Premium
Exclusion of livestock grazing and wood collection in dryland savannah: an effect on long‐term vegetation succession
Author(s) -
Hejcmanová Pavla,
Hejcman Michal,
Camara Abdoul Aziz,
Antonínová Markéta
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2009.01127.x
Subject(s) - ecological succession , vegetation (pathology) , perennial plant , forb , fencing , grazing , geography , secondary succession , woody plant , acacia , balanites aegyptiaca , rangeland , agroforestry , forestry , ecology , environmental science , biology , grassland , medicine , pathology , alternative medicine , parallel computing , computer science
Sahelian savannah faces increasing pressure from human activities, leading to its degradation. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of restoration of dryland savannah vegetation by the elimination of disturbance factors on the ecosystem. Is degraded dryland savannah vegetation able to be restored by means of natural succession? What is the timescale for its recovery? The study took place in the Bandia Reserve, 65 km south‐east of Dakar (Senegal), a unique site with two successional stages due to the elimination of uncontrolled exploitation. The vegetation structure of 15 years (15YRS) and 5 years (5YRS) after fencing was compared with vegetation exposed to continuous livestock grazing and wood collection outside the fenced area. Calculated by redundancy analysis, a significant effect of selected areas on the cover of all species was revealed and successional stage explained more than 45% of data variability. Perennial forbs, annual forbs and perennial grasses achieved the highest cover in 5YRS, woody species in 15YRS and annual grasses in the area outside of the fenced reserve. The dominant woody species Acacia seyal , A. ataxacantha , A. nilotica subsp. adstringens and Balanites aegyptiaca reconstituted the dense formation of Acacia bushland by means of natural succession in the 15YRS area.