Maximum flood depth characterizes above-ground biomass in African seasonally shallowly flooded grasslands
نویسنده
چکیده
Flood depth has been frequently used to explain the distribution of plant species in seasonally flooded grasslands, but its relation with vegetation production has remained ambiguous. The relationship between flooding and above-ground biomass at the end of the flooding season and during the dry seasonwas studied to assess the impact of reflooding on the Logone floodplain, Cameroon. Above-ground biomass of a combination of all species and of the individual perennial grasses Oryza longistaminata and Echinochloa pyramidalis showed a positive linear relationship withmaximumflood depth up to 1m. The gradient of these relationships became steeper and their fit better during the 2 y following the installation of the flooding, showing the response lag to floodplain rehabilitation. Flood duration only explained the above-ground biomass of the combination of all species and not of the individual species. Above-ground biomass data from other floodplains in the three main African geographic regions showed a similar relationship with maximumflood depth less than1m.Dry-season regrowth, important because of its highnutrient quality during forage scarcity, was not directly related to maximum flood depth, possibly because of its dependency on the period of burning and soil moisture. Presented data indicate that a rise of water level of 1 cm corresponds to an increase in above-ground biomass of c. 150 kgDMha−1.
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Structure of bird assemblages in dry and seasonally flooded grasslands in Itirapina Ecological Station, São Paulo state.
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تاریخ انتشار 2007