ABC_Lisau Saddle Forest Reserve transect sampling_eventdata

Donald Mpalika1, Donald Mpalika2, Elizabeth Mwafongo3

1 National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi, P.O. Box 528, Zomba; 2 National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi, P.O. Box 528, Zomba, Malawi; 3 National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi, P.O.Box 528, Zomba, Malawi

Corresponding author(s): Donald Mpalika (dmpalika@yahoo.co.uk), Donald Mpalika (dmpalika@yahoo.co.uk)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Mpalika D (2018): ABC_Lisau Saddle Forest Reserve transect sampling_eventdata. v1.5. National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi. Dataset/Samplingevent. http://196.32.215.240:8081/ipt/resource?r=lisausaddle_samplingevent&v=1.5

Abstract

The Lisau saddle evergreen forest is located in Chiradzulu District South of Malawi along the bottom age of Chiradzulu mountain adjacent to Chipande hills in the western foot of the mountain at an altitude of 1193 – 1232M. 15o41’57”S, 35o09’06”E. The forest is bordered by rural settlements. It has a 5% of its total land area, vegetation type is of mixed evergreen forest, it is rich in plant species some of which are protected. The reserve is defined by being on Saddle between Chiradzulu Mountain and Chipande hills.
This dataset is derived from a report on the Vegetation assessment of the Lisau Saddle Forest Reserve which was conducted on 9 August 2006.

Keywords: Samplingevent, Saddle

General description

Purpose: The dataset was created to raise awareness on the importance of Lisau Saddle Forest Reserve. It is logical to protect the future of this forest pocket, by community education only by making local people realize that the reserve has much greater value than as a source of firewood or charcoal burning. It is also important for further conservation and management of plant species found in the Forest Reserve.

Project details

Project title: Enhancing Accessibility of Biodiversity Data in Malawi
Personnel: Donald Mpalika, Edwin Kathumba
Funding: JRS Biodiversity Foundation
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Chiradzulu Mountain is located approximately 20 km to the north-east of Blantyre, Malawi's main commercial centre. The administrative district of Chiradzulu in southern Malawi was named after this mountain. Chiradzulu Peak is at the eastern end of the mountain, with a quite thickly wooded saddle between it and Lisau ridge to the west. 
70 Plant species were recorded at Lisau Saddle, all the species were identified up to family level. The data resource was collected on 9 August 2006.
Design description: The project is aimed at mobilising biodiversity data and making it accessible. Project partner institutions mobilising data are National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi(NHBG), Museums of Malawi(MoM) and Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM). Publishing is done through IPT hosted by the Malawi National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST).

Data published through GBIF: http://196.32.215.240:8081/ipt/resource?r=lisausaddle_samplingevent

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: All recorded plants were identified to family level.
Taxonomic ranks
Phylum: Tracheophyta

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Chiradzulu Mountain is located approximately 20 km to the north-east of Blantyre, Malawi's main commercial centre. The administrative district of Chiradzulu in southern Malawi was named after this mountain. Chiradzulu Peak is at the eastern end of the mountain, with a quite thickly wooded saddle between it and Lisau ridge to the west.
Coordinates: 15°49'26.4''S and 15°1'26.4''S Latitude; 34°43'19.2''E and 35°42'21.6''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: August 9, 2008

Methods

Method step description: 50 meters measuring tape, a campus, GPS, measuring rod, D.B.H. meter Panga knife and a digital camera were used during the survey. A 50 meter measuring tape was used for measuring both the size of each quadrant and interval of 50m between quadrants. A campus was used for positioning the right direction of the transect, measuring rod was used for measuring the tree height, D.B.H. meter used to measure tree diameter, Panga knife was used to clear the way in thick forest and the digital camera was used to take photographs of the vegetation. A line transects was made from South South West direction of Lisau Saddle at an elevation of 1232m, latitude 15º41’57”S and Longitude 35º09’06”E. towards the direction of Chipande Hill.
Quadrants made were each measured 10m by 10m at an interval of 50m between quadrants.
Georeference and elevation readings were taken from the centre of each quadrant in order to get fair or mean readings.
The data was recorded on printed sheets and was captured electronically using Microsoft office excel program, data was analysed using excel tools to determine coverage percentages, species population and also other data control measures. The recorded georeferenced data was in degree minutes and seconds, and was converted into decimal degrees using LatLong.net convertor tool.
Study extent description: The Lisau saddle evergreen forest is located in Chiradzulu District South of Malawi along the bottom age of Chiradzulu mountain adjacent to Chipande hills in the western foot of the mountain at an altitude of 1193 – 1232M. 15o41’57”S, 35o09’06”E. The forest is bordered by rural settlements. It has a 5% of its total land area, vegetation type is of mixed evergreen forest, it is rich in plant species some of which are protected.
The reserve is defined by being on Saddle between Chiradzulu Mountain and Chipande hills.
Sampling description: 50 meters measuring tape, a campus, GPS, measuring rod, D.B.H. meter Panga knife and a digital camera were used during the survey. A 50 meter measuring tape was used for measuring both the size of each quadrant and interval of 50m between quadrants. A campus was used for positioning the right direction of the transect, measuring rod was used for measuring the tree height, D.B.H. meter used to measure tree diameter, Panga knife was used to clear the way in thick forest and the digital camera was used to take photographs of the vegetation. A line transects was made from South South West direction of Lisau Saddle at an elevation of 1232m, latitude 15º41’57”S and Longitude 35º09’06”E. towards the direction of Chipande Hill.
Quadrants made were each measured 10m by 10m at an interval of 50m between quadrants.
Georeference and elevation readings were taken from the centre of each quadrant in order to get fair or mean readings.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive ABC_Lisau Saddle Forest Reserve transect sampling_eventdata
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://196.32.215.240:8081/ipt/archive.do?r=lisausaddle_samplingevent
Publication date of data: 2022-05-31
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2018-10-02
Hierarchy level: Dataset