Restoration of bare incrusted soils in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso

Authors

  • Marco Schmidt
  • Konstantin König
  • Karen Hahn
  • Georg Zizka
  • Rüdiger Wittig

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21248/fvss.13.10

Keywords:

biodiversity, rangeland regeneration, soil crusts, Vallerani system

Abstract

Bare incrusted soils are a degradation stage often encountered in the Sahel zone. Our study documents the success of restoration (= regreening) experiments using deep ploughing in an experimental site south of Gorom-Gorom in the Oudalan province of Burkina Faso. We used phytosociological relevés and maximum likelihood classifications of digital photography to analyze changes in vegetation. Plant cover in treated plots was found to be about 20 times higher than in control plots, mean species richness more than twice as high. Therefore, this promising restoration method should be tested also in other Sahelian regions. Our approach to combine phytosociological relevés and maximum likelihood classifications of digital photography proved to be very useful.

References

Albert K.D., Müller J, Ries JB, & Marzolff (2004): Aktuelle Landdegradation in der Sahelzone Burkina Fasos. – In Albert KD, löhr D & Neumann K (eds.): Mensch und Natur in Westafrika. Wiley-VCH, 289-330. https://doi.org/10.1002/3527605754.ch3e

Braun-Blanquet J (1964): Pflanzensoziologie - Grundzüge der Vegetationskunde. – 3. Aufl. Springer, Wien.

Claude J, Grouzis M & Milleville P (1991): Un espace sahélien. La Mare d'Oursi, Burkina Faso.– ORSTOM, Paris.Curtis mJ & Claassen vP (2007): Regenerating topsoil functionality in four drastically disturbed soil types by com-post incorporation. – Restoration Ecol. 17: 24-32.

Flombaum P & Sala OE (2009): Cover is a good predictor of aboveground biomass in arid systems. – J. Arid Environ. 73: 597-598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.01.017

Ganaba s, Bayala J, Yaméogo Km, Yaméogo Jt & Oudba J-M (2006): Impact des aménagements anti-erosif sur la phénologie, la transpiration et la productivité fruitière li-gneuses en zone subsahélienne du Burkina Faso. – Etudes flor. vég. Burkina Faso 10: 49-62.

Harris JA, Hobbs RJ, higgs e & Aronson J (2006): Ecological Restoration and Global Climate Change. – Restoration Ecol. 14: 170-176. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100x.2006.00136.x

Hobbs RJ (2007): Setting effective and realistic restoration goals: Key directions for research. – Restoration Ecol. 15: 354-357. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100x.2007.00225.x

Klimes, l. (2003): Scale-dependent variation in visual es-timates of grassland plant cover. – J. Veg. Sci. 14: 815-821. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2003.tb02214.x

lane CP & texler hd (2009): Generating quantitative re-gional plant community descriptions for restoration. – Re-storation Ecol. 17: 42-50. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100x.2007.00331.x

lePrun JC (1999): The influences of ecological factors on tiger bush and dotted bush patterns along a gradient from Mali to nothern Burkina Faso. – Catena 37: 25-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0341-8162(98)00054-x

lePs J & hadinCova v (1992): How Reliable Are Our Vegetation Analyses. – J. Veg. Sci. 3: 119-124. https://doi.org/10.2307/3236006

Londo g. (1976): The decimal scale for releves of permanent quadrats. – Vegetatio 33: 61-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00055300

Malagnoux m (2009): Degraded Arid Land Restoration for Afforestation and Agro-Silvo-Pastoral Production through New Water Harvesting Mechanized Technology. – In lee C & sChaaF t (eds.): The Future of Drylands. Springer, Ne-therlands, 269-282. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6970-3_30

Mando a, brussaard l & stroosniJder l (1999): Termite- and mulch-mediated rehabilitation of vegetation on crusted soil in West Africa. – Restoration Ecol. 7: 33-41. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-100x.1999.07104.x

Müller Jv (2003): Zur Vegetationsökologie der Savannen-landschaften im Sahel Burkina Fasos. – PhD thesis, J.W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main.

