Vegetation of the Kalinzu Forest, Uganda: Ordination of Forest Types Using Principal Component

Abstract

We analysed the vegetation of the Kalinzu Forest, Uganda, using principal component analysis. We got two components by the analysis: one seemed to indicate the strength of environmental factors characteristic to the western part of the study area, and the other seemed to indicate the extent of disturbance by human exploitation. Using these components, we made a vegetation map that distinguished four types of vegetation: mixed mature forest, Parinari-dominated mature forest, Parinari-dominated secondary forest, and Musanga-dominated secondary forest. Preliminary analysis of the relationship between vegetation type and frequency of vocalization of chimpanzees suggested that these components would give important information for the study of habitat use by chimpanzees.