TITLE:
Effects of Land Use Change on Land Degradation Reflected by Soil Properties along Mara River, Kenya and Tanzania
AUTHORS:
Ally-Said Matano, Canisius K. Kanangire, Douglas N. Anyona, Paul O. Abuom, Frank B. Gelder, Gabriel O. Dida, Philip O. Owuor, Ayub V. O. Ofulla
KEYWORDS:
Catchment Area, land Degradation, Land Use Types, Mara River, Riparian Land
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Soil Science,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
13,
2015
ABSTRACT:
Human-induced changes to natural landscapes have been identified as some
of the greatest threats to
freshwater resources. The change from natural forest cover to agricultural and
pastoral activities is rampant especially in the upper Mara River catchment (water
tower), as well as along the course of the Mara River. The objective of this
study was to determine the effect of land use change on the physico-chemical
properties of soil (bulk density, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and pH) along the course of the Mara River. Five major land
uses (agricultural lands, livestock/pastoral lands, forested lands,
conservancy/game reserves, and natural wetland) were explored. Results revealed
that the mean soil bulk density was 0.956 g/cm3 and differed
significantly between sites (p within
the Mara River Basin (F(4, 147) = 8.57, p (4, 63) = 19.26, p tween sites along the Mara River Basin. The mean
percentage soil nitrogen across all sampling blocks was 4.87%, with
significant differences observed in percentage soil nitrogen (F (4, 63) = 3.26, p properties. These results point to the need to
have focused policies on integrated land and water resource management
strategies in the Mara River Basin.