Nielsen Jø & rennberg a (2010): Temporality and the problem with singling out climate as a current driver of change in a small West African village. – J. Arid Environ. 74 (4): 464-474 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.019

Ouedraogo rl, GuinKo s & Wittig R (2005): La vegetation aquatique et semi-aquatique de la Mare aux Hippopo-tames et des Mares d'Oursi et Yomboli (Burkina Faso). – Etudes flor. vég. Burkina Faso 9:19-33.

Papanastasis vP (2009): Restoration of degraded grazing lands through grazing management: Can it work? – Restora-tion Ecol. 17: 441-445. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100x.2009.00567.x

Pari l & antinori P (2001): Production of biomass in the Mediterranean area with the microbasins mechanized tech-nique (Vallerani System) to fight desertification. – In Ky-ritsis s (ed.): Proc. 1st World Conference on Biomass for Energy and Industry, Sevilla, Spain, 5-9 June 2000. James & James Ltd., London, 1963-1965.

Pielou eC (1969): An Introduction to Mathematical Ecolo-gy. – John Wiley and Sons, New York.

roose e, Kabore v & guenat C (1999): Zaï practice: A West African traditional rehabilitation system for semiarid degraded lands, a case study in Burkina Faso.– Arid Soil Res. Rehab. 13: 343-355. https://doi.org/10.1080/089030699263230

Sawadogo h, Bock l, Lacroix d & Zombré nP (2008): Restoring soil potentialities using zaï and compost in Ya-tenga (Burkina Faso). – Biotech. Agron. Soc. Environ. 12: 279-290. https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/33221/1/279.pdf

Schmidt M (2006): Pflanzenvielfalt in Burkina Faso - Analyse, Modellierung und Dokumentation. – PhD thesis, J.W.Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main.

Sørensen t (1948): A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species and its application to analyses of the vegetation on Danish commons. – Biol. Skr. Dan. Vid. Selsk. 5: 1-34.

SPSS (2006): SPSS 15.0 for Windows and Smart-Viewer. –

SPSS, Chicago, IL.tiChý l (2002): JUICE, software for vegetation classifica-tion. – J. Veg. Sci. 13: 451-453. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2002.tb02069.x

Valentin C & d`herbèsJm (1999): Niger tiger bush as a natural water harvesting system. – Catena 37: 231-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0341-8162(98)00061-7

White F (1983): The vegetation of Africa. A descriptive memoire to accompany the Unesco/Aetfat/Unso vegetation map of Africa. – Unesco Natural Resources Research 20: 1- 356.

Wittig R, Hahn-hadJali K, Krohmer J, Müller J & Sieglstetter R (2002): La végétation actuelle des savanes du Burkina Faso et du Bénin - sa signification pour l'homme et la modification de celle-ci par l'homme (aperçu des résul-tats d'un projet de recherche duré des années). – Etudes flor.vég. Burkina Faso 7: 3-16.

Wittig r, hahn-hadJali K, König K, Schmidt M, Szarzynski J & Thiombiano a (2006): Dynamik von Flora und Vegetation in der westafrikanischen Sudanzone am Beispiel von Burkina Faso. – Ber. Reinh.-Tüxen-Ges. 18: 57-68.

Wittig, r., König, K., sChmidt, m., & J. Szarzynski (2007): A Study of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts in West Africa. – Environ. Sci. Poll. Res. 14: 182-189. https://doi.org/10.1065/espr2007.02.388

Zougmore, r, Zida Z & Kamboun F (2003): Role of nutrient amendments in the success of half-moon soil and water conservation practice in semiarid Burkina Faso. – Soil Tilla-ge Res. 71: 143-149 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0167-1987(03)00050-3

Downloads

Published

2010-12-09

How to Cite

[1]
M. Schmidt, K. König, K. Hahn, G. Zizka, and R. Wittig, “Restoration of bare incrusted soils in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso”, FVSS, vol. 13, pp. 3–9, Dec. 2010.

Issue

##article.pages##
3-9

Section

Articles