Vegetation Mapping and Habitat Assessment of Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Taraba State

Gashaka-Gumti National Park in Taraba State, located in Nigeria's North East geopolitical zone, is the country's largest national park and encompasses a remarkable range of vegetation types from Guinea savanna to montane forest. Despite its size and ecological importance, detailed vegetation mapping of the park is limited, constraining habitat-specific wildlife management decisions. This study undertakes a systematic vegetation survey across five representative zones within the park using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method, supported by satellite imagery analysis. Field transects were established in each vegetation zone to record species composition, canopy cover, and structural diversity. Remote sensing data from Sentinel-2 imagery were used to classify land cover types and detect recent changes in vegetation extent. Results reveal a diverse floristic composition with 126 plant species recorded across eight vegetation communities, including high montane grasslands on the Gangirwal plateau that support endemic plant taxa. Areas near community boundaries show signs of selective logging and encroachment-driven degradation. The study documents a noticeable reduction in closed-canopy forest cover in the southern section of the park between 2018 and 2023. Recommendations include strengthening park boundary management, reforestation of degraded areas, and integration of local ecological knowledge into habitat monitoring frameworks. These findings provide a foundational vegetation baseline that will support future wildlife distribution modeling and park management planning. Keywords: vegetation mapping, Gashaka-Gumti, habitat assessment, North East Nigeria, phytosociology