Effects of exotic &lt;em&gt;Eucalyptus spp.&lt;/em&gt; plantations on soil properties in and around sacred natural sites in the northern Ethiopian Highlands

Liang, Janice; Reynolds, Travis; Wassie, Alemayehu; Collins, Cathy D.; Wubalem, Atalel

doi:10.3934/agrfood.2016.2.175

Cited by 54 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The forest depletion, together with the sharply increasing human population, has resulted in a severe shortage of wood products especially for fuelwood and construction materials (Ayele 2008;Liang et al 2016). This also has stemmed from the very strong dependence on wood products by the majority of the society as there is poor infrastructural development in the country (Hailu 2002;Hailu et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This also has stemmed from the very strong dependence on wood products by the majority of the society as there is poor infrastructural development in the country (Hailu 2002;Hailu et al 2003). One of the measures taken by the government to minimize the problem of scarcity of wood products was to introduce fast-growing exotic tree species (e.g., Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus globulus) and establish fuelwood projects near urban and peri-urban areas (Ayele 2008;Liang et al 2016). It is within this scheme that Eucalyptus species were introduced into Ethiopia by the government of Menelik II and were distributed to the farmers for planting at farm boundaries and around homesteads (Hailu 2002;Hailu et al 2003;Ayele 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the sale of Eucalyptus poles and other wood products has the potential to raise farm incomes, reduce poverty, increase food security, and diversify farming system in many areas of Amhara National Regional State (Hailu 2002;Ayele 2008;Kebebew and Ayele 2010). In addition to this, Eucalyptus plantations play a great role as a main source of fuelwood to both urban and rural inhabitants (Hailu et al 2003;Liang et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to previous studies (e.g., EFAP 1994;Hailu 2002;Hailu et al 2003;Ayele 2008;Zewdie 2008;Liang et al 2016), there was no environmental impact assessment which was done before the introduction of the genus Eucalyptus in Ethiopia. Although planting Eucalyptus was started in Ethiopia in the early part of the twentieth century, farmers and forestry personnel told that private farm tree planting in Ethiopia is relatively a recent phenomenon that gradually expanded as part of the afforestation campaigns of the 1970s and the 1980s (EFAP 1994;Ayele 2008;Negasa et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The former debate is related to soil acidification (Liang et al 2016), nutrient depletion (Negasa et al 2017a), allelopathic effect (Bowen and Nambiar 1984;Basu and Kandasamy 1997;Hailu et al 2003), and excessive water utilization by the species especially when grown on previously cultivated farmlands (Saint-André et al 2008;Hailu et al 2003;Liang et al 2016;Negasa et al 2017b). However, the later debate focuses on the importance of the species because of its fast growth, high biomass production and coppicing ability, browsing, and diseases resistance (Kindu et al 2006;Hailu 2002;Zewdie 2008;Negasa et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele, Basona Worena district, Ethiopia

Tadesse

Tafere

2017

Ecol Process

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Introduction: Growing Eucalyptus at a farm level in the form of woodlot has become popular among rural households in Ethiopia. For example, rural households mainly establish Eucalyptus woodlot as a component of livelihood improvement and diversification to meet household wood demand and generating cash income. However, there is lack of information on the growth parmeters of Eucalyptus woodlot and the factors influencing the household decision on their establishment at the individual farmland level. The objective of this study was to examine local people's knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele. We hypothesized that local people's knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele is affected by socioeconomic and cognitive variables. Methods: A structured questionnaire comprising closed-and open-ended questions was developed and administered to a total of n = 94 households to collect information on local people's knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot. The households were randomly selected through a lottery system based on their house identification numbers. Descriptive statistics, binary logit, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze and interpret the data.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele, Basona Worena district, Ethiopia

Tadesse

Tafere

2017

Ecol Process

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Consumed from within? Social and ecological drivers of internal clearings in Ethiopian Orthodox church forests

Zebrowski,

Reynolds

2023

Land Degrad Dev

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In a largely deforested landscape, thousands of small pockets of indigenous forest remain in Ethiopia's northern highlands. These “church forests” are maintained by Ethiopian Orthodox church communities, and they provide valuable reserves of indigenous species diversity and ecosystem services. However, there are important trade‐offs between the different ecosystem services church forests provide: the size of community‐made clearings within church forests used for prayer and other church services have to be balanced with services derived from intact forest cover and dense vegetation. This research uses a spatial, social–ecological model to examine patterns in church forest size and vegetation density across 2743 church forests in the Amhara Region. Results suggest that larger internal clearings correlate with larger forest area, and clearings also scale with population size. We also find that greater elevation and distance to population centers are associated with higher church forest density, while greater community wealth is associated with reduced forest density and area. These trends initially suggest that internal clearings can support conservation efforts, but they are nuanced by prevalent non‐native Eucalyptus planting and increasing internal deforestation for graveyard space for wealthier communities. Additionally, we find that internal clearings are an important source of omitted variable bias in estimating the relationship between density and area in church forests. As a consequence, incorporating church clearings into social–ecological models leads to meaningful differences in church forest density and area estimates. Ultimately, this study suggests that church forests in Ethiopia may be sustained rather than consumed from within.

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Knockout of floral and meiosis genes using CRISPR/Cas9 produces male‐sterility in Eucalyptus without impacts on vegetative growth

Nagle,

Nahata,

Zahl

et al. 2023

Plant Direct

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Eucalyptus spp. are widely cultivated for the production of pulp, energy, essential oils, and as ornamentals. However, their dispersal from plantings, especially when grown as an exotic, can cause ecological disruptions. To provide new tools for prevention of sexual dispersal by pollen as well as to induce male‐sterility for hybrid breeding, we studied the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9‐mediated knockout of three floral genes in both FT‐expressing (early‐flowering) and non‐FT genotypes. We report male‐sterile phenotypes resulting from knockout of the homologs of all three genes, including one involved in meiosis and two regulating early stages of pollen development. The targeted genes were Eucalyptus homologs of REC8 (EREC8), TAPETAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION 1 (ETDF1), and HECATE3 (EHEC3‐like). The erec8 knockouts yielded abnormal pollen grains and a predominance of inviable pollen, whereas the etdf1 and ehec3‐like knockouts produced virtually no pollen. In addition to male‐sterility, both erec8 and ehec3‐like knockouts may provide complete sterility because the failure of erec8 to undergo meiosis is expected to be independent of sex, and ehec3‐like knockouts produce flowers with shortened styles and no visible stigmas. When comparing knockouts to controls in wild‐type (non‐early‐flowering) backgrounds, we did not find visible morphological or statistical differences in vegetative traits, including average single‐leaf mass, stem volume, density of oil glands, or chlorophyll in leaves. Loss‐of‐function mutations in any of these three genes show promise as a means of inducing male‐ or complete sterility without impacting vegetative development.

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Effects of exotic <em>Eucalyptus spp.</em> plantations on soil properties in and around sacred natural sites in the northern Ethiopian Highlands

Cited by 54 publications

References 18 publications

Local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele, Basona Worena district, Ethiopia

Local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele, Basona Worena district, Ethiopia

Consumed from within? Social and ecological drivers of internal clearings in Ethiopian Orthodox church forests

Knockout of floral and meiosis genes using CRISPR/Cas9 produces male‐sterility in Eucalyptus without impacts on vegetative growth

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