Establishing the link between urban land cover change and the proliferation of aquatic hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in Harare Metropolitan, Zimbabwe
Abstract
Urbangrowthisakeyprocessaffectingthefunctioningofnaturalecosystems,andconsequentlythegloballand-surface process. This work aimed at establishing the link between land cover changes around HarareMetropolitancityandtheproliferationofaquatichyacinth(Eichhornia crassipes)inLakeChivero.RemotelysensedLandsatseriesacquiredintheyear1973,1981,1994,1998,2008,2009and2014wasused.Imageclassificationwasimplementedtomaptheassociatedchangesovertimeusingdiscriminantanalysisalgorithm.Derivedthematiclandcovermapsshowedthatagriculturallandincreasedfrom2%in1973toa5%in1981reachingupto30%in2014,whereasthecity'slandareasignificantly(p<0.05)increasedbetween1973and1994.However,waterhyacinthconstantlyincreasedovertime.ThespatialandtemporalresolutionofLandsatimagesdetectedlandcoverchangesandtheproliferationofaquatichyacinth(Eichhorniacrassipes)intheLakeChiveroovertime.