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Land changes and their drivers in the cloud forest and coastal zone of Dhofar, Oman, between 1988 and 2013

Regional Environmental Change volume 16, pages 2141–2153 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

The land-cover changes in the cloud forest and coastal plain of Dhofar, Oman, from 1988 to 2013 are reported, and their possible causes explored. Multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis, cluster analysis using local indicators of spatial association, and trend analysis of NDVI time series are used to measure environmental changes. The results demonstrate: systematic degradation and loss of vegetation types in the cloud forest; loss of native land covers to impervious surfaces on the coastal plain; decreases in woody plant vegetation in almost half of the cloud forest in distinctive hotspots of loss; and significant decreases in NDVI trends around the city of Salalah, along the coastal plain, and in parts of the cloud forest. The proximate drivers of these changes in the cloud forest appear to be changes in grazing activities, while the growth of Salalah, especially its peri-urban area, altered the coastal plain. These drivers, in turn, are linked to distal ones, foremost changes in Omani policies and investments in the Dhofar area, traced to government responses to the Dhofar War (1970–1975), which have resulted in increased livestock populations and urban growth.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this research was provided in part by a Fulbright grant to Oman funded by the US Department of State and sponsored by the Office of the Advisor to His Majesty The Sultan for Economic Planning Affairs. Special thanks to Dr. Said Al-Saqri for support during the Fulbright grant period. The authors would also like to thank the reviewers for their insightful comments; the paper is greatly improved as a result of their efforts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Dartmouth College, 6017 Sherman Fairchild Hall, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Christopher S. Galletti

  2. School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875302, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Billie L. Turner II & Soe W. Myint

  3. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875302, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Billie L. Turner II

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  1. Christopher S. Galletti
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Correspondence to Christopher S. Galletti.

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Galletti, C.S., Turner, B.L. & Myint, S.W. Land changes and their drivers in the cloud forest and coastal zone of Dhofar, Oman, between 1988 and 2013. Reg Environ Change 16, 2141–2153 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-016-0942-2

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Keywords

  • Land cover
  • Land change science
  • Dhofar
  • Cloud forest
  • National policies
  • Remote sensing