Use of Phytosociology and Remote Sensing to Classify and Map the Vegetation in Protected Areas, Botswana

Abstract

In a natural environment, the vegetation is organized into different plant communities. The vegetation maps produced through phytosociological and remote sensing techniques can be used in the conservation, management, and monitoring of wildlife habitats in protected areas. A desk study was conducted to review studies conducted by various peer-reviewed researchers that used phytosociology and remote sensing methods to classify and map the vegetation in Botswana’s protected areas from 2000 to 2021. Seven studies were carried out in the last two decades, and four out of these studies were conducted in Northern Botswana. Even though a variety of satellite imagery was used, Landsat was the most commonly used. Maximum-likelihood supervised classification and random forest were the most common classification methods used to classify and map the vegetation. Vegetation maps are crucial in knowing which plant species occur in which protected areas, and they are used to manage effectively the vegetation in protected areas. It is important to incorporate phytosociology and remote sensing technology with the management of protected areas to conserve effectively and monitor the vegetation in these areas.