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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
Reduction of tree cover in West African woodlands and promotion in semi-arid farmlands
Nature Geoscience, Volume 11, No. 5, Year 2018
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Description
Woody vegetation in farmland acts as a carbon sink and provides ecosystem services for local people, but no macroscale assessments of the impact of management and climate on woody cover exist for drylands. Here we make use of very high spatial resolution satellite imagery to derive wall-to-wall woody cover patterns in tropical West African drylands. Our study reveals that mean woody cover in farmlands along all semi-arid and sub-humid rainfall zones is 16%, on average only 6% lower than in savannahs. In semi-arid Sahel, farmland management promotes woody cover around villages (11%), while neighbouring savannahs had on average less woody cover. However, farmlands in sub-humid zones have a greatly reduced woody cover (21%) as compared with savannahs (33%). In the region as a whole, rainfall, terrain and soil are the most important (80%) determinants of woody cover, while management factors play a smaller (20%) role. We conclude that agricultural expansion causes a considerable reduction of trees in woodlands, but observations in Sahel indicate that villagers safeguard trees on nearby farmlands which contradicts simplistic ideas of a high negative correlation between population density and woody cover. © 2018 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Brandt, Martin S.
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Rasmussen, Kjeld
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Hiernaux, Pierre
France, Toulouse
Observatoire Midi-pyrénées
Herrmann, Stefanie M.
United States, Tucson
The University of Arizona
Tucker, Compton James
United States, Greenbelt
Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center
Tong, Xiaoye
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Tian, Feng
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Mertz, Ole
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Kergoat, Laurent
France, Toulouse
Observatoire Midi-pyrénées
Mbow, Cheikh
United States, Washington, D.c.
Start International Inc
Melocik, Katherine A.
United States, Lanham
Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Ssai
Dendoncker, Morgane
Belgium, Louvain-la-neuve
Université Catholique de Louvain
Vincke, Caroline
Belgium, Louvain-la-neuve
Université Catholique de Louvain
Fensholt, R.
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Statistics
Citations: 86
Authors: 14
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/s41561-018-0092-x
ISSN:
17520894
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study