Effect of Land Use Land Cover Changes on Soil Erosion and Soil Physico-Chemical Properties in Upper Eyiohia River Watershed, Nigeria
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Date
2018-06-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The study was conducted to assess and estimate the impact of land use land cover changes on
soil erosion losses and physicochemical properties in the upper Eyiohia river watershed in
Nigeria. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) parameters were integrated with
satellite remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS) as a useful tool to
determine the extent and mean annual soil losses. Land Use Land Cover Change within the study
period (1996 and 2016) indicates that cultivated land increase by 3400 ha, settlement by 2300
ha, bare land by 2600 and grazing land 300 ha while forest has significantly declined by area
coverage of 8600 ha. The change is brought about by land conversion from forest to farmlands
and growing demand for food from ever increasing population substantiated from survey
questionnaire administered to 100 respondents. Results shows that the mean soil loss in 2016
was higher in cultivated land 48.34 t ha-1 y-1 followed by forest (36.92 t ha-1 y-1), bare land
(19.40 t ha-1 y-1), settlement (8.02 t ha-1 y-1), and grazing land (14.48 t ha-1 y-1). Soil with erosion
severity classes of high, very high, severe and very severe jointly accounted for 96% of the total
soil loss of the entire Eyiohia watershed covering 83% of the total area while the remaining 4%
is under low ris categories. Result on Selected physicochemical properties as affected by
different Land use type indicate that BD, TP, AWC, FC, Mn and Zn were significantly different
p<0.05 between land use types as a result of different management/conservation practices on
each land use type linked mainly to land use land cover change over time, others includes
population pressure and shortage of cultivable land. Stratified questionnaire on local perception
of observed causes of soil erosion indicates that land use land cover change and population
pressure were mentioned by 47% and 31% of the respondents respectively with the majority of
which are located in the lower stream sub-watershed
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Keywords
Gis, Lulcc, Soil Erosion, Soil Physico-Chemical Properties