THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES IN ASSESSING THE DISTRIBUTION TRENDS OF COMMIPHORA MYRRHA IN WAJIR COUNTY, KENYA

<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">A study was conducted to establish the current trend in distribution of </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Italic; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">Commiphora myrr...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: A. Luvanda, G. Wanjiru, E. Makatiani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Laboratory of Complex Mapping, Faculty of Geography, MSU 2014-01-01
Series:InterCarto. InterGIS
Online Access:http://intercarto.msu.ru/jour/article/view/45
Description
Summary:<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">A study was conducted to establish the current trend in distribution of </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Italic; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">Commiphora myrrha</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;"> in its natural stands in Wajir County. Data was collected through observation, interviews and questionnaires, photographs (remote sensing images) using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to to mark the plant’s hot spots and locate the tree stand coordinates. A supervised classification of Land Sat images acquired in 2003, 2009 and 2011 was undetaken. The results show that </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Italic; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">C. myrrha </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">covers an average area of 61,620.23Ha. The area under </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Italic; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;">C. myrrha</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9px; color: #000000;"> had declined between 2009 and 2011 and this could be attributed to human and environmental factors. It is therefore recommended that sustainable management and conservation strategies be adopted to ensure imprived tree cover.</span></p>
ISSN:2414-9179
2414-9209