TITLE:
Dynamics of Land Occupation of the Gangan Classified Forest in Guinea
AUTHORS:
Soua Dore, Fode Salifou Soumah, Alphonse Sagno, Mamadou Samba Barry, Youssouf Conde
KEYWORDS:
Dynamics, Woody Vegetation, Classified Forest
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.7,
July
31,
2025
ABSTRACT: Flora and vegetation are important indicators of the health of a forest ecosystem. The overall objective of this research is to assess the effects of the spatio-temporal dynamics of land use on the flora and woody vegetation of the Gangan classified forest between 1995 and 2024. The main methods used were diachronic land-use mapping and botanical and forest inventories. The results showed that the remaining natural formations are established on land unsuitable for agriculture and grazing. The floristic inventory identified a total of 209 trees and shrubs of 85 woody species and 65 genera divided into 36 families. The average absolute density is 27 individuals/ha. This density decreases with the intensity of the drivers of change in low-altitude areas. In terms of temporal dynamics, seven (07) land cover classes were mapped. The evaluation of the results of the accuracy of the classifications based on the confusion matrices is (86.41% for 1995) and (91.9% for 2024). Comparative analysis of land use in 1995 and 2024 shows an increase of 562.76 ha (6.24%) in the area occupied by wooded savannah and 523.71 ha (5.81%) by built-up areas, and a considerable decrease of 2855.16 ha (31.69%) in the area occupied by shrub/grass savannah. The average annual rates of spatial expansion of the land-use units indicate that built-up areas (10.93%), open forest (3.89%), wooded savannah (1.44%), crops and fallow land (2.62%) and bowal and bare soil (0.03%) have increased in area, while the negative values express the decrease in the area of shrub/herbaceous savannah (−3.41%) and Water (−0.89%).