Jozani biodiversity inventory report 2002 - Coastal Forests of Kenya ...

Where new species encountered did not fall into the plots and subplot being sampled, the
respective species were recorded for addition to the plant chek-list. Land-use and condition of the
habitat were noted. Human threats to the forest reserve were assessed by noting fire incidences,
tree felling, ring barking, root collections for medicinal use and foot paths leading to the forest.
Plant specimens were collected and taken to herbarium of the Botany Department, University of
Dar es Salaam for verification of names. They will serve as voucher specimens for future
references. Mounted duplicates will be returned to Jozani museum.
Review of past botanical reports include Ruffo (1992), Mohammed (1999) and Pikkarainen
(1991). Species concept of vascular plants follow Milne-Redhead, Polhill, Beentje et al (1952…).
Consistence of vernacular names was confirmed with the field identifications and literature
relevant to the flora (Ruffo, 1992; Williams, 1949).
3.1.3 Structured questionnaires and interviews
Information on the various uses of resources from the study area were collected by a structured
questionnaire (Appendix IV) distributed to six villages surrounding the Jozani Forest Reserve.
The villages included Unguja kuu, Charawe, Kitongani, Ukongoroni and the two conflict villages
of Mapopwe and Pete. For some reasons the Ukongoroni village did not respond to the
questionnaire. Further information was gathered during botanical field survey and through
unstructured interviews with field guides who were among our key sources of information.
Indigenous knowledge is useful in the planning for conservation and managemenr of the
proposed national park. Actual field observations were useful in determining wood supplies to the
villages and lorries carrying both building materials and fuelwood to urban areas were observed.
3.2 Vegetation mapping
3.2.1 Interpretation and field verification
The main sources of information were aerial photographs at the scale of 1:10,000 and in some
cases 1:50,000. The first stage was interpretation where major topographic features and the
preliminary vegetation types were identified. The second stage involved final interpretation after
field verification. Interpretations were made on transparent films. GPS readings were taken in
different areas with their corresponding vegetation types. All vegetation types previously
identified were covered.
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