Dataset Information

Phenolic Compounds as Unambiguous Chemical Markers for the Identification of Keystone Plant Species in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT: : Despite the fact that the vegetation pattern and history of the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia were reconstructed using pollen, little is known about the former extent of Erica species. The main objective of the present study is to identify unambiguous chemical proxies from plant-derived phenolic compounds to characterize Erica and other keystone species. Mild alkaline CuO oxidation has been used to extract sixteen phenolic compounds. After removal of undesired impurities, individual phenols were separated by gas chromatography and were detected by mass spectrometry. While conventional phenol ratios such as syringyl vs. vanillyl and cinnamyl vs. vanillyl and hierarchical cluster analysis of phenols failed for unambiguous Erica identification, the relative abundance of coumaryl phenols (>0.20) and benzoic acids (0.05-0.12) can be used as a proxy to distinguish Erica from other plant species. Moreover, a Random Forest decision tree based on syringyl phenols, benzoic acids (>0.06), coumaryl phenols (<0.21), hydroxybenzoic acids, and vanillyl phenols (>0.3) could be established for unambiguous Erica identification. In conclusion, serious caution should be given before interpreting this calibration study in paleovegetation reconstruction in respect of degradation and underground inputs of soil organic matter.

SUBMITTER: Lemma B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6681346 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phenolic Compounds as Unambiguous Chemical Markers for the Identification of Keystone Plant Species in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

Lemma Bruk B Grehl Claudius C Zech Michael M Mekonnen Betelhem B Zech Wolfgang W Nemomissa Sileshi S Bekele Tamrat T Glaser Bruno B

Plants (Basel, Switzerland) 20190716 7

: Despite the fact that the vegetation pattern and history of the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia were reconstructed using pollen, little is known about the former extent of Erica species. The main objective of the present study is to identify unambiguous chemical proxies from plant-derived phenolic compounds to characterize Erica and other keystone species. Mild alkaline CuO oxidation has been used to extract sixteen phenolic compounds. After removal of undesired impurities, ind ...[more]

PMID: 31315285

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Project description:Climate change impacts the structure, functioning, and distribution of species and ecosystems. It will shift ecosystem boundaries, potentially affecting vulnerable ecosystems, such as tropical Africa's high mountain ecosystems, i.e., afroalpine ecosystems, and their highly susceptible uniquely adapted species. However, ecosystems along these mountains are not expected to respond similarly to the change. The ericaceous woody vegetation, located between the low-elevation broadleaf forests and high-elevation afroalpine vegetation, are anticipated to be affected differently. We hypothesize that projected climate change will result in an upward expansion and increasing dominance of ericaceous vegetation, which will negatively impact the endemic rich afroalpine ecosystems of the extensive Sanetti plateau. Hence, we modeled the impact of future climate change on the distribution of ericaceous vegetation and discussed its effect on bordering ecosystems in the Bale Mountains. We applied four familiar correlative modeling approaches: bioclim, domain, generalized linear methods, and support vector machines. We used WorldClim's bioclimatic variables as environmental predictors and two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report climate change scenarios, namely RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for future climate projection. The results indicate increased ericaceous vegetation cover on the midaltitude of northwestern and northern parts of the massif, and the Sanetti plateau. We observed upward range expansion and increase of close ericaceous vegetation in midaltitudes, while receding from the lower range across the massif. Moreover, the current ericaceous vegetation range correlates to the temperature and precipitation trends, reaffirming the critical role of temperature and precipitation in determining species distributions along elevational gradients. The results indicate the high likelihood of considerable changes in this biodiversity hotspot in Eastern Africa.

Project description:BackgroundSharing of space by humans and wildlife at a time may ignite apparent conflict. Populations of many species are declining due to the degradation of wildlife habitats caused by agricultural activities. Additionally, livestock may compete with wild herbivores for grazing and reduce the abundance of wild prey for carnivores. A reduction in populations of prey species of large predators might cause carnivores to be attracted towards livestock, ultimately provoking and aggravating the human-carnivores conflict. This study investigated the current status of the human-predators conflict in and around the Bale Mountains National Park.ResultsMost (72.75%) respondents agreed on the presence of livestock predation. Major reported predators were spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), olive baboon (Papio anubis), African wolf (Canis lupaster), aardvark (Orycteropus afer), genet (Genetta genetta), Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), lion (Panthera leo), and leopard (Panthera pardus). Cattle (54.19%), sheep (70.96%), goat (32.0%), donkey (37.72%) and horse (27.54%) were mentioned as major target of predators. Within the past ten years 1623 sheep, 741 cattle, 639 goats, 193 donkeys, and 124 horses were predated. This study found an increasing trend of livestock predation. The trend was reported to be high within the Park (68%). During the past ten years, households reported killings of 3320 livestock that cost 347,460.53 USD. Loss of 8.66 USD per month constituted 27.45% of their monthly income which is expected to have a great sustenance impact. Human settlement (41%), agricultural practices (38.6%), overgrazing (25.3%), deforestation for charcoal production (25.1%), deliberate fire to free lands for agriculture (17.3%) were noticed as major causes of livestock depredation.ConclusionsThe results of the present study show that there is strong human-livestock predator conflict in the study area. Therefore, the author suggested that conflict mitigation efforts focus on securing the livestock enclosure to protected areas and regular compensation fees for farmers that face great damage from wildlife. The foremost action should be awareness creation about the environmental, social, and economic importance of protected areas. The management staff of the Park is also expected to promote community involvement in the plan of mitigation strategies and practices.

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Dataset Information

Phenolic Compounds as Unambiguous Chemical Markers for the Identification of Keystone Plant Species in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

Publications

Phenolic Compounds as Unambiguous Chemical Markers for the Identification of Keystone Plant Species in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

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