Assessing habitat quality using the InVEST model in the Dire and Legedadi watersheds, central highland of Ethiopia: Implication for watershed management

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to quantify and map habitat quality in the Dire and Legedadi watersheds between 1985 and 2022 using the InVEST habitat quality model. The purpose of this study was to assess the spatiotemporal changes in habitat quality in the Dire and Legedadi watersheds. The result showed, between 1985 and 2022, both watersheds experienced a significant decline in habitat quality. The extent of high habitat quality habitat in the Legadadi watershed has decreased significantly from 206 km² in 1985 to 50.26 km² in 2022. Similarly, high habitat quality habitat in the Dire watershed has gradually declined from 87.29 km² in 1985 to 35.44 km² in 2022. The construction of the Dire water reservoir in 1999 helped to maintain the extent of moderate habitat quality which increased from 6.93 km² in 1995 to 25.36 km² in 2010. The rapid expansion of farmland and settlement at the expense of natural vegetation was strongly linked to the decline in habitat quality. As a result, appropriate watershed management intervention is required. Therefore, the outcome of this research will provide a scientific basis for future ecosystem monitoring to monitor the impacts of watershed management interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Dire and Legedadi
• watersheds
• InVEST
• habitat quality

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the support provided by Bereh woreda agriculture and natural resource protection office, and Addis Ababa Water and Sewage Authority (AAWSA). The journal’s anonymous reviewers and Editor in Chief are also thanked for their critical comments that improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

‘SA designed the research, collects relevant data, analyzed data and wrote the draft manuscript and KY and MA contributed to the work through their persistent guidance, reviewing and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript’.

Data availability statement

The authors want to declare that they can submit the data at whatever time based on request. The data used for the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/27658511.2023.2242137

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Addis Ababa University under the thematic research project on Integrated Landscape-based Management (ILM) Approach for Improving Ecosystem Services, Agricultural Productivity and Water Availability in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia (ILM-ESAW). [NA].