Land User Participation in Developing a Computerised Decision Support System for Combating Desertification

Combating desertification in natural rangelands has recently become a priority in large parts of southern Africa. Rangeland managers, farmers, scientists, conservationists and land users have been applying a variety of restoration technologies to address this problem. Bush encroachment, as part of the desertification process, involves the natural replacement of the herbaceous plant cover by undesirable problem woody species. The active and passive restoration technologies that are applied, are mainly based on indigenous knowledge and include the chemical, mechanical or manual reclamation of unproductive rangelands, as well as the combating of woody and alien species encroachment. Indigenous practices and knowledge play a major role in the effectiveness and success rate of these technologies. This project faces the challenge of bringing together both local and scientific knowledge in a single user-friendly, computerised Decision Support System (DSS) which is directly accessible by land users to support them in the process of decision making, concerning the combating of desertification. Case studies from central and northern Namibia were used to combine qualitative and quantitative data to develop this Decision Support System. The DSS currently consists of two databases and an expert system, which evaluates the results of land users’ management practices, and provides easily accessible information and advice for participants in the system, based on the incorporated data. The DSS is also linked to national and international web sites and databases to offer a wider range of information on technologies concerning agricultural and conservation practices.     

Ecosystem restoration in fire-managed savanna woodlands: Effects on biodiversity,local livelihoods and fire intensity

Ethiopia aims to restore 15 million ha degraded forests and woodlands, but effects on the potentially contrasting goals of long-term carbon storage, biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods are unknown. To quantify the effects of grazing exclusion on vegetation and fire behaviour, we established six 30 × 30 m fenced exclosures with grazed controls, in a mesic wooded savanna. Experimental burns were done after 1.5 years. Tree seedlings were few but more common inside fences. Field layer cover and biomass increased inside fences, and grass species increased in numbers and cover. Fire intensity was higher inside fences, killing shrubs and saplings but not mature trees. Interviews confirmed that overgrazing has resulted in “cool fires”, causing shrub encroachment. High-intensity fires occurred in the 1980s after a zoonotic disease killed most livestock. Short-term increase in carbon storage through fire and grazing exclusion may lead to loss of pasture, and in the long-term increased wildfire risk.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01343-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

海岸带含水层咸淡水界面随潮汐波动的数值模拟

在分析、研究了滨海地带含水层和不透水层的水文地质特性及含水层内的咸淡水渗流运动特征的基础上,运用数学推理的手法,建立了一种较为简单适用的模拟海岸带含水层咸淡水界面和天然地下水面变动规律的二维数学模型,通过该模型的计算值与实验值的比较,证明该模型的计算结果与实验结果有着非常好的拟合度,即该模型能较客观地揭示海水入侵引起的咸淡水界面的变化规律.其后,运用该模型系统的探讨了含水层以下为非平坦的不透水层的滨海地带天然地下水面、咸淡水界面伴随着潮汐的波动而变化的规律.即伴随着潮汐的波动,一方面天然地下水面和咸淡水界面与潮汐具有相似的振动波形,波动的幅度随离海岸距离的增加而减小.在海岸附近咸淡水界面的振幅大于天然地下水面的振幅,而在离开海岸一定距离后天然地下水面的振幅超过咸淡水界面的振幅.总体上天然地下水面的振幅呈负指数衰减,而咸淡水界面的振幅几乎呈直线衰减(其衰减直线的倾角在135～150 °之间变动),且潮汐波动对天然地下水面影响的范围远大于其对咸淡水界面的影响;另一方面天然地下水面和咸淡水界面波动的振幅及它们之间的相位差的大小还与天然地下水面的水力坡度、含水层的渗透系数、有效孔隙率、不透水层形状及其变动的幅度有关,但它们之间的相位差的大小与潮汐波动的幅度无关,其振幅与潮汐的振幅成比例增减.当不透水层的形状一定时,不论天然地下水面的水力坡度、含水层的渗透系数、有效孔隙率及潮汐波动的幅度怎么变动,天然地下水面、咸淡水界面振动的相位差的变化趋势及其峰值出现的位置几乎不变,即不透水层的形状决定着天然地下水面、咸淡水界面振动的相位差的变化趋势,而其大小与含水层的水文地质参数(水力坡度、渗透系数及有效孔隙率)密切相关.此外,当天然地下水面和咸淡水界面的振动存在相位和振幅的较大差异时,可以断定含水层以下存在非平坦的不透水层,且这种差异越大,不透水层凸凹不平的程度越高.     

