Change detection of riparian woodland vegetation in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Riparian vegetation in the Okavango Delta has extensive economic, social and environmental benefits. However, despite its importance, it is threatened by changes in variation in hydrology, anthropogenic activities, and other environmental conditions. Some riparian vegetation communities may change rapidly in response to both long term and short term disturbances. Long term monitoring of riparian woodland vegetation can help reveal changes in these woodland species, enabling timeous management interventions. In this study we classified, mapped and conducted change detection analysis of the spatial extent of different communities of riparian woodland in the Okavango Delta. Woodland species were identified in the field and their percentage cover estimated. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis in PC-ORD was used to classify woodland vegetation into four communities. These communities were Croton megalobotrys-Hyphaene petersiana, Vachellia erioloba-Gymnosporia senegalensis, Phoenix reclinata-Syzygium cordatum and Vachellia tortilis-Combretum imberbe. Multi response permutation procedures (MRPP) was used to test if there was any significant difference in plant species composition between different vegetation communities. MRPP showed that communities varied significantly (p