Impact of Land Use Changes on Diversity, Community Structure and Natural Regeneration of Woody Plant Species in a Moist Semi-Deciduous Forest
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Date
2013-03-17
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Abstract
The diversity, community structure and natural regeneration of woody plant species were assessed in twenty four 50m × 20m sampling plots. Within each of these plots, two 5m × 5m sub-plots were established for the assessment of regeneration species. These plots were established to represent the various land use forms in the study area. Land use change had significant impact on tree and liana diversity in the study (trees: p < 0.001; lianas: p < 0.001). With regard to trees the differences existed among all the habitats except between the secondary forest and logged forest. On the other hand, differences occurred between all the pairs of habitats except for the abandoned mine site and abandoned farm area pair. The mean canopy cover differed significantly (p < 0.001) among all the habitats. The difference in the mean canopy cover existed among all the habitats except between the secondary forest and the illegally logged forest. Whereas mean rank density differed significantly (p < 0.001), there was no significant difference in the mean diameter at breast height (dbh) (p = 0.52) among all the habitats. The Shannon diversity index for saplings differed significantly among the habitats (P = 0.022). The difference existed between the abandoned mined site and the rest of the habitats. There was no significant difference between sapling diversity among the other habitats. In the same way, there were significantly lower seedling diversity in the abandoned mined site (p <0.001) compared to the other habitats. Land use change had significant impact on the diversity, community structure and natural regeneration capacity of the study area.
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A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Master of Science in Environmental