Articles

Changes and drivers of afro-alpine forest ecosystem: future trajectories and management strategies in Bale eco-region, Ethiopia

Ecosystem change and respective conservation needs were at top priority areas in the globe especially at biodiversity hotspot zones and places of endemism like Bale eco-region. In this aspect, this study had t...

Authors: Adane Mezgebu and Getachew Workineh

Socio-economic factors influencing household forest dependency in Chobe enclave, Botswana

Human dependence on forests is a multifaceted phenomenon. The degree of reliance on forests varies geographically, overtime and across communities. These dynamics underpin the importance of understanding the d...

Authors: Hesekia Garekae, Olekae Tsompie Thakadu and Joyce Lepetu

Groundwater uptake of different surface cover and its consequences in great Hungarian plain

Forest cover in Hungary has increased from 1.1 to 2.0 million hectares during the last century. The EU (European Union) promotes further afforestation; thus, 15,000–18,000 ha are being forested each year, main...

Authors: Zoltán Gribovszki, Péter Kalicz, Kitti Balog, András Szabó, Tibor Tóth, Péter Csáfordi, Mohamed Metwaly and Sándor Szalai

Local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele, Basona Worena district, Ethiopia

Growing Eucalyptus at a farm level in the form of woodlot has become popular among rural households in Ethiopia. For example, rural households mainly establish Eucalyptus woodlot as a component of livelihood impr...

Authors: Solomon Ayele Tadesse and Solomon Mulu Tafere

Ecohydrological processes and ecosystem services in the Anthropocene: a review

The framework for ecosystem services has been increasingly used in integrated watershed ecosystem management practices that involve scientists, engineers, managers, and policy makers. The objective of this rev...

Authors: Ge Sun, Dennis Hallema and Heidi Asbjornsen

Spread of common native and invasive grasses and ruderal trees following anthropogenic disturbances in a tropical dry forest

A fundamental challenge to the integrity of tropical dry forest ecosystems is the invasion of non-native grass species. These grasses compete for resources and fuel anthropogenic wildfires. In 2012, a bulldoze...

Authors: Xavier A. Jaime, Skip J. Van Bloem, Frank H. Koch and Stacy A. C. Nelson

An application of blended amendments in monsoon rice field

Rice is the main food crop of the world, and the cultivation of rice crop during the monsoon season is hard due to the rain-induced waterlogging. Apart from this, farmers in north-eastern regions of India ofte...

Authors: Madhumita Ghosh and Ashalata Devi

Are Northeastern U.S. forests vulnerable to extreme drought?

In the Northeastern U.S., drought is expected to increase in frequency over the next century, and therefore, the responses of trees to drought are important to understand. There is recent debate about whether ...

Authors: Adam P. Coble, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Z. Carter Berry, Katie A. Jennings, Cameron D. McIntire, John L. Campbell, Lindsey E. Rustad, Pamela H. Templer and Heidi Asbjornsen

Exclosures restored the density and root colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Exclusion of grazing animals and tree plantations were among the methods used for the restoration of degraded lands in tropical semiarid areas. Exclosures can foster secondary forest succession by improving so...

Authors: Emiru Birhane, Kide Mogos Gebremedihin, Tewodros Tadesse, Mengsteab Hailemariam and Negasi Solomon

Effect of forest fire on tree diversity and regeneration potential in a tropical dry deciduous forest of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, India

The study was conducted in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, in the Western Ghats to understand the effect of a single fire event on tree diversity and regeneration status. Four forest patches were selected which were ...

Authors: Satyam Verma, Dharmatma Singh, Sathya Mani and Shanmuganathan Jayakumar

Assessment of two persistent bioaccumulative toxicants in the UNESCO protected river of Osun-Osogbo, Nigeria

Osun River dissecting the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, though inscribed on the World Heritage List, has been rarely assessed for biodiversity values or ecotoxicology. In this study, we investigated the concentrat...

Authors: Emmanuel O. Akindele, Godwin O. Olutona, Oyeshina G. Oyeku and Akinkunle V. Adeniyi

Modeling of potential habitat suitability of Hippocamelus bisulcus: effectiveness of a protected areas network in Southern Patagonia

Huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus Molina) is the most threatened flag species of Southern Patagonia, where conservation efforts were not effective to avoid the retraction of its distribution area. Habitat quality mod...

Authors: Yamina Micaela Rosas, Pablo L. Peri, Alejandro Huertas Herrera, Hernán Pastore and Guillermo Martínez Pastur

Community-based knowledge towards rangeland condition, climate change, and adaptation strategies: the case of Afar pastoralists

Pastoral communities have a comprehensive knowledge of their environments. This knowledge was acquired through extensive observation of the local environment and continuous herding practices. Pastoralists’ wis...

