Morphoecological characteristics of grasses used to restore degraded semi‐arid African rangelands

Abstract

1. Progressive loss of productivity and plant diversity is a concern in global rangelands.In African rangelands, this process is partly attributed to heavy and uncontrolled grazing by livestock and wildlife, leading to land degradation. Therefore, restoring such degraded rangelands is critical for enhancing ecosystem health and securing the livelihoods of millions of people. 2. Active restoration strategies, for example, reseeding using indigenous perennial grasses, have been identified as a viable ecological solution for restoring degraded African rangelands. Grass species indigenous to African rangelands Cenchrus ciliaris L. (African foxtail grass), Eragrostis superba Peyr. (Maasai love grass), Enteropogon macrostachyus (Hochst. Ex A. Rich.) Monro ex Benth. (Bush rye grass), Chloris roxburghiana Schult. (Horsetail grass) and Chloris gayana Kunth. cv Boma (Rhodes grass) were established in a semi-arid rangeland in Africa under natural conditions to compare their morphoecological characteristics and suitability for use in ecological restoration. Biomass dry matter yields, plant densities, basal cover, seed production, tiller densities and plant height were measured.3. Chloris gayana cv Boma and E. superba produced significantly higher dry matter biomass yields and attained higher seed production than other species. High biomass and seed production indicate their suitability to support livestock production and replenish depleted soil seed banks, respectively. 4. Enteropogon macrostachyus and C. ciliaris displayed significantly higher values for components of establishment and ecological restoration success, that is, plant densities, tiller densities and basal cover. Overall, C. roxburghiana ranked lowest in the measured morphoecological characteristics.5. Successful restoration of degraded African semi-arid rangelands using indigenous grass reseeding can best be achieved through careful selection of grasses to take advantage of their specific morphoecological characteristics. This selection shouldThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Creating connections to maximize the mobilization of ecological knowledge into effective practice

“…Mganga et al. (2023) share an example of successfully integrating multiple stakeholders for the benefit of ecological restoration and improving farmer outcomes through native plant restoration and developing multiple methods of rainwater harvest in the African drylands of Kenya. Mitchell et al.…”

Combining Rainwater Harvesting and Grass Reseeding to Revegetate Denuded African Semi-arid Landscapes

“…Higher biomass yields displayed by E. superba can be attributed to its inherent superior morphoecological characteristics compared to E. macrostachyus and C. ciliaris. Eragrostis superba exhibits taller stems, longer tillers, large stem diameters, high broad leafy biomass and leaf-to-stem ratios (Mganga et al 2021;Ravhuhali et al 2019;Koech et al 2016). These traits enabled E. superba to maintain higher vegetative productivity.…”

“…Use of native perennial grass seeds for reseeding depleted arid and semi-arid rangelands is advantageous because of their better survival and growth. They also reduce the risk of restoration failure attributed to poor adaptation to prevailing environmental conditions, restricting local gene pools 'pollution' and outbreeding depression (Mganga et al 2021;Broadhurst et al 2008). Moreover, perennial grasses native to African drylands are prolific seeders and efficient in seed dispersal, and thus have a great potential of replenishing depleted seed banks (Marshall et al 2012).…”