Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Vegetation Dynamics in the Semi Arid Belt of Nigeria
Keywords:
Change detection, Degradation, image differencing, Landsat, Remote Sensing, vegetation index
Abstract
Vegetation is an important component of the ecosystem that provides habitat for wildlife and maintains the functioning of the ecosystem. However, improper use of this vital natural resource by humans has undermined its integrity in meeting some of its objectives. Hence, there is the need to monitor and manage this important component of the ecosystem. This study therefore, assesses the application of different vegetation indices in the study of arid land vegetation dynamics. The results show that there is significant relationship between rainfall and NDVI at the 95 percent (p=0.05) level of significance while the other vegetation indices show no significant relationships in the period spanning 1972 and 2007. NDVI, GVI and TSAVI are the ones with strong negative linear correlations (r = -0.92, -0.75 and -0.77 respectively) with rainfall while PVI and WDVI have weak linear relationship with rainfall. (r = 0.15 and 0.29). This means that rainfall is not the major determinant of vegetation cover dynamics in the study area in spite of increase in rainfall between 1972 and 2007. It thus appears that other factors like human activities might have influenced the changes in vegetation cover of the study area.
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2013-09-25
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