Authors: Minyahel Tilahun, Ayana Angassa and Aster Abebe

Impacts of land use and planning on island ecosystem service values: a case study of Dinghai District on Zhoushan Archipelago, China

Recently designated as a new special economic zone in China, Zhoushan Archipelago is going through a rapid land use change that is expected to have significant impacts on ecosystem services. However, there is ...

Authors: Xiaoyun Shao, Changwei Jing, Jiaguo Qi, Jingang Jiang, Qiankun Liu and Xiumin Cai

Camel management as an adaptive strategy to climate change by pastoralists in southern Ethiopia

Experiences of low rainfall and frequent droughts have had enormous impacts on livestock production and pastoralists’ livelihoods in southern Ethiopia. The Borana pastoralists are dependent on livestock husban...

Authors: Galma Wako, Menfese Tadesse and Ayana Angassa

Landscape and scale-dependent spatial niches of bats foraging above intensively used arable fields

Bats are threatened by agricultural intensification, and although bat ecology in agricultural landscapes is in the focus of current research, the effects of interacting spatiotemporal factors on species-specif...

Authors: Olga Heim, Lukas Lorenz, Stephanie Kramer-Schadt, Kirsten Jung, Christian C. Voigt and Jana A. Eccard

Non-timber forest products and their contribution to households income around Falgore Game Reserve in Kano, Nigeria

In the recent decades, there has been growing interest in the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to livelihoods, development, and poverty alleviation among the rural populace. This has been pro...

Authors: Muhammad Sabiu Suleiman, Vivian Oliver Wasonga, Judith Syombua Mbau, Aminu Suleiman and Yazan Ahmed Elhadi

Impact of deforestation on habitat connectivity thresholds for large carnivores in tropical forests

Deforestation significantly impacts large carnivores that depend on large tracts of interconnected forest habitat and that are sensitive to human activities. Understanding the relationship between habitat use ...

Authors: Miriam A. Zemanova, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Emily L. Dickins, Andrew B. Gill, John P. Leonard and David B. Wester

Rangeland water requirement satisfaction index under rainfall variability and predicting future rainfall scenarios: implication for availability of feed resources

Rangeland ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services, including feed resources for wild and domestic herbivores in semi-arid areas. However, under the ever increasing environmental changes, the impact of r...

Authors: Hassen M. Ahmed, Zewdu K. Tessema, Adugna Tolera and Diriba Korecha

Carbon stocks and sequestration potential of dry forests under community management in Tigray, Ethiopia

Forests form a major component of the carbon (C) reserves in the world’s ecosystems. However, little is known on how management influences C stocks of woody vegetation, particularly in dry areas. We developed ...

Authors: Negasi Solomon, Emiru Birhane, Tewodros Tadesse, Anna C. Treydte and Kiros Meles

Understanding livestock production and sustainability of grassland ecosystems in the Asian Dryland Belt

Companioned by economic development, a dietary shift toward higher meat consumption is seen in developing countries and transitional economies, where the demand for livestock production has been increasing in ...

Authors: Jiaguo Qi, Xiaoping Xin, Ranjeet John, Pavel Groisman and Jiquan Chen

Influence of the interaction of calcium carbonate particles with surfactants on the degree of water pollution in small rivers

The influence of the interaction of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and surface-active substances (SAS; surfactants) with different chain lengths and cationic and anionic hydrophilic centers has been analyzed.

Authors: Petru Spataru, Francisco Fernandez, Joseph W. Sista, Tudor Spataru, Oxana Spinu and Igor Povar

Determinants of farmers’ adoption of land management practices in Gelana sub-watershed of Northern highlands of Ethiopia

Soil erosion is the major environmental problem in Ethiopia. In response to this problem, the country has been in continuous struggle to adopt land management practices. Therefore, the objective of this study ...

Authors: Birhan Asmame Miheretu and Assefa Abegaz Yimer

Ecological fitness of brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), to rice nutrient management

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), is a notorious insect pest of rice. Nutrient supplementation can alter plant biochemical compositions which may indirectly affect o...

Authors: Md. Mamunur Rashid, Mahbuba Jahan, Khandakar S. Islam and Md. Abdul Latif

Perceptions and attitudes of local people towards participatory forest management in Tarmaber District of North Shewa Administrative Zone, Ethiopia: the case of Wof-Washa Forests

Since the last few decades, the government of Ethiopia has introduced and adopted participatory forest management (PFM) in different regions of the country. However, there is a lack of research dealing with pe...

