Assessment of the distribution of rare and endemic plant species in rondo forest reserve, Tanzania

A study was conducted to assess the distribution of rare and endemic plant species from Rondo Forest Reserve using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques together with records digitized from Herbarium voucher specimens. Landsat images of 7th June, 1991, 12th May 2000 and 2nd June 2011 were used to estimate cover change. Unsupervised image classification and Earth Resources Data Analysis System (ERDAS) Imagine 2011 software were used to analyze the images and further analysis was performed in ArcGIS 10 software. Opportunistic sampling was used to investigate rare and endemic plant species in Rondo Forest Reserve. Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was used to compute statistics whereas records without geographical coordinates were geo-referenced using Gazetteer of Flora of tropical East Africa (FTEA) USGS version and ArcGIS 10. Results revealed that for the period between 1991-2011, closed woodland decreased by 1779 ha (-12.12%) in Rondo Forest Reserve. 14 rare and endemic plant species were not located where they were reported to exist previously in Rondo Forest Reserve while 3 out of 17 rare plant species corresponding to 18% had range of extension in Bushland, Forest plantation and open woodland. Absence of rare and endemic plant species where they were reported to exist previously is attributed to decline in area under closed woodland in Rondo Forest Reserve. In this study it is recommended that managing forests responsibly and sustainably requires a balanced approach encompassing the three pillars of sustainability-economic, social and environmental at Ntene village and villages surrounding Rondo Forest Reserve.