Discovery and enumeration of Swahilian Coastal Forests in Lindi region, Tanzania, using Landsat TM data analysis

The Swahilian Coastal Forests in eastern Africa are recognised to be a globally important habitat containing large numbers of endemic species, yet are still poorly known over much of their extent. Floristic diversity and endemism in these forests appears to peak in SE Tanzania, where only a few forests have hitherto been surveyed. We carried out a digital analysis of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data to identify other potential areas of Coastal Forest in Lindi and Kilwa Districts, SE Tanzania, followed by a field survey to ground truth and fine-tune our analysis. Our analysis has identified, mapped and sub-classified all remaining areas of Coastal Forest in Lindi and Kilwa Districts, and includes the discovery of a large and hitherto undescribed area of Coastal Forest at Namatimbili, which would make it one of the largest known blocks of contiguous Coastal Forest in eastern Africa. This forest furthermore appears to be minimally impacted by human disturbance. Given the rapidly increasing threats to forested vegetation in this area, urgent efforts are required by the conservation community to ensure the immediate and continued protection of Namatimbili forest.

[1]  G. Foody,et al.  Classification of tropical forest classes from Landsat TM data. , 1996 .

[2]  R. A. Schonengertt.  Techniques for Image Processing and Classification in Remote Sensing , 1983 .

[3]  Russell G. Congalton,et al.  Assessing the accuracy of remotely sensed data : principles and practices , 1998 .

[4]  E. Robbrecht,et al.  Chorology, Taxonomy and Ecology of the Floras of Africa and Madagascar , 1998 .

[5]  S. Bidgood,et al.  Bauhinia loeseneriana Reinstated, with Notes on the Forests of the Rondo Plateau, Se Tanzania , 1992 .

[6]  Giles M. Foody,et al.  Tree biodiversity in protected and logged Bornean tropical rain forests and its measurement by satellite remote sensing , 2003 .

[7]  R. Stebbings,et al.  Distribution and status of bats in Europe , 1986 .

[8]  M. Raffy,et al.  Change of scale theory: a capital challenge for space observation of earth , 1994 .

[9]  Paul V. Bolstad,et al.  Coordinating methodologies for scaling landcover classifications from site-specific to global: Steps toward validating global map products , 1999 .

[10]  Giles M. Foody,et al.  Separability of tropical rain-forest types in the Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone, Peru , 1994 .

[11]  G. Clarke,et al.  Coastal forests of eastern Africa , 2000 .

[12]  John R. Jensen,et al.  Introductory Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective , 1986 .

[13]  G. Clarke.  The Lindi local centre of endemism in SE Tanzania , 2001 .

[14]  Hanna Tuomisto,et al.  Use of digitally processed satellite images in studies of tropical rain forest vegetation , 1994 .

[15]  Eduardo S. Brondizio,et al.  INTEGRATING AMAZONIAN VEGETATION, LAND-USE, AND SATELLITE DATA , 1994 .

[16]  Jorgen B. Thomsen,et al.  Biodiversity Hotspots and Major Tropical Wilderness Areas: Approaches to Setting Conservation Priorities , 1998 .

[17]  R. Lenz,et al.  Satellite Image Analysis , 1983 .

[18]  D. Sheil.  Tanzanian coastal forests – unique, threatened, and overlooked , 1992, Oryx.

[19]  R. G. Oderwald,et al.  Assessing Landsat classification accuracy using discrete multivariate analysis statistical techniques. , 1983 .