Authors: Solomon Ayele Tadesse and Demel Teketay

Plant species composition and diversity depending on piospheres and seasonality in the southern rangelands of Kenya

Scarcity of water in the rangelands of Kenya has led to the introduction of piospheres. Previous research has however produced contrasting results on the effects of piospheres and seasonality on Shannon-Wiener...

Authors: S. O. Jawuoro, O. K. Koech, G. N. Karuku and J. S. Mbau

Effect of piospheres on physio-chemical soil properties in the Southern Rangelands of Kenya

Water-based interventions haphazardly introduced in the drylands of Kenya have led to the introduction of piospheres used as concentration mounts. Not much is known about the effect of these piospheres on soil...

Authors: S. O. Jawuoro, O. K. Koech, G. N. Karuku and J. S. Mbau

Perception and attitude of pastoralists on livestock-wildlife interactions around Awash National Park, Ethiopia: implication for biodiversity conservation

Pastoral livestock share grazing areas and watering points with wildlife around the protected areas in Eastern Africa. This causes a high degree of livestock-wildlife interactions, leading to conflicts between...

Authors: Yihew Biru, Zewdu K. Tessema and Mengistu Urge

Phosphate uptake and translocation in a tropical Canna-based constructed wetland

Considering the problem of eutrophication of the water bodies, phosphate removal from water has emerged as a research of topical interest. The present study aims to investigate the efficacy of Canna lily-based co...

Authors: Anil Kumar Haritash, Sarbari Dutta and Ashish Sharma

Spatial and temporal analysis of forest cover change in Falgore Game Reserve in Kano, Nigeria

Multi-temporal land-use and land-cover data provides a historical vehicle for determining and evaluating long-term trends in bio-physical landscapes. Land-use and land-cover assessment and mapping is one of th...

Authors: Muhammad Sabiu Suleiman, Oliver Vivian Wasonga, Judith Syombua Mbau and Yazan Ahmed Elhadi

Quantifying the short-term dynamics of soil organic carbon decomposition using a power function model

Soil heterotrophic respiration (R _h, an indicator of soil organic carbon decomposition) is an important carbon efflux of terrestrial ecosystems. However, the dynamics of soil R ...

Authors: Weiping Zhou, Jinhong He, Dafeng Hui and Weijun Shen

Sources and dynamics of sedimentary organic matter in Sundarban mangrove estuary from Indo-Gangetic delta

Mangrove forests are highly productive ecosystems distributed along the tropical coast line. Nutrient biogeochemistry of mangroves are primarly driven by both allochthonous and autochthonous sources. Character...

Authors: M. Bala Krishna Prasad, Alok Kumar, A.L. Ramanathan and Dilip Kumar Datta

Tree species determine soil seed bank composition and its similarity with understory vegetation in a semi-arid African savanna

The presence of larger trees in semi-arid African savannas creates sub-habitats, which influences on herbaceous plant communities grown under their canopies differently from opened areas. Knowledge of seed ban...

Authors: Zewdu Kelkay Tessema, Belay Ejigu and Lisanework Nigatu

Influence of agriculture and aquaculture activities on the response of autotrophic picoplankton in Laguna Macapule, Gulf of California (Mexico)

The lagoon is a component of coastal zones, whose populations of autotrophic picoplankton (APP) remain largely unstudied. These lagoons display high-nutrient productivity and additionally may also be subjected...

Authors: Aída Martínez-López, Cristian Hakspiel-Segura, Diana Cecilia Escobedo-Urías and Bárbara González-Acosta

Potential influence of wildfire in modulating climate-induced forest redistribution in a central Rocky Mountain landscape

Climate change is expected to impose significant tension on the geographic distribution of tree species. Yet, tree species range shifts may be delayed by their long life spans, capacity to withstand long perio...

Authors: John L. Campbell and Douglas J. Shinneman

cffdrs: an R package for the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System

The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) is a globally known wildland fire risk assessment system, and two major components, the fire weather index system and the fire behavior prediction system,...

Authors: Xianli Wang, B. Mike Wotton, Alan S. Cantin, Marc-André Parisien, Kerry Anderson, Brett Moore and Mike D. Flannigan

Effect of Eucalyptus expansion on surface runoff in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Land use/land cover change can affect the ecological processes of an area such as hydrological cycle. The change in the condition of water resources of an area could be a good indicator of changes in ecosystem...

Authors: Daniel Jaleta, Boniface P. Mbilinyi, Henry F. Mahoo and Mulugeta Lemenih

Short-term prediction of NO₂ and NO _x concentrations using multilayer perceptron neural network: a case study of Tabriz, Iran

Due to the health effects caused by airborne pollutants in urban areas, forecasting of air quality parameters is one of the most important topics of air quality research. During recent years, statistical model...