Impact of selective herbicide right-of-way vegetation treatment on birds

Power line rights-of-way provide a major portion of the shrub habitat in New York. Since this habitat type is on the decline, many of the birds dependent on shrub habitat are also declining. The methods used to control right-of-way vegetation could therefore have serious impacts on several birds of conservation concern. Since New York is increasingly using selective herbicide treatments in vegetation management, we sought to investigate the potential impacts of these treatments on nesting birds. The study looked at plots in two adjacent rights-of-way before and after a selective herbicide treatment in one of the rights-of-way. We investigated three bird species: alder flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum), chestnut-sided warbler (Dendroica pensylvanica), and gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). All three species exhibited a preference for shrub vegetation around nest sites. The selective herbicide treatment did not significantly decrease that shrub vegetation, and neither the density nor the nesting success of the three species declined following the treatment. We conclude that selective herbicide vegetation management encourages the development of shrub habitat without negatively impacting the birds nesting in the habitat.     

Rangeland dynamics of southern Ethiopia: (2). Assessment of woody vegetation structure in relation to land use and distance from water in semi-arid Borana rangelands

The structure and advancement of woody vegetation was studied in a semi-arid rangeland of southern Ethiopia under three land-use systems (communal land, a government ranch and a traditional grazing reserve enclosure) and along a distance gradient (near, middle and far) from water sources. A total of 54 woody plant species were identified. Based on the subjective opinions of the pastoralists, 85% of the identified woody plants have forage values to livestock. Cadaba farinsoa, Ormocarpum trichocarpum, Rhus natalensis, Acacia brevispica, Cordia gharaf and Hibiscus sparseaculeatus were reported to have fair to good palatability. Tree equivalent (TE) density of all woody plants combined was greater (P <0.01) in the government ranch (1) 188 TE ha(-1)) and the communal land (1083 TE ha(-1)) than in the traditional grazing reserve (419 TE ha(-1)), whereas this did not vary significantly (P >0.05) along the distance gradient from water. The most important encroaching woody plant species in the study areas were in descending order: Commiphora africana, Acacia drepanolobium, A. brevispica, Acacia. tortilis, Grewia tembensis and Lannea floccosa. The density of individual encroaching woody plant species along the distance gradient from water was not consistent. All encroaching woody species had the highest TE density in the communal land. The prevalence of these species followed the pattern of intensity of use within the communal grazing area. Most of the woody species had the highest abundance in the height class >0-2m regardless of land use and distance gradient from water. This study investigated the advance of severe woody encroachment in the communal and government sites as well as along the distance gradient from water. Some of the important contributing factors that can be suggested are heavy grazing pressure (in both the communal and government sites), expansion of cultivation and reduced mobility of livestock due to settlement of the pastoralists in the communal land.     

Shrub Encroachment Impacts the Potential for Multiple Use Conflicts on Public Land

