Emanuel J. Luoga

Impact of Human Disturbances on Coastal Forests in Southern Tanzania: Case Study of Tong'omba Forest Reserve, Kilwa District, Tanzania Emanuel J. Luoga

Coastal forests offer many products and services of socio-economic, biodiversity and ecological importance locally and in regional context, but such benefits are threatened by human activities. The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of human disturbances on forest stand parameters,woody species diversity and forest cover change in Tong?omba Coastal Forest, Tanzania. The findings indicate that the basal area and volume in year 2008 were relatively lower as compared to 2005 but the difference was insignificant. The results between two strata showed that disturbed stratum had significantly lower values of basal area and volume than the undisturbed one while the differences on stocking were insignificant. The findings on species diversity indicated that differences in values of Shannon Index between the strata were not significant. Similarly, indices of Dominance, and Importance Value, indicated that same major dominant species occur in both strata. Analysis of spatial data revealed that forest cover was generally improving between 1989 and 2001. The study recommended more efforts be taken by the Government to protect Tong?omba from illegal tree cutting.