4.9 tons) and wetlands (4.7 tons) compared to non-uniform small scale farming (farmlands) with 3.9 tons and grasslands with 1.6 tons. The variation in biomass shows that the sub-catchment requires an urgent need for land use/cover planning and management to prevent further degradation of land cover.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2010, pp. 87-90