August 2013
Long-term changes in soil-based ecological services at three sites in Ethiopia
Ethiopia faces land degradation as one of its major environmental problems. In response to the degradation, massive land rehabilitation and conservation activities have been undertaken since the mid-1970s. In spite of these efforts, the impacts of long-term land management have not been examined from soil-based ecological services perspective. This study assesses soil-based ecological services over the past 30 years...
August 2013
Status of the Sondu-Miriu River fish species diversity and fisheries: Sondu-Miriu Hydro-Power Project (SMHPP) operations
The Sondu-Miriu Hydroelectric Power Project (SMHPP) is a run-of-the-river hydro-power project on the Sondu-Miriu River, Kenya. The part of the river studied: between the Sondu Bridge upstream, and Osodo Bay on L. Victoria, was divided into three zones; 1. Upstream of the dam, artificial lake approximately 5 km long; 15 – 2 km wide, 2. Depleted section and, 3. Lower section. SMHPP caused part of river below the dam...
August 2013
Seasonal change effects on phenology of Argania spinosa (L.) in the fields
We investigated the relationship between shoot branching, shoot growth, leaf phenology and seasonal changes during three consecutive seasons in three natural populations of Argania spinosa ((L.) Skeels) in south west Morocco. Rainfall showed two peaks in autumn and winter but summer was dry. Locality, climatic season, genotype (tree/locality) and observation date influence...
August 2013
Land use and vegetation cover dynamics in and around Kagoma Forest Reserve in Tanzania
Kagoma Forest Reserve (KFR) is found in Kagera Region, Tanzania and is comprised of a large area of Miombo woodland. The extent of land use and vegetation cover changes in and around Kagoma Forest Reserve was investigated. Remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to analyze land use and vegetation cover changes over the past 23 years which revealed the occurrence of significant land use and vegetation cover...
August 2013
The woodland tree Brachystegia floribunda facilitates the encroachment of forest tree species into miombo woodlands in northern Malawi
Although, human activities have caused major losses of tropical forest, there are also reports of forest encroachment and expansion into surrounding sparse vegetation types (savannah and woodland). Large savannah-woodland trees may promote forest encroachment into their surroundings by facilitating seed deposition and subsequent establishment of forest species. This work sought to determine whether large individuals of...
