Abstract
 Effect of Land Use on Vegetation Dynamics in Samburu Track: Ecology and Conservation Author(s): Mugechi Nyoike The arid and semi-arid lands in Africa are under pressure from the increased human population that demand increased land for food production and settlement. This determines how land is used and this consequently affects the soil and vegetation. This paper will present preliminary findings of a study being undertaken for a master thesis. The research questions are: What are the land uses in the southern Samburu? Which plant species are present in the study area? and To what extent can spatial pattern of landforms and soil characteristics explain relation of the spatial distribution of the land use and vegetation dynamics? Soil and vegetation data were collected on 20x20 sample plots along transects. Position information of these plots were collected from GPS and stored as waypoints. Aerial photographs were used to collect land use data. Waypoints files were converted into ArcView shapefiles using mapsite 3.0. Mugechi Nyoike Kenyatta University Department of Geography P.O Box 43844 Nairobi , Nairobi 00100 KE Phone: 254(0) 20 81090 E-mail: mmugechi@yahoo.com |
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