home icon user icon
Welcome to International Network for Natural Sciences | INNS Pub.
Home My Account
Submit Manuscript
double_slash
breadcumb_bg

Above-ground carbon stock in a forest subjected to decadal frequent fires in western Tanzania

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/02/2017
Views (453) Download (19)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Above-ground carbon stock in a forest subjected to decadal frequent fires in western Tanzania

Nyatwere D. Mganga, Herbert V. Lyaruu, Feetham Banyikwa
J. Bio. Env. Sci.10( 2), 25-34, February 2017.
Certificate: JBES 2017 [Generate Certificate]
Key: Carbon stockDisturbancesFire frequencyMiomboSequestration

Abstract

Gradual increase in atmospheric temperature due to elevated levels of greenhouse gases has become a global agenda. Of these gases, carbon dioxide is the most predominant accounting for more than half of the atmospheric warming. Conveniently, forests and woodlands are important sinks of carbon through sequestration which involves carbon dioxide capture and storage. Miombo woodlands are the most widespread savanna vegetation in the Sub-Saharan Africa, and like other vegetation they are likely to have a marked degree of carbon sequestration. However, these ecosystems are normally threatened by many disturbances, including outbreaks of uncontrolled and destructive fires. Yet, it has been reported that wildfires have both positive and negative influence on carbon sequestration in forests and woodlands. The aim of the present study was to determine tree carbon in Ilunde forest after consecutive exposure to frequent fires for 10 years. A fire suppressed forest of Kitwe was used as a control. Fire frequency of Ilunde forest was obtained from published Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery from the year 2001 to 2012. Tree carbon stock was estimated using biomass allometric models so far developed for miombo woodlands.The level of difference in carbon density between the two forests was determined using t-test. Tree carbon stock was significantly high in Kitwe forest than in Ilunde (P < 0.05). The effects of wildfires are variable depending on the nature of ecosystems and the existing circumstances. Since fire is crucial in miombo woodlands, then prescribed burning could be prioritized to sustain sinks of carbon.

VIEWS 27
Cover PDF

Brown S. 2002. Measuring carbon in forests: current status and future challenges. Environmental Pollution 116, 363-372.

Bond WJ, Midgley JJ. 2003. The evolutionary ecology of sprouting in woody plants. International Journal of Plant Sciences 164, S103–S114.

Bond W, van Wilgen BW. 1996. Fire and plants: Population and community Biology.   Chapman Hall, London, United Kingdom.

Chamshama SAO, Mugasha AG, Zahabu E. 2004. Stand biomass and volume estimation for miombo woodlands at Kitulanghalo, Morogoro, Tanzania. South African Forestry Journal 200, 59–64.

Chidumayo EN. 2002. Changes in miombo woodland structure under different land tenure and use systems in central Zambia. Journal of Biogeography 29, 1619-1626.

Chidumayo EN, Gumbo DJ. 2010. The dry forests and woodlands of Africa. Earthscan, London, UK.

DeLuca TH, Zouhar KL. 2000. Effects of selection harvest and prescribed fire on the soil nitrogen status of ponderosa pine forests. Forest Ecology and Management 138, 263-271.

Desanker PV, Frost PG, Frost CO, Justice CO, Scholes RJ. (Eds.). 1997. The Miombo Network: Framework for a Terrestrial Transect Study of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in the Miombo Ecosystems of Central Africa, IGBP Report 41, The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Stockholm, Sweden, 109.

Forestry Tasmania. 2010. Fire and carbon in managed and unmanaged forests, Australia  www.forestrytas.com.au/news/2010.

Frost P. 1996. The ecology of miombo woodlands. In: Campbell B, Ed. The miombo in transition: Woodlands and welfare in Africa. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR, 11-57 p.

Giglio L, van der Werf GR, Randerson JT, Collatz GJ, Kasibhatla PS. 2006. Global estimation of burned area using MODIS active fire observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 6, 957–974.

Grace J, Ryan C, Williams M. 2007. An inventory of tree species and carbon stocks for the N’hambita pilot project. Sofala Province, Mozambique, p. 105.

Higgins SI, Bond WJ, February EC, Bronn A, EustonBrown DIW, Enslin B, Govender N, Rademan L, O’regan S, Potgieter ALF, Scheiter S, Sowry R, Trollope L, Trollope WSW. 2007. Effects of four decades of fire manipulation on woody vegetation structure in savanna. Ecology  88, 1119-1125.

Hoffmann WA, Solbrig OT. 2003. The role of topkill in the differential response of savanna woody species to fire. Forest Ecology and Management 180, 273–286.

Kalaba F. 2012 Carbon storage, biodiversity and species composition of miombo woodlands in recovery trajectory after charcoal production and slash and burn agriculture in Zambia’s Copperbelt. Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, Working Paper No. 119; Sustainability Research Institute Paper No. 40, 1-39.

Kappelle M, Geuze T, Leal M, Cleef AM. 1996. Successional age and forest structure in a Costa Rican upper montane Quercus forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12, 681 – 698.

Kimmins JP. 1996. Importance of soil and the role of ecosystem disturbance for sustained productivity of cool temperate and boreal forests. Journal of American Soil Society 60, 1643-1654.

Knox KJE, Clarke PJ. 2005. Nutrient availability induces contrasting allocation and starch formation in resprouting and obligate seeding shrubs. Functional Ecology 19, 690-698.

