APPORT DES OUTILS GEOSPATIALES A L’ETUDE DE LA DYNAMIQUE SPATIO-TEMPORELLE DE LA FORET D’AÏT BOUZID (HAUT ATLAS CENTRAL, MAROC)

Abstract

The present work presents the results of the study of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the Aït Bouzid forest between 1984 and 2019 (35 years), based on remote sensing and GIS tools. In fact, our study area covers an area of 12'060 ha, its location in the central High Atlas (near Lake Bine El Ouidane) gives it several favorable conditions for a very remarkable dynamic. In order to study these dynamics, we used Landsat (1984 and 2001) and Oli (2019) satellite images to study the evolution and spatialization of the Aït Bouzid forest for a period of 35 years. Analysis of the database of the forest dynamics map between 1984 and 2019, shows that bare land covers 32.7% of the study area, so this class was developed on the areas that have been degraded of the forest with 25% (thus a progression of 14.7%). On the other hand, despite the presence of new areas of growth and expansion in the forest with 16.6%, there has been a 14.7% decline in forest area (between 1984, 2001 and 2019). This evolution is justified by a combination of several factors: topographical (slopes, altitudes and exposure of slopes), climatic, geological and even anthropogenic. The treatment results and the accuracy of the classification have been verified and validated by field checks