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Pàgina inicial > Articles > Articles publicats > Human population growth offsets climate-driven increase in woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa |
Data: | 2017 |
Resum: | The rapidly growing human population in sub-Saharan Africa generates increasing demand for agricultural land and forest products which presumably leads to deforestation. Conversely, a greening of African drylands has been reported, but this has been difficult to associate with changes in woody vegetation. There is thus an incomplete understanding of how woody vegetation responds to socio-economic and environmental change. Here we used a passive microwave Earth Observation data set to document two different trends in woody cover land area for 1992-2011: an 36% increase (6,870,000 km²), largely in drylands, and an 11% decrease (2,150,000 km²), mostly in humid zones. Increases in woody cover were associated with low population growth and driven by increases in CO2 in the humid zones and by increases in precipitation in drylands, whereas decreases in woody cover were associated with high population growth. The spatially distinct pattern of these opposing trends reflects (1) the natural response of vegetation to precipitation and atmospheric CO2 and (2) deforestation in humid areas, minor in size but important for ecosystem services, such as biodiversity and carbon stocks. This nuanced picture of changes in woody cover challenges widely held views of a general and ongoing reduction of the woody vegetation in Africa. |
Ajuts: | European Commission 656564 European Commission 610028 |
Drets: | Tots els drets reservats. |
Llengua: | Anglès |
Document: | Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar |
Publicat a: | Nature ecology & evolution, Vol. 1, art. 0081 (March 2017) , ISSN 2397-334X |
Article. Post-print 16 p, 121.8 KB |
Figura 1 1 p, 4.1 MB |
Figura 2 1 p, 46.2 KB |
Figura 3 1 p, 33.0 KB |
Figura 4 1 p, 37.0 KB |
Supplement 8 p, 519.0 KB |