| dc.creator |
Massawe, Hussein John Boniface |
|
| dc.date |
2014-12-04T06:17:30Z |
|
| dc.date |
2014-12-04T06:17:30Z |
|
| dc.date |
2011 |
|
| dc.date.accessioned |
2022-10-25T08:50:48Z |
|
| dc.date.available |
2022-10-25T08:50:48Z |
|
| dc.identifier |
https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/307 |
|
| dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/90655 |
|
| dc.description |
A study was carried out in Mavumo area, West Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, to
analyse the importance of landform and soil characteristics in predicting the
distribution of plague reservoirs and vectors. The main aim was to contribute to
information base that would link landscape and ecological factors with the spatial
distribution of plague disease in the area so as to provide information to institutions
that are dealing with health and land use programmes in Tanzania. Remote sensing
and GIS techniques coupled with standard field survey methods were employed to
map and analyse the landforms and soils covering an area of 198 km 2 . Rodents
(plague reservoirs) were trapped in the field based on the mapped landform-soil
characteristics, and fleas (plague vectors) were counted from the rodents. The
collected data was analysed statistically using Excel and Minitab softwares. Results
showed that piedmont-plain, escarpment and plateau are the major landscapes in the
study area from which 20 landform units and 13 dominant soil types were identified.
The results demonstrated that the very steep complex slopes of the escarpment and
the lower slopes of the high and mid slopes of the medium altitude plateaus
neighbouring the plateau valley bottoms where water and food are easily accessible
had higher abundance (> 40%) of plague reservoirs and vectors. The study showed
that there is significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) between slope gradient and
abundance of both plague reservoirs and vectors. Significant positive correlation (p <
0.05) was also observed between plague reservoirs abundance and soil effective
depth and copper content. About 99% of the observed variation in the plague
reservoirs and vectors occurrence could be explained by their respective models. |
|
| dc.description |
Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (SADC) |
|
| dc.format |
application/pdf |
|
| dc.language |
en |
|
| dc.publisher |
Sokoine University of Agriculture |
|
| dc.subject |
Landform |
|
| dc.subject |
West Usambara mountains |
|
| dc.subject |
Lushoto district |
|
| dc.subject |
Soil characteristics |
|
| dc.subject |
Soil |
|
| dc.subject |
Plague |
|
| dc.subject |
Vectors |
|
| dc.title |
Landform and soil analysis for predicting distribution of plague reservoirs and vectors in Mavumo area, Lushoto district, Tanzania |
|
| dc.type |
Thesis |
|