DIVERSITY AND GEO-SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES AND SHRUBS IN GURARA FOREST, KADUNA STATE
DIVERSITY AND GEO-SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES AND SHRUBS IN GURARA FOREST, KADUNA STATE
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Date
2015-11
Authors
ADAAJA, BLESSING OVAIYOZA
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Abstract
The study assessed the diversity oftree and shrub species and geo-spatial distribution of Gurara forest in Kaduna State. Primary data on the field was collected by employing the plot count techniques by randomly selecting five plots within the forest, measuring a 50 by 50 meters plot (0.5hectare) on the ground for each plot. Secondary data made use of LANDSAT images of the year 1991, 2000 and 2009 whichwere processed using Ilwiss 3.3a processing software. All the trees and shrubs species on the selected plots were enumerated. A total of 31 species were identifiedwith 3502 number of individual of trees and shrubs.Senegalia senegalspecies hadthe highest number of stand (1066) and a percentage composition of 30.44%.FamilyFabaceae,Rubiaceae, and Moraceae had multi-species of 10, 3 and 3 respectivelywhile some families had a single species within the family. Species diversity, evenness and similarities were determined between plots for the identified trees and shrubs species. Shannon -Wiener diversity values (H) for the five plots was recorded for trees and shrubs, for the tree species, Plot 5 had the highest diversity of 5.74 and Plot 4 with the least diversity of 0.95 for shrub species, we recorded 1.56 has the highest diversity and 0.65 as the least diversity respectively. For species abundance or evenness (E), the highest and least values for tree species were (2.12 and 0.62) and for shrub species (0.97 and 0.4) respectively, this implies that diversity and evenness were higher for trees as compared to the shrub species identified. Jaccard similarity indices indicated highest similarity of 80% among shrubs and 67% among trees. For the secondary data collection, the area was demarcated into shrub land, secondary forest, road networks, rock –outcrop, water bodies, farming and buildup areas.
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A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF A MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN BOTANY. DEPARTMNT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES FACULTY OF SCIENCES AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA NIGERIA.
Keywords
DIVERSITY,, GEO-SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION,, TREES,, SHRUBS,, GURARA FOREST,, KADUNA STATE,