Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Farmlands Feature Greater Woody Cover than Savannas in Semi-Arid West Africa

Version 1 : Received: 21 March 2017 / Approved: 22 March 2017 / Online: 22 March 2017 (15:55:14 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Brandt, M.; Rasmussen, K.; Hiernaux, P.; Herrmann, S.; Tucker, C.J.; Tong, X.; Tian, F.; Mertz, O.; Kergoat, L.; Mbow, C.; David, J.; Melocik, K.; Dendoncker, M.; Vincke, C.; Fensholt, R. Reduction of tree cover in West African woodlands and promotion in semi-arid farmlands. Nature Geoscience 2018, 11, 328-333. Brandt, M.; Rasmussen, K.; Hiernaux, P.; Herrmann, S.; Tucker, C.J.; Tong, X.; Tian, F.; Mertz, O.; Kergoat, L.; Mbow, C.; David, J.; Melocik, K.; Dendoncker, M.; Vincke, C.; Fensholt, R. Reduction of tree cover in West African woodlands and promotion in semi-arid farmlands. Nature Geoscience 2018, 11, 328-333.

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. In arid and semi-arid Sahel, areas of more people are associated with more trees: mean woody cover is greater in farmlands (12%) than in savannas (6%), and likewise it is higher close to villages than further away. In sub-humid savannas of West Africa, woody cover is generally above 20% and decreases with increasing population density, but remains around 15% in farmlands, independent of rainfall. 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.

Keywords

land use; management; woody cover determinants; human-environment; Sahel

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science

Comments (0)

Comment 1
Received: 15 November 2017
Commenter: David Wade
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment: I have been spending lot of time on satellite maps and this seems to be common all over Africa. Is this land abandoned like India or is there something else going on? I dont think Africas population is anywhere near what their census have reported. It looks like many rural areas are abandoned. I think there needs to be more research on it. Thanks for your work I hope to see more.
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