Post-agricultural succession in the fallow swiddens of Southeastern Brazil

Gomes, Eduardo Pereira Cabral; Sugiyama, Marie; Júnior, Clovis José Fernandes de Oliveira; Prado, Helbert Medeiros; Filho, Alexandre Antunes Ribeiro; Adams, Cristina

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118398

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…One of the attempts to counter the challenges of swiddens is the use of fallow systems, which fosters alternate cropping-and-cessation cycles in the landscapes. Traditional fallows remain common tropical smallholder agricultural practices even as legal and social contexts shift [12]. Fallow entails a temporal cessation of cultivation after several cropping seasons and can serve various purposes [8,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forests, Farms, and Fallows: The Dynamics of Tree Cover Transition in the Southern Part of the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

Mpanda¹,

Kashindye

Aynekulu

et al. 2021

Land

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Forests and woodlands remain under threat in tropical Africa due to excessive exploitation and inadequate management interventions, and the isolated success stories of tree retention and tree cover transition on African agricultural land are less well documented. In this study, we characterize the status of tree cover in a landscape that contains forest patches, fallows, and farms in the southern part of Uluguru Mountains. We aimed to unveil the practices of traditional tree fallow system which is socially acceptable in local settings and how it provides a buffering effects to minimize forest disturbances and thus represents an important step towards tree cover transition. We assessed land cover dynamics for the period of 1995 to 2020 and compared tree stocking for forest patches, fallows, and farms. We found that tree biomass carbon stocks were 56 ± 5 t/ha in forest patches, 33 ± 7 t/ha in fallows, and 9 ± 2 t/ha on farms. In terms of land cover, farms shrank at intensifying rates over time for the entire assessment period of 1995–2020. Forest cover decreased from 1995–2014, with the reduction rate slowing from 2007–2014 and the trend reversing from 2014–2020, such that forest cover showed a net increase across the entire study period. Fallow consistently and progressively increased from 1995–2020. We conclude that traditional tree fallows in the study site remain a significant element of land management practice among communities, and there appears to be a trend towards intensified tree-based farming. The gains in fallowed land represent an embracing of a traditional land management system that supports rotational and alternate uses of cropping space as well as providing a buffering effect to limit over-exploitation of forests. In order to maximize tree cover and carbon stocks in the farm landscape, this well-known traditional tree fallow system can be further optimized through the incorporation of additional innovations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forests, Farms, and Fallows: The Dynamics of Tree Cover Transition in the Southern Part of the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

Mpanda¹,

Kashindye

Aynekulu

et al. 2021

Land

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Natural forest regeneration over a fallow age chronosequence in central African moist forests

Loubota Panzou,

Mankessi,

Tsiba Ngambou

et al. 2024

Afr J Ecol

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A better understanding of the natural regeneration in tropical forests could help develop more effective restoration strategies. This study examined relationships in structural and diversity attributes of natural regeneration in five forest fallow ages after slash‐and‐burn agriculture (6 months, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years) in the Republic of Congo. For each fallow age, all stems with a diameter ≥1 cm and below 5 cm (height ≥ 130 cm), corresponding to natural forest regeneration, were identified to the species level, and measured (diameter and height) in 12 plots (10 m × 10 m). Three structural attributes (stem density, maximum diameter, and maximum height) and five diversity indices (species richness, Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity, Fisher's alpha and Pielou's evenness) were estimated at the plot level. Our results revealed an increase in structural and diversity attributes with fallow ages, except stem density. The young fallow (6 months, 2 years and 5 years) had greater stem density (61 ± 48 stems), while the old fallow (10 years and 15 years) had higher maximum height (5.39 ± 2.36 m) and Shannon's index (0.94 ± 0.18). These results provided new insights into natural regeneration between young and old secondary forests.

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The role of land‐use history in driving successional pathways and its implications for the restoration of tropical forests

et al. 2021

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Secondary forests are increasingly important components of human‐modified landscapes in the tropics. Successional pathways, however, can vary enormously across and within landscapes, with divergent regrowth rates, vegetation structure and species composition. While climatic and edaphic conditions drive variations across regions, land‐use history plays a central role in driving alternative successional pathways within human‐modified landscapes. How land use affects succession depends on its intensity, spatial extent, frequency, duration and management practices, and is mediated by a complex combination of mechanisms acting on different ecosystem components and at different spatial and temporal scales. We review the literature aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying the long‐lasting effects of land use on tropical forest succession and to discuss its implications for forest restoration. We organize it following a framework based on the hierarchical model of succession and ecological filtering theory. This review shows that our knowledge is mostly derived from studies in Neotropical forests regenerating after abandonment of shifting cultivation or pasture systems. Vegetation is the ecological component assessed most often. Little is known regarding how the recovery of belowground processes and microbiota communities is affected by previous land‐use history. In published studies, land‐use history has been mostly characterized by type, without discrimination of intensity, extent, duration or frequency. We compile and discuss the metrics used to describe land‐use history, aiming to facilitate future studies. The literature shows that (i) species availability to succession is affected by transformations in the landscape that affect dispersal, and by management practices and seed predation, which affect the composition and diversity of propagules on site. Once a species successfully reaches an abandoned field, its establishment and performance are dependent on resistance to management practices, tolerance to (modified) soil conditions, herbivory, competition with weeds and invasive species, and facilitation by remnant trees. (ii) Structural and compositional divergences at early stages of succession remain for decades, suggesting that early communities play an important role in governing further ecosystem functioning and processes during succession. Management interventions at early stages could help enhance recovery rates and manipulate successional pathways. (iii) The combination of local and landscape conditions defines the limitations to succession and therefore the potential for natural regeneration to restore ecosystem properties effectively. The knowledge summarized here could enable the identification of conditions in which natural regeneration could efficiently promote forest restoration, and where specific management practices are required to foster succession. Finally, characterization of the landscape context and previous land‐use history is essential to understan...

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Post-agricultural succession in the fallow swiddens of Southeastern Brazil

Cited by 5 publications

References 65 publications

Forests, Farms, and Fallows: The Dynamics of Tree Cover Transition in the Southern Part of the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

Forests, Farms, and Fallows: The Dynamics of Tree Cover Transition in the Southern Part of the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

Natural forest regeneration over a fallow age chronosequence in central African moist forests

The role of land‐use history in driving successional pathways and its implications for the restoration of tropical forests

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