Impacts of Diffuse Land-Use on Plant Diversity Patterns in the Miombo Woodlands of Western Zambia
Open Access
- 3 June 2023
- Vol. 15 (6), 739
- https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060739
Abstract
Land use is known to influence the diversity of vascular plants in the Miombo woodlands. However, little is known about the interaction between soil and land use in herbaceous and woody species. We compared the diversity of vascular plants at the plot level (20 m × 50 m) and site level for three sites in the Miombo woodlands of western Zambia subject to different levels of intensity classes of diffuse land use (e.g., livestock herbivory and selective timber harvesting). For each of the sites, twenty plots were randomly selected for assessment of species composition of vascular plant species, indicators of land-use intensity, and soil chemistry per plot. We hypothesized that the site with the lowest human impact would have the highest richness and diversity of woody and herbaceous species. At the site level, we found that richness and diversity of woody species were unaffected by land-use intensity, whereas herbaceous species richness was higher for the protected site (28 species on average per 1000 m2) than the two other sites (23 and 21 species on average per 1000 m2). At the plot level, herbaceous species richness was positively associated with woodcutting and soil pH. We interpret the positive effect of woodcutting on herbaceous species richness as the effect of lower competition by the woody component for resources such as water, nutrients, and light. With regard to the absence of any effect of land-use intensity on the richness of woody species, we conclude that in our study areas selective timber harvesting may be at a sustainable level and might even have a positive effect on the diversity of the herbaceous layer.Keywords
Funding Information
- BMBF-funded SASSCAL initiative (01LG1201M)
This publication has 52 references indexed in Scilit:
- Floristic composition, species diversity and carbon storage in charcoal and agriculture fallows and management implications in Miombo woodlands of ZambiaForest Ecology and Management, 2013
- Biological Diversity: Frontiers in Measurement and Assessment. Edited by Anne E. Magurran and Brian J. McGill. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. $135.00 (hardcover); $72.50 (paper). xvii + 345 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-19-958066-8 (hc); 978-0-19-958067-5 (pb). 2011.The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2012
- Entropy and diversityOikos, 2006
- Does selective wood exploitation affect amphibian diversity? The case of An'Ala, a tropical rainforest in eastern MadagascarOryx, 2004
- Changes in miombo woodland structure under different land tenure and use systems in central ZambiaJournal of Biogeography, 2002
- Anthropogenic disturbance and tree diversity in Montane Rain Forests in Chiapas, MexicoForest Ecology and Management, 2001
- Small-Scale Variations in Species Composition of Miombo Woodland in Sengwa, Zimbabwe: The Influence of Edaphic Factors, Fire and Elephant HerbivorySystematics and Geography of Plants, 2001
- Consequences of changing biodiversityNature, 2000
- A Rapid Method for Measuring Lime Requirement of Red‐Yellow Podzolic SoilsSoil Science Society of America Journal, 1962
- Neue Methode zur Bestimmung des Stickstoffs in organischen KörpernAnalytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 1883