**1. Introduction**

Vegetation is organized into different plant communities in a natural environment. According to Brown et al. [1], "vegetation is a collective term for all the plant communities." Clements [2] describes a plant community as a discrete and natural organism, whereas Gleason [3] states that a plant community is a collection of individual plants. It is important to integrate phytosociology with remote sensing when mapping the vegetation in protected areas. Phytosociology is a subsection of vegetation science, that focuses on existing plant communities and emphasizes their classification [4]. It concentrates on classifying plant communities based on their species composition and how different plant species relate to each other [5]. During the era of climate change, phytosociological studies are more crucial and necessary in the conservation of plant communities as well as in understanding the past and future changes occurring to these plant communities since in most cases,

only vegetation data are accessible for comparisons [1, 6]. Computer technology has allowed the improvement of new methods to semi-automatically classify big datasets of vegetation and this has removed vegetation classification from just assigning the vegetation types to more organized data analysis [7]. Plant ecologists had generally agreed that the vegetation consisted of natural plant communities, which can be recognized as distinct formations with real boundaries [8]. Modern remote sensing products are likely to offer much more thorough arrangements of plant diversity than maps drawn by experts that subjectively assigned vegetation types in the olden days [7].

The classification, description, and mapping of plant communities are the important initial steps in constructing a basis in understanding, protecting, conserving, and management of natural resources in protected areas [9]. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as "a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values" [10]. Even though most of the protected areas are located in very remote areas, it is very crucial to manage and monitor the vegetation in these areas. Field-based sampling using phytosociological methods for monitoring the vegetation in these remote areas is logistically challenging, costly, labor-intensive, and time consuming [11, 12]. In contrast, remote sensing monitoring is cheap, requires less labor, and is more objective than field-based methods, and it allows mapping of the vegetation in the remote areas to be efficient, effective, and economical [7, 11, 12]. Remote sensing in savanna landscapes is complicated because the landscapes are heterogeneous and there is a likelihood of spectral confusion between a shrub and a tree [13].

The vegetation maps produced through phytosociological and remote sensing techniques can be used in conservation and monitoring of wildlife habitats in protected areas. Vegetation maps are crucial in knowing which plant species occur in which protected areas, and they are used to effectively manage the vegetation in protected areas. Furthermore, vegetation maps are important in defining seasonal habitat use of collared wild animals, which cannot easily be tracked in huge wilderness areas with little road access more especially in Northern Botswana [14]. Mosugelo et al. [15] performed 36-year study on vegetation changes in Chobe National Park and they found that the reduction of woodland cover near Chobe river could be due to heavy browsing by elephants and impala in dry seasons. Still in Chobe National Park, Herrero et al. [13] found that increased elephant population has increased the amount of degradation in the riverfront area. The aim of this chapter is to review the phytosociological and remote sensing methods used by various peer-reviewed researchers to produce vegetation maps in Botswana's protected areas. The literature for these studies is from 2000 to 2020. It is important to conduct a local review because it can give details on the main concerns and monitoring methods of protected areas in different environments together with providing specific information on the management of each protected area [12]. The current review focuses on information concerning the location of the study area, the study aim, satellite imagery used, and the classification method used to map the vegetation in each protected area.

## **2. Protected areas in Botswana**

Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa and shares borders with South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. There are 22 protected areas in Botswana [16]. A total of 245, 244 km2 of Botswana (over 37%) is committed to the conservation of wildlife, with >17% of the country being designated as

### *Use of Phytosociology and Remote Sensing to Classify and Map the Vegetation in Protected Areas… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100178*

protected national parks and game reserves, and 20% is utilized as wildlife management areas [17]. "Protecting such large areas of pristine wilderness across a wide variety of habitats has ensured that much of the biodiversity within Botswana is intact" [17]. Out of the 22 protected areas, there are 3 national parks, 1 transfrontier park, 7 game reserves, 6 forests reserves (located in Chobe District), and 4 sanctuaries in Botswana. **Table 1** gives the names of protected areas found in Botswana, their sizes, and the years in which they were declared protected areas. These areas comprise national parks, game reserves, forest reserves, and sanctuaries (**Figure 1**). The Botswana National Conservation Strategy was developed in 1990 because the Botswana government acknowledged the importance of its natural resources and the goal of the strategy is sustainable development and conservation of natural resources [17]. According to DWNP [22], there is a policy framework in place which guides the management of the national parks and game reserves and this is done through the Wildlife Conservation Policy of 1986, the Tourism Policy of 1990, and National Development Plan No. 9 of 2003, whereas the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act of 1992 and National Parks and Game Reserves Regulations of 2000 provide the legislation. The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Tourism (MENT), through the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), is responsible for the management of protected areas in Botswana.


#### **Table 1.**

*Protected areas in Botswana [18–20].*

**Figure 1.**

*Map of main national parks and game reserves in Botswana [21].*

Its sister department, the Department of Forestry and Range Resources (DFRR) is responsible for the management and conservation of forests through Forest Act 1968, Forest Reserves and State Land, Herbage Preservation Act, and Forest Policy 2011 [18]. In addition to these acts and policies, there are management plans of the protected areas, which offer guidance in their management.

Chobe National Park is considered one of the most important national parks in Africa [23] and it hosts the largest elephant (*Loxodonta africana*) population in Africa. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is located in northeastern Botswana and it contains pans that host one of the most important breeding sites for flamingos. Nxai Pan National is found on the northern side of Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) is the largest game reserve in Botswana which is located in Ghanzi District and it shares the border with Khutse Game Reserve that is in Kweneng District. Moremi Game Reserve is the second largest game reserve and it is found in Ngamiland District. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) is the first transboundary park in Africa and is located between Botswana and South Africa. It was formed by the amalgamation of the former Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (proclaimed in 1931) in South Africa and the Gemsbok National Park (proclaimed in 1971) in Botswana [24]. In addition to the protected areas, there are wildlife management areas surrounding the protected areas and private game reserves around the country. Non-consumptive utilization of wildlife is permitted in the protected areas, whereas both sustainable consumptive and non-consumptive utilization of wildlife are allowed in the wildlife management areas.