Authors: Akbar Rahimi

Erratum to: Mechanisms on inhibition of photosynthesis in Kandelia obovata due to extreme cold events under climate change

Authors: Chunfang Zheng, Jianwu Tang, Jinong Chen, Weicheng Liu, Jianbiao Qiu, Xin Peng and Yong Ye

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community assembly in the Brazilian tropical seasonal dry forest

Here, we compare the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) community composition in soils from the root zone of the exotic invasive species Prosopis juliflora (EXO soils) and soils from the root zone of the native ...

Authors: Tancredo Augusto Feitosa de Souza and Helena Freitas

Social-ecological transformations of Inner Mongolia: a sustainability perspective

Sustainability requires the reconciling of human needs with the healthy natural ecosystem, which should be achieved within the grand course of industrialization and modernization. Systematic transitions on dem...

Authors: GuangHua Xu and JianGuo Wu

Modelling impacts of acid deposition and groundwater level on habitat quality and plant species diversity

We quantified the effects of the site factors pH and nitrate (NO₃) concentration in soil solution and groundwater level on the vegetation of terrestrial ecosystems for the Netherlands in response to changes in at...

Authors: J. Kros, J. P. Mol-Dijkstra, G. W. W. Wamelink, G. J. Reinds, A. van Hinsberg and W. de Vries

Flowering and seeding patterns in pure and mixed Nothofagus forests in Southern Patagonia

Variation in reproductive phenology among species is an important mechanism for maintaining species coexistence. In mixed forests, the impact of limiting (biotic and abiotic) factors on tree reproductive succe...

Authors: Mónica Toro Manríquez, Luciana Mestre, María Vanessa Lencinas, Álvaro Promis, Guillermo Martínez Pastur and Rosina Soler

Mechanisms on inhibition of photosynthesis in Kandelia obovata due to extreme cold events under climate change

Mangroves that grow at the latitudinal extremes of their distribution are susceptible to extreme cold events. Successive enhancement of low temperature stress (seLTS) is a typical characteristic of extreme col...

Authors: Chunfang Zheng, Jianwu Tang, Jinong Chen, Weicheng Liu, Jianbiao Qiu, Xin Peng and Yong Ye

Applications of structural equation modeling (SEM) in ecological studies: an updated review

This review was developed to introduce the essential components and variants of structural equation modeling (SEM), synthesize the common issues in SEM applications, and share our views on SEM’s future in ecol...

Authors: Yi Fan, Jiquan Chen, Gabriela Shirkey, Ranjeet John, Susie R. Wu, Hogeun Park and Changliang Shao

Perception and attitude of pastoralists on the use and conservation of rangeland resources in Afar Region, Ethiopia

Community perception plays a significant role in rangeland resource management. Traditional rangeland management practices by the pastoral communities are based on accumulated knowledge in connection to their ...

Authors: Minyahel Tilahun, Ayana Angassa, Aster Abebe and Alemayehu Mengistu

Effects of holistic grazing management on milk production, weight gain, and visitation to grazing areas by livestock and wildlife in Laikipia County, Kenya

Grazing is an important management tool for maintaining healthy ecosystems and improving rangelands productivity. However, its effectiveness for this purpose is dependent on timing and frequency of grazing, as...

Authors: Priscilla K. Lalampaa, Oliver V. Wasonga, Daniel I. Rubenstein and Jesse T. Njoka

Groundwater recharge rates and surface runoff response to land use and land cover changes in semi-arid environments

The effects of land use and land cover (LULC) on groundwater recharge and surface runoff and how these are affected by LULC changes are of interest for sustainable water resources management. However, there is...

Authors: S. O. Owuor, K. Butterbach-Bahl, A. C. Guzha, M. C. Rufino, D. E. Pelster, E. Díaz-Pinés and L. Breuer

Estimating farmers’ stated willingness to accept pay for ecosystem services: case of Lake Naivasha watershed Payment for Ecosystem Services scheme-Kenya

Lake Naivasha watershed is recognized for its contribution to Kenya’s national gross domestic product from the export of horticultural products. Commercial horticultural investment downstream depends mainly on...

Authors: J. M. Nyongesa, H. K. Bett, J. K. Lagat and O. I. Ayuya

Interlinking climate change with water-energy-food nexus and related ecosystem processes in California case studies

Global climate change creates critical challenges with increasing temperature, reducing snowpack, and changing precipitation for water, energy, and food, as well as ecosystem processes at regional scales. Ecos...

Authors: Qinqin Liu