Diversity and occurrence of herbaceous communities in West African savannas in relation to climate, land use and habitat

Zerbo, Issa; Bernhardt‐Römermann, Markus; Ouédraogo, Oumarou; Hahn, Karen; Thiombiano, Adjima

doi:10.1007/s12224-017-9303-2

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In addition, soil texture can be a crucial factor influencing the competitive environment by determining the availability of nutrients and water in different soil depths for competing life forms (Britz & Ward, ). At the local scale, land‐use intensity and habitat conditions are relevant drivers causing differences in grass and forb assemblages, whereas at regional scale, climate may be a stronger driver that, in combination with land‐use effects, specifically affects herbaceous species distributions and patterns in species richness and diversity (Zerbo et al, , ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interannual rainfall variability is commonly perceived as the strongest driver of herbaceous layer dynamics (Buitenwerf, Swemmer, & Peel, 2011;O'Connor, 1991b), especially at a regional scale (Zerbo, et al, 2018). However, some of the reviewed papers reported that forb functional organization and spatial patterning is better explained through combined effects of moisture availability and variation in topography and soil, rather than by rainfall only (Augustine, 2003;Clegg & O'Connor, 2017;Linstädter et al, 2016;Masunga et al, 2013).…”

Section: Abiotic Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the local scale, land-use intensity and habitat conditions are relevant drivers causing differences in grass and forb assemblages, whereas at regional scale, climate may be a stronger driver that, in combination with land-use effects, specifically affects herbaceous species distributions and patterns in species richness and diversity (Zerbo et al, 2016(Zerbo et al, , 2018.…”

Section: Livestock Grazing Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, it is quite common that forbs are lumped with grasses to calculate herbaceous biomass, cover, or dry matter production (Van Coller & Siebert, ; Knoop & Walker, ; Smit & Prins, ; Treydte, Baumgartner, Heitkönig, Grant, & Getz, ) or to measure species richness and diversity (Angassa, ; Van Coller et al, ; Porensky, Wittman, Riginos, & Young, ). Accordingly, there is much scientific uncertainty about how forbs are affected by biotic and abiotic drivers at the species and community level, and how this relates to global environmental problems, especially climate‐ and land‐use change (Zerbo, Bernhardt‐Römermann, Ouédraogo, Hahn, & Thiombiano, , ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forb ecology research in dry African savannas: Knowledge, gaps, and future perspectives

Siebert

Dreber

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Savannas are commonly described as a vegetation type with a grass layer interspersed with a discontinuous tree or shrub layer. On the contrary, forbs, a plant life form that can include any nongraminoid herbaceous vascular plant, are poorly represented in definitions of savannas worldwide. While forbs have been acknowledged as a diverse component of the herbaceous layer in savanna ecosystems and valued for the ecosystem services and functions they provide, they have not been the primary focus in most savanna vegetation studies. We performed a systematic review of scientific literature to establish the extent to which forbs are implicitly or explicitly considered as a discrete vegetation component in savanna research. The overall aims were to summarize knowledge on forb ecology, identify knowledge gaps, and derive new perspectives for savanna research and management with a special focus on arid and semiarid ecosystems in Africa. We synthesize and discuss our findings in the context of different overarching research themes: (a) functional organization and spatial patterning, (b) land degradation and range management, (c) conservation and reserve management, (d) resource use and forage patterning, and (e) germination and recruitment. Our results revealed biases in published research with respect to study origin (country coverage in Africa), climate (more semiarid than arid systems), spatial scale (more local than landscape scale), the level at which responses or resource potential was analyzed (primarily plant functional groups rather than species), and the focus on interactions between life forms (rather seldom between forbs and grasses and/or trees). We conclude that the understanding of African savanna community responses to drivers of global environmental change requires knowledge beyond interactions between trees and grasses only and beyond the plant functional group level. Despite multifaceted evidence of our current understanding of forbs in dry savannas, there appear to be knowledge gaps, specifically in linking drivers of environmental change to forb community responses. We therefore propose that more attention be given to forbs as an additional ecologically important plant life form in the conventional tree–grass paradigm of savannas.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Abiotic Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Livestock Grazing Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forb ecology research in dry African savannas: Knowledge, gaps, and future perspectives