Magdoff FR, Tabatabai MA, Hanlon EA. 1996. Soil Organic Matter: Analysis and Interpretation. Soil Science of America, Madison, WI.

Malimbwi RE, Mugasha AG. 2002 Reconnaissance Timber Inventory for Handeni Hill Forest Reserve in Handeni District, Tanzania. Morogoro: FOCON-SULT.

Malimbwi RE, Solberg B, Luoga E. 1994. Estimation of biomass and volume in miombo woodland at Kitulanghalo forest reserve, Tanzania. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 7, 230-242.

Malimbwi RE, Shemweta DTK, Zahabu E, Kingazi SP, Katani JZ, Silayo DA. 2005 Inventory for Mvomero and Morogoro Districts, Tanzania. Morogoro: FOCONSULT.

McKinley DC, Ryan MG, Birdsey RA, Giardina CP, Harmon ME, Heath LS, Houghton RA, Jackson RB, Morrison JF, Murray BC, Pataki DE, Skog KE. 2011. A synthesis of current knowledge on forests and carbon storage in the United States. Ecological Applications 21, 1902–1924.

Mganga ND, Lyaruu HVM. 2016. Plant species diversity in western Tanzania: Comparison between frequently burnt and fire suppressed forests. International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience 4(3), 28-44.

Miller M. 2000. Chapter 2: Fire autecology. In: Brown JK and Smith JK (Ed.) Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-42 volume 2.

Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. 1989. Tanzania forestry action plan 1990/91- 2007/8. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Motulsky H. 1998. GraphPad Software, InStat Guide to Choosing and Interpreting Statistical Tests. GraphPad Software, Inc. San Diego California United States of America. www.graphpad.com

Mouillot F, Field CB. 2005. Fire history and the global carbon budget: a 18 fire history reconstruction for the 20th century. Global Change Biology 11, 398–420.

Mouillot D, Mason NWH, Dumay O, Wilson JB. 2005. Functional regularity: a neglected aspect of functional diversity. Oecologia 142, 353-359.

Munishi PKT.  2001. The Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania: Their role in Biodiversity, Water resource conservation and net contribution to atmospheric carbon. Unpublished PhD Thesis. College of Natural Resources, NC State University, United States of America.

Munishi PKT, Shear T. 2004. Carbon storage of two Afromontane rain forests in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 6, 78-93.

Munishi PKT, Mringi S, Shirima DD, Linda SK. 2010. The role of the Miombo Woodlands of the Southern Highlands of Tanzania as carbon sinks. Journal of Ecology and the Natural Environment 2(12), 261-269.

Murdiyarso D, Widodo M, Suyamto D. 2002 Fire risks in forest carbon projects in Indonesia. Science in China Series C Life Sciences 45, 65-74.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 2010. Active fires from FAO’s global fire information management system http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Novara A, Gristina L, Bodì MB, Cerdà A. 2010. The impact of fire on redistribution of soil organic matter on a Mediterranean hillslope under maquia vegetation type. Land Degradation and Development 4, 530 – 536.

Nssoko E. 2002. Fire in Miombo woodlands: A case of Bukombe District, Shinyanga ‐ Tanzania. Presented at Communities in flames: An international conference on community involvement in fire management, 25 ‐ 28 July 2001, Balikpapan, Indonesia.

Pardini R. 2004. Effects of forest fragmentation on small mammals in an Atlantic Forest landscape. Biodiversity and Conservation1 3, 2567–2586.

Peñafort T. 2001. What effects do forest fires have on the storage of carbon? National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Space Flight Center http://www.giss.nasa.gov

Ryan CM, Williams M. 2011. How does fire intensity and frequency affect miombo woodland tree populations and biomass? Ecological Applications 21, 48-60.

Shirima DD. 2009. Structure, composition, diversity and carbon storage in miombo woodland: an estimate for the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. Unpublished Master of Science Dissertation, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. P. 76.

Shvidenko A, Goldammer JG. 2001. Fire Situation in Russia. International Forest Fire News 24, 41-59.

Stromgaard P. 1986. Biomass estimation equations reviewed – the example from Zambian miombo. Agroforestry Systems 4, 375-379.

Sugihara NG, van Wagtendonk JW, Fites-Kaufman J. 2006. Fire as an ecological process. In: Sugihara NG, van Wagtendonk JW, Shaffer KE, Fites-Kaufman J and Thode AE (Ed) Fire in California’s ecosystem. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.

Syampungani S. 2009. Vegetation Change Analysis and Ecological Recovery of the Copperbelt Miombo Woodland of Zambia. University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch.

Vesa L, Malimbwi RE, Tomppo E, Zahabu E, Maliondo S, Chamuya N, Nssoko E, Otieno J, Miceli C, Daisgaard S. 2010. National Forestry Resources Monitoring and Assessment of Tanzania. FAO-Finland Forestry Program, Forestry Department, FAO.

Williams M, Ryan CM, Rees RM, Sambane E, Fernando J, Grace J. 2008. Carbon sequestration and biodiversity of re-growing miombo woodlands in Mozambique. Forest Ecology and Management 254, 145-155.

Zahabu E. 2008. Sinks and sources: a strategy to involve forest communities in Tanzania in global climate policy. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Twente, Netherlands.

Zhao H, Tong DQ, Lin Q, Lu X, Wang G. 2012. Effect of fires on soil organic carbon pool and mineralization in a Northeastern China wetland. Publications, Agencies and Staff of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Paper 424.

Submit Manuscript