Public rangelands in North America are typically managed under a multiple use policy that includes livestock grazing and wildlife management. In this article we report on the landscape level extent of grassland loss to shrub encroachment in a portion of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve in southwestern Alberta, Canada, and review the associated implications for simultaneously supporting livestock and wildlife populations while maintaining range health on this diminishing vegetation type. Digitized aerial photographs of 12 km of valley bottom from 1958 and 1974 were co-registered to ortho-rectified digital imagery taken in 1998, and an un-supervised classification used to determine areas associated with grassland and shrubland in each year. Field data from 2002 were over-layed using GPS coordinates to refine the classification using a calibration-validation procedure. Over the 40-year study period, open grasslands declined from 1,111 ha in 1958 to 465 ha in 1998, representing a 58% decrease. Using mean production data for grass and shrub dominated areas we then quantified aggregate changes in grazing capacity of both primary (grassland) and secondary (shrubland) habitats for livestock and wildlife. Total declines in grazing capacity from 1958 to 1998 totaled 2,744 Animal Unit Months (AUMs) of forage (−39%), including a 58% decrease in primary (i.e., open grassland) range, which was only partly offset by the availability of 1,357 AUMs within less productive and less accessible shrubland habitats. Our results indicate shrub encroachment has been extensive and significantly reduced forage availability to domestic livestock and wildlife, and will increase the difficulty of conserving remaining grasslands. Although current grazing capacities remain marginally above those specified by regulated grazing policies, it is clear that continued habitat change and decreases in forage availability are likely to threaten the condition of remaining grasslands. Unless shrub encroachment is arrested or grassland restoration initiated, reductions in aggregate ungulate numbers may be necessary.

含感潮河流的海岸带海水入侵特性的调查研究

以太平洋附近3.2 km2的区域为调查对象。首先,通过区域内的19口地质调查井,确认了含水层由透水性不同的多层土质构成,含水层以下的不透水层总体上从海岸开始呈逐渐隆起的山丘状。其次,通过测量距海岸不同距离的10口井水铅直方向电导率,确认了咸淡水混合区域特征点和地下水面伴随着潮汐的波动而变化的规律。即,在同一位置不同季节,其变化的特征不同;同一季节不同位置的调查井,因所处位置的地质构造及与海岸、感潮河流距离的不同,其变化特征也不同,这与迄今为止的众多研究结果不同。此外,通过分布于区域内的36个电法探测点的探查和井水铅直方向电导率的调查认为,海水入侵虽然受到感潮河流的一定影响,但从整个调查区域来看海水仍以"楔状"向着内陆入侵。同时,针对调查区域的不透水层的特征建立的数理模型对以上的部分调查结果给出了定性解释。     

Desertification in the Sudan: causes,effects and policy options

Desertification is the spread of desert-like conditions in arid and semi-arid conditions. It is a result of pressure from both climatic and human factors. Desertification in the Sudan has been accelerating at a faster rate over the last two decades, leading to marginalization and the loss of arable land. The main factors contributing to desertification include drought, population growth, the spread of extensive agriculture, deforestation, rapid urbanization, the erosion of local political power, the lack of economic institutions and the absence of social institutions which have tended to reduce the capacity of the local people to cope with the resource degradation problem. Initiatives to arrest the desert encroachment must include improved cultivation methods, proper grazing management, reforestation and integration of livestock and crop production systems, coupled with good linkages to light processing industries.

This paper identifies the causal factors of desert encroachment, assesses its impact on the environment and humanity and concludes by recommending specific strategies to control the desert encroachment problem.     

Expansion of Canopy-Forming Willows Over the Twentieth Century on Herschel Island,Yukon Territory,Canada

Canopy-forming shrubs are reported to be increasing at sites around the circumpolar Arctic. Our results indicate expansion in canopy cover and height of willows on Herschel Island located at 70° north on the western Arctic coast of the Yukon Territory. We examined historic photographs, repeated vegetation surveys, and conducted monitoring of long-term plots and found evidence of increases of each of the dominant canopy-forming willow species (Salix richardsonii, Salix glauca and Salix pulchra), during the twentieth century. A simple model of patch initiation indicates that the majority of willow patches for each of these species became established between 1910 and 1960, with stem ages and maximum growth rates indicating that some patches could have established as late as the 1980s. Collectively, these results suggest that willow species are increasing in canopy cover and height on Herschel Island. We did not find evidence that expansion of willow patches is currently limited by herbivory, disease, or growing conditions.