Tree characteristics and vegetation structure in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent farmlands in Gede, Kilifi County, Kenya
Latest version published by National Museums of Kenya on Nov 21, 2018
We present data on tree characteristics and vegetation structure in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) and human-modified habitats (farmlands) on the eastern part of this coastal forest in Gede, Kilifi County Kenya. A total of 210 Point-Centered Quarter (PCQ) points were used to sample vegetation in each habitat type. Each PCQ point was ≥ 30 m distant from each other, and in each quarter of the PCQ point we recorded the following data: the nearest tree species of at least 20 cm Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), its crown diameter and distant of the tree from the centre of PCQ point. At the centre of each PCQ we also recorded percentage understory vegetation density and canopy cover. Results show that the interior of ASF was dominated by indigenous trees (Brachystegia spiciformis (30%), followed by Cynometra webberi (29%) and Manilkara sansibarensis (18); while in the farmland it was dominated by exotic fruit trees (coconut (Cocos nucifera (54%), followed by mango (Mangifera indica (31%) and cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale (11%). The mean distance between trees (>20cm in DBH) in the farmlands (9.5M) was smaller than in the forest interior (10.95M). The % understory vegetation density of forest interior (38.2 ±1.5) was higher than that of the farmlands (5.8 ± 1.3). The % canopy cover of the forest (42.8±1.4) was more closed than that of the farmlands (29.3 ±1.9). This information provides a baseline information on the vegetation structure of the two main habitat types, and can be used to monitor habitat structure trends in the long run.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,679 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Downloads
Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:
Data as a DwC-A file | download 1,679 records in English (21 KB) - Update frequency: unknown |
---|---|
Metadata as an EML file | download in English (15 KB) |
Metadata as an RTF file | download in English (14 KB) |
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Musila S, Syingi R, Gichuki N, Castro-Arellano I (2018): Tree characteristics and vegetation structure in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent farmlands in Gede, Kilifi County, Kenya. v1.2. National Museums of Kenya. Dataset/Occurrence. http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=vegetation2016&v=1.2
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is National Museums of Kenya. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 10a90c7d-6459-45b3-a0f2-a507a54bbc9f. National Museums of Kenya publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Kenya.
Keywords
Observation; Vegetation; Structure; Brachystegia; Cynometra; farmlands; Arabuko Sokoke Forest; Gede; Occurrence
Contacts
Who created the resource:
Who can answer questions about the resource:
Who filled in the metadata:
Who else was associated with the resource:
Geographic Coverage
The interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) and adjacent farmlands around Gede (especially Mtsangoni, Mida, Arabuko, Gede, Watamu and Msabaha villages), Kenya
Bounding Coordinates | South West [-3.504, 39.79], North East [-3.197, 40.018] |
---|
Taxonomic Coverage
Various plants taxon
Kingdom | Plantae |
---|
Temporal Coverage
Start Date / End Date | 2016-11-11 / 2016-11-27 |
---|
Project Data
No Description available
Title | Factors influencing bat community structure and temporal activity patterns in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent human-modified habitats, Gede-Malindi, Kenya |
---|---|
Identifier | BID-AF2017-0274-NAC |
Funding | The project was funded by British Ecological Society (Ecologists in Africa (http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/funding/ecologists-in-africa/) grant Number 4632-5670) and Sino-African Joint Research Center, CAS (SAJC201612). We appreciate the guidance provided by Simon Kajengo during vegetation surveys in Gede villages and assistance in data collection by Aaron Musyoka. |
Study Area Description | Point-centered Quarter (PCQ) method (Cottam and Curtis 1956; Cintrón and Schaeffer 1984) was used to sample woody vegetation in ASF and farmland where bats were studied. PCQ points were ≥ 30 m distant from each other so as to avoid sampling the same trees on two different points. In each quarter we recorded the nearest tree species of at least 20 cm Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) measured by ruler, and the distance of the tree from the centre of the PCQ point estimated by pacing (Mitchell 2007). A total of 70 PCQ points were selected each in Cynometra, Brachystegia and mixed vegetation types in ASF, as well each in mango, coconut and mixed tree plots on the farmlands. We used cover boards to assess percent understory vegetation density (Robel et al. 1970; Devos and Mosby 1971; Nudds 1977). A plywood board, painted in white-and-red checkerboard pattern (twenty five 10 ×10 cm squares) was used to assess % understory vegetation density around each PCQ point. One observer counted the number of squares that were >50% obscured by vegetation, from a board held at 1.5 m above the ground by an assistant at a distance of 5 m from the centre of PCQ point, both in the North and South compass direction. The percentage canopy cover was assessed by eye as described by Korhonen et al. (2006) and Lentini et al. (2012) bearing in mind that it may not be possible to control for bias in visual estimation, because the human eye is notoriously poor at making consistent estimations (Jennings et al. 1999). We used a toilet roll as a sighting tube to estimate the % vegetation directly above the exposed area (45 mm in diameter, 98 mm long) of the toilet roll tube (Fanshawe 1993). The sighting tube was always held vertically at each point to reduce the error in % canopy cover estimation (Jennings et al., 1999). Our data was aligned to the Darwin Core standards before publishing on Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) through the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) at National Museums of Kenya. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Bibliographic Citations
- Cintrón G, Schaeffer NY (1984) Methods for studying mangrove structure. In: Snedaker SC, Snedaker JG (eds) The mangrove ecosystem: research methods. UNESCO, Paris, pp 91-113
- Cottam G, Curtis JT (1956) The use of distance measures in phytosociological sampling. Ecology 37:451-460 https://doi.org/10.2307/1930167
- DeVos A, Mosby HS (1971) Habitat analysis and evaluation. In: Giles GR (ed) wildlife management techniques. The Wildlife Society, Washington DC, pp 142-143
- Fanshawe, J.H. 1993. The effects of selective logging on bird community of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya. PhD thesis. University of Oxford. Oxford. pp. 210.
- Jennings SB, Brown ND, Sheil D (1999) Assessing forest canopies and understorey illumination: canopy closure, canopy cover and other measures. Forestry 72(1):59-73. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/72.1.59
- Lentini PE, Gibbons P, Fischer J, Law B, Hanspach J, Martin TG (2012) Bats in a Farming Landscape Benefit from Linear Remnants and Unimproved Pastures. PLoS ONE 7(11): e48201. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048201 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048201
- Korhonen L, Korhonen KT, Rautiainen M, Stenberg P (2006) Estimation of Forest Canopy Cover: a Comparison of Field Measurement Techniques. Silva Fennica 40(4):577-588
- Mitchell K (2007) Quantitative analysis by the point-centered quarter method. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva and New York
- Nudds TD (1977) Quantifying the vegetation structure of wildlife cover. Wildlife Society Bulletin 5:113-117 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3781453
- Robel RJ, Briggs JN, Dayton AD, Hulbert LC (1970) Relationship between visual obstruction measurements and weight of grassland. Journal of Range Management 23:295-297 DOI: 10.2307/3896225
Additional Metadata
Alternative Identifiers | 10a90c7d-6459-45b3-a0f2-a507a54bbc9f |
---|---|
http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=vegetation2016 |