Contribution of GIS in the identification and mapping of natural forest habitats: Case study of the forests of El Kala, Wilaya of El Tarf, Algeria

The El Kala region, with its different natural forest habitats, represents an important biological heritage at the national and international levels. Today, it is threatened by various dangers, such as overexploitation and fires. It is therefore urgent to preserve these sensitive and fragile habitats and imperative to better identify them to apply adequate preservation and management measures. Current forest inventory data do not allow the identification of these habitats. The quality of these data also limits the relevance of landscape analyses. The current approach is inspired by various European experiences, including the ecological approach of phytosociology for habitat determination. The phytoecological study and the use of a high-resolution satellite image sentinel-2B allowed us to elaborate on a land-use map. Statistical processing using factorial correspondence analysis helped us to identify the habitats. The mapping was facilitated by the use of an open-source geographic information system Qgis 3.4.9. Finally, were able to discriminate two forest habitats with Quercus suber L. and one habitat with Quercus faginea Lam. The exploitation of Sentinel-2B images is very useful for high-resolution monitoring of land use and the extent of fragmentation of natural forest habitats caused by anthropozoic action.