Urban Sprawl and its impact on soil and plant species in Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

The current paper aims to highlight: 1) Major problems due to urbanization, including land cutting, erosion, overgrazing, biodiversity loss, and climate change. 2) The impact of grazing on plant community structure and ecosystem functioning. 3) Management and conservation of natural ecosystems in Sheikh Muhammdi Peshawar. For the current work, three different sites (Zones 1, 11, 111) were selected in the local area. The populations of the local area have increased very rapidly in the last 40 to 50 years. Anthropogenic activities associated with population and industrialization in the district, with vegetation clear for developing of towns and roads, has resulted in the substitution of vegetations with the dark color surface, the temperature of the environments much higher than before, leading to the phenomenon of the urban heat island effect. This urbanization and construction work at Amman plots Sheikh Muhammadi Peshawar is causing the extinction of vegetation and there would be no more wild vegetation in the near future in that particular area.