Unknown

Dataset Information

0

“Reduction of tree cover in West African woodlands and promotion in semi-arid farmlands”


ABSTRACT: Woody vegetation in farmland acts as a carbon sink and provides ecosystem services for local people, but no macro-scale assessments of the impact of management and climate on woody cover exists 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 a consistently high woody cover in farmlands along all semi-arid and sub-humid rainfall zones (16%), on average only 6% lower than in savannas. In semi-arid Sahel, farmland management increases woody cover to a greater level (12%) than found in neighbouring savannas (6%), whereas farmlands in sub-humid zones have a reduced woody cover (20%) as compared to savannas (30%). 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 cannot generally be claimed to cause woody cover losses, and that observations in Sahel contradict simplistic ideas of a high negative correlation between population density and woody cover.

SUBMITTER: Brandt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7493051 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC6631767 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC9300742 | biostudies-literature
2014-09-03 | E-MTAB-2722 | biostudies-arrayexpress
| S-EPMC4938440 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7563409 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3936587 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8390883 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4798828 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4077837 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC4413227 | biostudies-literature