Ecological Factors Influencing Physical Soil Degradation in the Atacora Mountain Chain in Benin, West Africa

Okou, Farris A.Y.; Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem; Bachmann, Yvonne; Sinsin, Brice

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-13-00030.1

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…Cultivated area that is generally located in the middle and lower places, however, did not show the same trend (Figure 1). This result seems to be similar with the result of Okou et al (2014) who found that high slope angles in high elevation often result in lightly degraded soil. This condition is allegedly due to the effect of high dense of canopy cover in protected forest that decreases kinetic power of rainfall that will damage the soil through soil erosion process.…”

Section: Degraded Land and Biophysical Factorssupporting

confidence: 91%

Relationship between land degradation, biophysical and social factors in Lekso Watershed, East Java, Indonesia

Lestariningsih

Widianto

Agustina

et al. 2018

J.Degrade.Min.Land Manage.

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Degraded lands are getting extensive worldwide. Even its existence has projected as a solution to fulfill agricultural land scarcity to meet the global demands of food and other agricultural goods, the rate of its extension should be inhibited. Some factors play important role. This research was aimed to find the explanation about how degraded land, biophysical and social factors are related. Research site was located in Lekso Watershed, East Java, Indonesia. Land degradation is assessed by evaluation of the critical land status based on procedure established by Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry in form of Regulation No. P.32/Menhut-II, 2009.A series of field survey using secondary data obtained from GIS tool performed to collect data for quantify the critical land status. Social factors in this study were limited on people perception, awareness and participation. These data collected by in-depth interview to the respondents. Site of presented respondent selected with purposive sampling, while the respondents in each site selected with stratified random sampling method. The research revealed that surface cover demonstrated high correlation and regression toward critical and very critical land (average r =-0.9822, R 2 = 0.9648). However, slope steepness located in high altitude showed a contrary trend in which increasing slope steepness decreased the number of total moderate, critical and very critical lands. The functional area of this location as protected forest gave a good surface cover on the steep slope and resulted on small area of degraded land. On the other side, negative perception about cultivation on forest and steep slope resulted in positive correlations with the area of very critical land (r = 0.6710 for cultivated forest, and r = 0.9113 for cultivated steep slope). Moreover, people awareness about flood, landslide and drought gave a negative correlation (r =-0.6274) with critical and very critical area. At last, people participation on farmers' organization could not be used to elucidate the range of degraded land as the participation in this context did not include the competency building about soil and water conservation values.

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Section: Degraded Land and Biophysical Factorssupporting

confidence: 91%

Relationship between land degradation, biophysical and social factors in Lekso Watershed, East Java, Indonesia

Lestariningsih

Widianto

Agustina

et al. 2018

J.Degrade.Min.Land Manage.

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“…In these areas, the study area has a low risk of erosion on surfaces with high slope coverage. According to Okou et al (2014) higher slope can also provide a natural protection against soil erosion. In higher elevation areas with more sensitive ecosystems such as grassland and rock outcrops, erosion-sensitive areas depend on soil status, slope, and type of land cover (Stanchi et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Erosion risk assessment and identification of susceptibility lands using the ICONA model and RS and GIS techniques

Gholzom

Ahmadi

Moeini

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Soil erosion in Iran due to the destruction of natural resources has intensified in recent years and land use changes have played a significant role in this process. On the other hand, the lack of data in most watersheds to evaluate erosion and sedimentation for finding quick and timely solutions for watershed management has made the use of models inevitable. The purpose of this study was to use the ICONA model and RS and GIS techniques to assess the risk of erosion and to identify areas sensitive to water erosion in the kasilian watershed in northern Iran. The results of this study showed that with very high slope class percentage (20 %–35 %) and sensitivity of shemshak formation to weathering which covers a large part of the watershed, soil erodibility class is high. But there is adequate land cover along with high percentage of natural forest cover, it has mitigated erosion. For this reason, the kasilian watershed is generally classified as low to moderate of erosion risk. Based on the erosion risk map, results show that the moderate class had the highest percentage of erosion risk (26.26 %) at the watershed. On the other hand, the low erosion risk class comprises a significant portion (25.44 %) of the catchment area. Also, 10.92 % of the catchment area contains a very high erosion risk class, with most of it in rangeland and Rock outcrops second. However, the erodibility of the kasilian watershed is currently controlled by appropriate land cover, but the potential susceptibility to erosion is high. If land cover is redused due to inadequate land management, the risk of erosion is easily increased.

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“…On the basis of physical soil degradation indicators (extent of organic layer, color of topsoil, compactness of soil, presence and extent of rills, and occurrence of sheet erosion) each plot was classified visually into specific soil degradation classes. Physical soil degradation in the study area falls into four grades, namely light, moderate, high and extreme soil degradation classes described in [23]. The characteristics of each class are summarized in Table 1.…”

Section: Sampling Data and Classification Of Plots Into Soil Degradatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This finding could be explained by the fact that the soil aggregate stability is closely related to soil organic matter composition [35], biological activity [36], infiltration capacity [37], water absorption and retention in the biomass and upper rhizosphere [38,39] and erosion resistance [37]. Physical soil degradation on the hillsides of Atacora mountain was characterized by the removal of the organic layer and the modification of soil structure leading to the occurrence of ferricrete (extremely degraded soils) [23]. Soil degradation had resulted in soil loss, nutrient depletion, changes in soil structure, and soil hardening that limited plant root system penetration.…”

Section: Impacts Of Soil Degradation On Phytodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impacts of Soil Degradation Effects on Phytodiversity and Vegetation Structure on Atacora Mountain Chain in Benin (West Africa)

Okou¹,

Assogbadjo²,

Sinsin³

2021

Soil Erosion - Current Challenges and Future Perspectives in a Changing World

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Atacora mountain is a particular ecosystem of West Africa where soil degradation occurs. The present study assessed the impacts of physical soil degradation on vegetation in the Beninese portion of this mountain chain. Phytosociological surveys were carried out along line transects from plain to summit within 22 plots of 30 m x 30 m. Based on indicators of physical soil degradation each plot was classified into one soil degradation class (Light, Moderate, High or Extreme). Impacts on plant diversity were assessed by comparing the floristic composition of soil degradation classes with the index of similarity of Jaccard. Variations between soil degradation classes of species richness, species chorological types, species life forms and species dispersal were also tested using a discriminant analysis combined with ANOVA. The Multi-Response Permutation Procedures analysis was used to pairwise compare the soil degradation classes based on the cover data of the species lists. All soil degradation classes were dissimilar, depending on the floristic composition. Discriminant analysis and ANOVA performed on biodiversity indicators had shown that species richness, and the number of regional species, phanerophytes and sarcochory decreased along the increasing degradation gradient in contrast to the number of species with wide distribution, therophytes and sclerochory. With regard to vegetation structure, the results had shown that only moderately and highly degraded soils presented the similar vegetation type. Physical soil degradation induced modification of floristic composition, phytodiversity loss and modification of vegetation structure. These results showed that the soil degradation gradient corresponds to a vegetation disturbance gradient.

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Ecological Factors Influencing Physical Soil Degradation in the Atacora Mountain Chain in Benin, West Africa

Cited by 8 publications

References 29 publications

Relationship between land degradation, biophysical and social factors in Lekso Watershed, East Java, Indonesia

Relationship between land degradation, biophysical and social factors in Lekso Watershed, East Java, Indonesia

Erosion risk assessment and identification of susceptibility lands using the ICONA model and RS and GIS techniques

The Impacts of Soil Degradation Effects on Phytodiversity and Vegetation Structure on Atacora Mountain Chain in Benin (West Africa)

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