Habtamu Gelagay
Research Subjects
Research Interests
Habtamu Gelagay has a total of 6 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Eddy J. Langendoen
National Sedimentation Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service United States Department of Agriculture Oxford MS USA
1 shared publication - Hanibal Lemma
School of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
1 shared publication - Martine van der Ploeg
Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics, Wageningen University, Wageningen, 6708PB, the Netherlands
1 shared publication - Saskia Keesstra
Team Soil, Water and Land Use Wageningen Environmental Research Wageningen The Netherlands
1 shared publication - Selamawit Amare
Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
1 shared publication - Sjoerd E. A. T. M. van der Zee
Soil Physics and Land Management Wageningen University Wageningen The Netherlands
1 shared publication
Latest Publications
- Open Access
Susceptibility to Gully Erosion: Applying Random Forest (RF) and Frequency Ratio (FR) Approaches to a Small Catchment in Ethiopia
Soil erosion by gullies in Ethiopia is causing environmental and socioeconomic problems. A sound soil and water management plan requires accurately predicted gully erosion hotspot areas. Hence, this study develops a gully erosion susceptibility map (GESM) using frequency ratio (FR) and random forest (RF) algorithms. A total of 56 gullies were surveyed, and their extents were derived by digitizing Google Earth imagery. Literature review and a multicollinearity test resulted in 14 environmental variables for the final analysis. Model prediction potential was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC) method. Results showed that the best prediction accuracy using the FR and RF models was obtained by using the top four most important gully predictor factors: drainage density, elevation, land use, and groundwater table. The notion that the groundwater table is one of the most important gully predictor factors in Ethiopia is a novel and significant quantifiable finding and is critical to the design of effective watershed management plans. Results from separate variable importance analyses showed land cover for Nitisols and drainage density for Vertisols as leading factors determining gully locations. Factors such as texture, stream power index, convergence index, slope length, and plan and profile curvatures were found to have little significance for gully formation in the studied catchment.
Open AccessSusceptibility to Gully Erosion: Applying Random Forest (RF) and Frequency Ratio (FR) Approaches to a Small Catchment in Ethiopia
Soil erosion by gullies in Ethiopia is causing environmental and socioeconomic problems. A sound soil and water management plan requires accurately predicted gully erosion hotspot areas. Hence, this study develops a gully erosion susceptibility map (GESM) using frequency ratio (FR) and random forest (RF) algorithms. A total of 56 gullies were surveyed, and their extents were derived by digitizing Google Earth imagery. Literature review and a multicollinearity test resulted in 14 environmental variables for the final analysis. Model prediction potential was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC) method. Results showed that the best prediction accuracy using the FR and RF models was obtained by using the top four most important gully predictor factors: drainage density, elevation, land use, and groundwater table. The notion that the groundwater table is one of the most important gully predictor factors in Ethiopia is a novel and significant quantifiable finding and is critical to the design of effective watershed management plans. Results from separate variable importance analyses showed land cover for Nitisols and drainage density for Vertisols as leading factors determining gully locations. Factors such as texture, stream power index, convergence index, slope length, and plan and profile curvatures were found to have little significance for gully formation in the studied catchment.