Monitoring land-cover changes in semi-arid regions: Remote sensing data and field observations in the Ferlo, Senegal

dc.contributor.authorDiouf, A.en
dc.contributor.authorLambin, E. F.en
dc.contributor.departmentSustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebaseen
dc.coverage.spatialFerloen
dc.coverage.spatialSahelen
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-19T18:55:45Zen
dc.date.available2016-04-19T18:55:45Zen
dc.date.issued2001en
dc.descriptionMetadata only recorden
dc.description.abstractDryland degradation rarely translates into linear, declining trends in vegetation cover due to interannual climatic variability. Appropriate indicators of land-cover modifications need to be defined for semi-arid regions. Our hypothesis is that degradation can be measured by: (1) a decrease in the resilience of vegetation to droughts; (2) a decrease in rain-use efficiency; and (3) a modification of floristic composition. The objective of this paper is to test the relationships between a remotely sensed indicator of vegetation, rainfall data and field measurements of biomass and floristic composition. The study was based on field measurements of vegetation conditions covering a period of 10 years, in the semi-arid region of the Ferlo in Senegal. Our results indicate that land-cover modifications in the Ferlo are best measured by changes in rain-use efficiency. No consistent trend in the relative abundance of grass species was visible at the scale of the decade, even on the two sites affected by degradation. Just after a drought, a given increase in rainfall results in less biomass production than is the case for normal years. ---Academic Pressen
dc.format.mimetypetext/plainen
dc.identifier1124en
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Arid Environments 48(2): 129-148en
dc.identifier.issn0140-1963en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/65960en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherAcademic Pressen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2001 Academic Pressen
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectDesertificationen
dc.subjectDroughten
dc.subjectSemiarid zonesen
dc.subjectSoil degradationen
dc.subjectSoilen
dc.subjectRemote sensingen
dc.subjectLand cover changesen
dc.subjectLand degradationen
dc.subjectSahelen
dc.subjectLand useen
dc.subjectRainen
dc.subjectBotanical compositionen
dc.subjectMonitoringen
dc.subjectTemporal variationen
dc.subjectRain-use efficiencyen
dc.subjectEcosystemen
dc.titleMonitoring land-cover changes in semi-arid regions: Remote sensing data and field observations in the Ferlo, Senegalen
dc.typeAbstracten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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