Siebert

Dreber

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Forb community assemblages, structure and diversity are furthermore shaped by interannual rainfall variability (Clegg and O'Connor 2017;Zerbo et al 2018), although they seem to be less sensitive than grasses to periodic droughts (O'Connor 1998;Fynn and O'Connor 2000). Semi-arid savanna forbs are particularly rich in functional traits (Hanke et al 2014;Van Coller and Siebert 2019), which make them resilient to environmental fluctuations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forb community responses to an extensive drought in two contrasting land-use types of a semi-arid Lowveld savanna

Siebert

Klem

Coller

2020

African Journal of Range & Forage Science

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Projected increases in the frequency and severity of drought events are expected to impose changes in the ecology of native forb communities in semi-arid ecosystems. We examined the state of forb communities during, and directly after an extreme drought event across two contrasting land-use types, which included a protected area (high diversity of free roaming wild herbivores) and communal rangeland (long history of intensive cattle grazing) in a semi-arid Lowveld savanna of the Gazankulu area, South Africa. Forb floristic data were collected towards the end of the drought and repeated after the drought release a few months later. Forb community composition was significantly different among land-use types. Community changes were not induced by annual forb emergence alone, but through species-specific dominance shifts, which differed among land-use types. Forb richness, diversity and biomass were equally low at both land-use types and increased significantly after the drought release, although the magnitude of response was much stronger in the protected area, whereas drought contributed to a directional change in the protected area with a complete post-drought turnover in both annual and perennial forb species, much less variability was observed in the communal rangeland, which may suggest long-term effects imposed by land-use history.

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Plant Agrobiodiversity, Agricultural and Phytosanitary Practices of Market Garden Crops in the Centre‐East Region of Burkina Faso

Zerbo,

Dabiré,

Kaboré

et al. 2024

J of Sust Agri & Env

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IntroductionIn West Africa, market gardeners use various agricultural practices to increase yields. However, many of these practices do not comply with agroecological standards and cause intoxication, pollution, soil degradation and biodiversity loss. This study characterizes the plant agrobiodiversity of market garden crops grown during the rainy season and the agricultural and phytosanitary practices used for their management.Materials and MethodsThe study was carried out in Burkina Faso. Plant agrobiodiversity was assessed in 100 market gardens. Agricultural and phytosanitary practices were characterized using semi‐structured interviews. A Sankey diagram was used to highlight the relationships among market garden crops, bioaggressors and diseases. Principal component analyses were applied to highlight the agricultural and phytosanitary practices used.ResultsThe results revealed rich agrobiodiversity, including 16 market garden crops, 15 local agroforestry species, 17 planted species and 37 weed species. The main market garden crops grown in the rainy season were cabbage (20.30%), lettuce (16.62%), tomato (11.69%), and amaranth (10.15%). The most frequent agroforestry species were Azadirachta indica (18.20%) and Mangifera indica (15.03%). The most common weeds were Eleusine indica (11.02%) and Cyperus reduncus (9.70%). Eleven pests were identified, and the most frequently recorded were caterpillars (39.06%). Sixteen diseases were reported, the most common being leaf yellowing (15.67%) and leaf wilt (11.67%). Numerous market gardeners use mineral fertilizers such as Yaramila (NPK 23‐10‐5), NPK (14‐23‐14), urea (46.00% nitrogen), and liquid fertilizer as well as compost and organic manure. The most common agricultural practice was crop rotation (79.00%). To protect crops, 89.00% of producers used synthetic chemical pesticides in an uncontrolled manner, most of which are purchased on the local market. Only 11.00% of the market gardeners practiced the natural phytosanitary treatments.ConclusionThis study provides important information that can be used for the sustainable management of market gardens. Agroecological standards should be popularized to ensure food security for market garden crops.

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Diversity and occurrence of herbaceous communities in West African savannas in relation to climate, land use and habitat

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

Forb ecology research in dry African savannas: Knowledge, gaps, and future perspectives

Forb ecology research in dry African savannas: Knowledge, gaps, and future perspectives

Forb community responses to an extensive drought in two contrasting land-use types of a semi-arid Lowveld savanna

Plant Agrobiodiversity, Agricultural and Phytosanitary Practices of Market Garden Crops in the Centre‐East Region of Burkina Faso

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