Kilimanjaro - Worksheet - Continued
|  | Recently logged indigenous trees | |
Vegetation zones
It is clear from inspecting the Landsat images that the vegetation runs around Kilimanjaro in distinctive zones.
The following zones have been detected:
- Snow, ice
- Rough grass, other plants
- Forest
- Cropland
- Grass and savanna woodland
- Bush, thorn trees, thicket
Click to Download the vegetation zones of Mt. Kilimanjaro (pdf).
Use the information obtained above and your inspection of the Landsat images to complete the profile showing the vegetation zones.
Describe and explain the vegetation zoning around Mt. Kilimanjaro:
Give an explanation for the zoning.
Name the main factors determining the zoning .
Why does precipitation decrease with height?
Why is the cropland only to be found on one side of the mountain?
Discuss the impact of farming.
| | | Burnt forest area |
The National Park and Forest Reserve
We will now investigate how the land is used along the boundary of the Kilimanjaro National Park and the Forest Reserve.
Download the GIS files here (584 Kb) .
The files showing these boundaries are in GIS .shp format:
- National_Park
- Forest_reserve
4) Open Kilim432 false colour image or the Kilim321 natural colour image you constructed and saved above.
Choose GIS/GIS tools. Select File/Open Theme in the GIS Tool for image ... window. Go to the GIS folder on your hard disk and select the National_Park file in the Open Theme window and click OK.
Select UTM as Transformation Method in the Select the Transformation Method window.
In the expanded window, select WGS 84 in the Datum name field, 37 in the UTM zone field, and North in the UTM Hemisphere field. Now click OK.
In the same way, open the Forest_reserve theme showing the boundary of the Forest Reserve.
Choose Edit/Properties in the GIS Tool for image... window to change the properties of the lines.
You can change the colour, line style and thickness.
Change the colour for the Forest Reserve boundary from red (default) to yellow, and click Apply.
Describe the vegetation along the boundary of the Forest Reserve and the National Park:
Find areas inside the Forest Reserve without trees.
How closely does the Forest Reserve boundary follow a line between the agricultural fields and the forest?
Describe the land use above the National Park boundary.
| | Charcoal kilns | |
Images from 1984
We will now analyse Landsat images from 1984 so as to observe the evolution over time.
5) Construct a natural colour image and a false colour image based on the Landsat images from 1984.
Overlay the GIS theme showing the National Park and the Forest Reserve as described above.
Compare the 1984 image with the 2000 image:
Find areas where the land use has changed.
Describe what kind of changes have occurred.
Find areas with extensive deforestation.
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