Rare Vegetation Degradationwithin Buffer Zones in Gobustanstate National Park, Azerbaijan

Rare vegetation degradationwithin “buffer zones” in GobustanState National Park, Azerbaijan

Yelena M. Gambarova1 and Adil Y. Gambarov2

1R.I.S.K. Company, Azerbaijan

2SAHIL IT Company, Azerbaijan

Climate change and various anthropogenic activities are causing large losses to natural habitats in the Study area. The importance of this habitat type is one of the reasons that the Gobustan desert has been proposed as the State National Park, so that some level of protection is offered to this desert.

This study has shown that oil and gas infrastructure, in an ecologically important semi-arid region, has a negative effect on species abundance and cover of vegetation.

Rare vegetation classification within a buffer zone indicates:

Plant cover has decreased in the “buffer zone” and is higher than the Sensitive Area.

Bare ground is the non-vegetated, non-litter-covered part of the land surface. It includes scree, bare soil and subsoil, erosion pavement and exposed bedrock. An increase in bare ground is likely to indicate an increase in soil erosion.

Bare ground has increased dramatically in the buffer zone whereas in the Sensitive Area it has increased slightly.

Keywords— Rare vegetation, Climate change, overgrazing, infrastructure development, Remote sensing.

Biography (1 author)

Yelena M. Gambarova

1.Date of Birth: 20-03-1963

2.Education: Azerbaijan State University

3. Work Experience:

2010-up to date: R.I.S.K. research-pr. company

1985-2009: Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency

Positions held: Researcher, GIS and Remote sensing specialist

Projects executed:

–Monitoring of distribution area changes of rare vegetation communities in the South-West of Absheron Peninsula using IKONOS satellite imagery (2004-2005);

–Rare Vegetation Monitoring in the Gobustan State National Park, Azerbaijan (2008-2014) under Grant project: “Rare plant conservation in Azerbaijan: Monitoring threats and Education of Local Community”

Biography (2 author)

Adil Y. Gambarov

1.Date of Birth: 02-11-1958

2.Education: Azerbaijan State University

3. Work Experience:

2009-up to date: SAHIL IT

1980-2007: Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency

Positions held: GIS and Remote sensing specialist

Projects executed:

–Monitoring of distribution area changes of rare vegetation communities in the South-West of Absheron Peninsula using IKONOS satellite imagery (2004-2005);

Activities performed: Conducting a supervised classification of rare vegetation communities using remotely sensed image. Change detection between 2004-2012 years. Onsite data collection including field surveying.Data Analysis. Development and overlaying past and present maps of rare vegetation distribution with:

Spatial representation of sources of threats;
Buffer zones surround industrial areas
Classified rare vegetation communities
Other concerned spatial data