Classification, Characterisation, and Use of Small Wetlands in East Africa

Sakané, Nomé; Álvarez, Miguel; Becker, M.; Böhme, Beate; Handa, Collins; Kamiri, Hellen; Langensiepen, Matthias; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome; Mogha, Neema; Möseler, Bodo Maria; Mwita, Emiliana; Oyieke, H; Wijk, Mark van

doi:10.1007/s13157-011-0221-4

Cited by 68 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…** Wetland definition of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service [23]. *** Wetland definition of the 'Small Wetlands in East Africa' Project [42].…”

Section: Review Of Wetlands Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Definitions and Mapping of East African Wetlands: A Review

Amler

Schmidt²,

Menz

2015

Remote Sensing

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Wetlands provide invaluable ecosystem services and contribute significantly to food security around the world. To maintain these functions, wetlands need to be protected from rapid transformation and overuse. Spatially-explicit information is required for sustainable wetland management. Development of wetland maps based on remote sensing requires a clear-cut definition of wetlands. This review was undertaken to improve the understanding of these habitats from a remote sensing perspective and to determine available wetland map layers for the East African countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. This study includes three components: (1) a review of the availability and types of wetland definitions from the scientific literature record (including 245 separate references); (2) a systematic analysis of land use/land cover classifications and the conceptual approaches and spatial coverages of wetland classes for each system; and (3) a depiction of wetland layers and a discussion of their suitability for use in regional inventories. Our literature review shows that a standard definition of wetlands is not in use, and a specific definition of wetlands is not given in more than 40% of the reviewed remote sensing publications. Spatial information on East African wetlands is currently insufficient for use in regional wetland management. OPEN ACCESS

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“…** Wetland definition of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service [23]. *** Wetland definition of the 'Small Wetlands in East Africa' Project [42].…”

Section: Review Of Wetlands Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Definitions and Mapping of East African Wetlands: A Review

Amler

Schmidt²,

Menz

2015

Remote Sensing

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“…According to a first survey on geophysical, socio-economical and vegetation attributes of small wetlands in East Africa (Sakané et al 2011), we selected four contrasting wetlands to cover the prevailing diversity of attributes such as wetland type (floodplain vs. inland valley swamp), altitude (lowland vs. highland), demography (high vs. low population density in the surroundings), and market accessibility (Table 1). Rumuruti is located in the Ewaso Narok floodplain on the Laikipia plateau at 1,811 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also the type of flood-tolerant crops differs by altitude with lowland rice (Oryza sativa) in Malinda and Taro (Colocasia esculenta) in Tegu (Sakané et al 2011). …”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Floristic classification of the vegetation in small wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania

Álvarez¹,

Becker²,

Böhme³

et al. 2012

Biodivers. Ecol.

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Small wetlands in East Africa are increasingly converted into sites for agricultural production. The resulting changes in land use and cropping systems will impact on the wetlands' vegetation. We characterized the plant communities in four wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania, each comprising four types of land use differentiated by the degree of anthropogenic disturbance (cropland, fallow, grazing land and unused). Since no syntaxonomical scheme was available as a reference, a first classification of vegetation units and the identification of diagnostic species is proposed. We collected 207 relevés in the representative wetlands in relation to the current land uses. The plant communities were determined using a modified TWINSPAN classification. For each vegetation unit, diagnostic species were selected according to their fidelity index (phi coefficient). Floristic relationships between vegetation units were surveyed by nMDS ordination analyses. We identified 15 plant communities and selected 147 diagnostic species. The communities were differentiated into (1) semi-natural wetland vegetation (associated with less disturbed environments), (2) grassland and fallow vegetation, and (3) weed communities (associated with eu-hemerobic, drained and cultivated cropland). While the semi-natural vegetation was distinctly matched with unused fields, the differential matching of the other plant communities with land use types was less clear. According to the floristic similarity, the weed communities associated with cropland tended to be aggregated in the nMDS configuration while the semi-natural vegetation was dispersed. The results of the ordination did not differ when involving all species or only the selected diagnostic ones. As the plant communities described are rankless syntaxa, the establishment of a comprehensive syntaxonomic classification for African wetlands will require further vegetation surveys as well as their comparison with published data.Keywords: flood plain; inland valley; land use; modified TWINSPAN; papyrus swamp. Nomenclature: African Plant Database (CJB & SANBI 2010).Abbreviations: nMDS = non-metric multidimensional scaling; SWEA = Small Wetlands in East Africa; TWINSPAN = Two-way indicator species analysis.

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“…However, with declining quantity and quality of upland arable land (Maitima et al, ), wetlands are seen as potential areas for agricultural expansion, intensification, and food security (Dixon & Wood, ; Rodenburg et al, ). Prolonged periods of water availability and relatively fertile soils (von der Heyden & New, ), high annual population growth rate (Sakané et al, ), and the projected variations in precipitation (Adhikari, Nejadhashemi, & Woznicki, ; Collins et al, ) are the driving forces for using wetlands for agricultural production, more so in tropical regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining hydrological regimes in an agriculturally used tropical inland valley wetland in Central Uganda using soil moisture, groundwater, and digital elevation data

Gabiri

Diekkrüger

Leemhuis

et al. 2018

Hydrological Processes

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Inadequate knowledge exists on the distribution of soil moisture and shallow groundwater in intensively cultivated inland valley wetlands in tropical environments, which are required for determining the hydrological regime. This study investigated the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture along 4 hydrological positions segmented as riparian zone, valley bottom, fringe, and valley slope in an agriculturally used inland valley wetland in Central Uganda. The determined hydrological regimes of the defined hydrological positions are based on soil moisture deficit calculated from the depth to the groundwater table. For that, the accuracy and reliability of satellite‐derived surface models, SRTM‐30m and TanDEM‐X‐12m, for mapping microscale topography and hydrological regimes are evaluated against a 5‐m digital elevation model (DEM) derived from field measurements. Soil moisture and depth to groundwater table were measured using frequency domain reflectometry sensors and piezometers installed along the hydrological positions, respectively. Results showed that spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture increased significantly (p < .05) towards the riparian zone; however, no significant difference was observed between the valley bottom and riparian zone. The distribution of soil hydrological regimes, saturated, near‐saturated, and nonsaturated regimes does not correlate with the hydrological positions. This is due to high spatial and temporal variability in depth to groundwater and soil moisture content across the valley. Precipitation strongly controlled the temporal variability, whereas microscale topography, soil properties, distance from the stream, anthropogenic factors, and land use controlled the spatial variability in the inland valley. TanDEM‐X DEM reasonably mapped the microscale topography and thus soil hydrological regimes relative to the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM. The findings of the study contribute to improved understanding of the distribution of hydrological regimes in an inland valley wetland, which is required for a better agricultural water management planning.

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Classification, Characterisation, and Use of Small Wetlands in East Africa

Cited by 68 publications

References 25 publications

Definitions and Mapping of East African Wetlands: A Review

Definitions and Mapping of East African Wetlands: A Review

Floristic classification of the vegetation in small wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania

Determining hydrological regimes in an agriculturally used tropical inland valley wetland in Central Uganda using soil moisture, groundwater, and digital elevation data

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