The Impact of Bushfire on Carbon and Nutrient Stocks as Well as Albedo in the Savanna of Northern Ghana


Book Description

Bushfires are an important ecological factor in tropical savannas. This study assesses the role bushfires play with regard to the carbon and nutrient fluxes in the savanna ecosystem of northern Ghana. Long-term repeated bushfires lead to serious losses of nitrogen with subsequent land degradation and to the release of considerable amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which could affect the regional and even the global climate.










The potential of oil palm and forest plantations for carbon sequestration on degraded land in Indonesia


Book Description

Plant biomass represents a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is one of the most important greenhouse gases and which is assumed to contribute more than half of the global warming. Establishing tree plantations or perennial crops on degraded land is an effective way to reduce atmospheric carbon by building up terrestrial carbon stocks, not only in the living biomass, but also in the soil. By converting Imperata cylindrica grassland into tree plantations (Acacia mangium or oil palm), aboveground biomass carbon can be increased about 20-fold and below ground biomass carbon up to 8-fold, while soil carbon can almost be doubled.




Ecophysiological Diversity of Wild Arabica Coffee Populations in Ethiopia


Book Description

Coffea arabica, one of the economically most important crops worldwide, occurs naturally in the undergrowth of montane rainforests of Ethiopia. The study provides the first detailed ecophysiological investigations of wild coffee populations. It demonstrates the inter- and intra-regional variability in phenotypic and hydrological characteristics of wild coffee. The results reveal very different strategies of wild coffee seedlings for coping with drought stress. The ecophysiological diversity shows the importance of Ethiopian wild coffee populations as gene pools for future breeding programs, and underlines the need for an in-situ conservation strategy. The study includes recommendations for coffee forest management and the use of wild arabica coffee in Ethiopia.




The Spatial Distribution of Soil Salinity


Book Description

Soils of irrigated lands in the Aral Sea Basin are often plagued by high salinity,hampering profitable agriculture on these soils. In this context, the present study has three specific objectives: to identify techniques that enable a rapid estimation of soil salinity, to characterize its spatial distribution and to estimate its spatial distribution based on readily obtainable environmental parametersusing a Neural Network Model Approach. Topsoil salinity was highly variable atshort distances and terrain attributes were the most influential factors. The use of relationships between environmental attributes and soil salinity for upscaling spatial distribution of soil salinity from farm to district level proved to be satisfactory. A possible application is the development of salinity prediction toolsfor farm-level decision making.













Reservoir Siltation in Ethiopia


Book Description