| dc.description.abstract | Plant species diversity was investigated on ridges with and without water harvesting structures.
The effect of water harvesting technology on the soil properties and rangeland recovery
was also investigated. The experimental sites are located in Kifamba, Kakuuto County Rakai
District. Plant species were recorded 00 a 50m horizontal transect aligned on the main transect
running S-N on a 20 m lag. The quadrat method was used to sample grasses and herbs, whereas
shrubs and trees were sampled on twenty five meter plots Onconsecutive horizontal transects.
Soil physical and chemical properties, plant biomass and ground cover were determined along
the landscape. Results indicate that. ridges with water harvesting structures bad higher species
diversity than those without water harvesting structures (p<O.05). The plant diversity on ridges
with water harvesting (Shannon Diversity index) was HI =4.46, while tile diversity of ridges
without water harvesting was HI =3.93. The two types of ridges were significantly different
(p<O.OOI)in terms of the diversity of plant species. The results furtberreveal that the introduction
of water harvesting structures did not induce a landscape position pattern in the distribution
of species, but that of grass biomass, despite the uniformity of chemical properties along
the landscape (p<O.05) | en_US |
