Browsing by Author "Mbilinyi, Boniface P."
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item The biological importance of the Eastern Arc Mountain of Tanzania and Kenya(2007-01) Burgess, Neil D.; Butynski, Thomas M.; Cordeiro, Norbert J.; Doggart, Nike; Fjeldså, Jon; Howell, Kim; Kilahama, Felician B.; Loader, Simon; Lovett, Jon C.; Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Menegon, Michele; Moyer, David; Nashanda, Evarist; Perkin, Andrew; Rovero, Francesco; Stanley, William T.; Stuart, Simon N.The Eastern Arc Mountains are renown in Africa for high concentrations of endemic species of animals and plants. Thirteen separate mountain blocks comprise the Eastern Arc, supporting around 3300 km2 of sub-montane, montane and upper montane forest, less than 30% of the estimated original forested area. At least 96 vertebrate species are endemic, split as follows: 10 mammal, 19 bird, 29 reptile and 38 amphibian species. This includes four endemic or nearly endemic species of primate – the Sanje Mangabey, the Iringa Red Colobus, the Mountain Galago and the new Kipunji monkey that forms its own monotypic genus. A further 71 vertebrate species are near-endemic. At least 800 vascular plant species are endemic, almost 10% of these being trees. These endemics include the majority of the species of African violet – Saintpaulia, a well-known flowering plant in Western households. An additional 32 species of bryophytes are also endemic. Many hundreds of invertebrates are also likely to be endemic, with data for butterflies, millipedes and dragonflies indicating potential trends in importance. Seventy-one of the endemic or near-endemic vertebrates are threatened by extinction (8 critical, 27 endangered, 36 vulnerable), with an additional seven wide ranging threatened species. Hundreds of plant species are also threatened. Most Eastern Arc endemics are closed-forest specialists and comprise taxa with an ancient history and those of more recent origin, including some possessing ancient affinities with taxa from West Africa, Madagascar, and even South America and Southeast Asia. Mountain block prioritisation for biodiversity conservation shows that Udzungwas, East Usambaras and Ulugurus are the most important blocks, with other important blocks being the Ngurus and West Usambaras. Rankings are correlated closely with the area of remaining forest. Most of the remaining forest is found within nearly 150 Government Forest Reserves, with 106 of these managed nationally for water catchment, biodiversity and soil conservation and where forest exploitation is not allowed. Outside these areas most forest has been cleared, except in small village burial/sacred sites, a few Village Forest Reserves, and inaccessible areas. In most Eastern Arc Mountains the local populations have not encroached beyond the reserve boundaries to develop farms, but forest resources within the boundaries are used for fuel and building materials and some forests are heavily degraded. Fire is also a problem as it enters and destroys forests during the dry seasons. The future of the biodiversity on the Eastern Arc Mountains is closely tied to management policies and capacity of the Tanzania Forestry and Beekeeping Division, Tanzania National Parks Authority, and Kenya Forest Department. Supporting these agencies in their mandated job is an essential conservation investment over the longer term.Item Land cover change and carbon emissions over 100 years in an African biodiversity hotspot(2016-07) Willcock, Simon; Phillips, Oliver L.; Platts, Philip J.; Swetnam, Ruth D.; Balmford, Andrew; Burgess, Neil D.; Ahrends, Antje; Bayliss, Julian; Doggart, Nike; Doody, Kathryn; Fanning, Eibleis; Green, Jonathan; Hall, Jaclyn; Howell, Kim; Lovett, Jon C.; Marchant, Rob A.; Marshall, Andrew R.; Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Munishi, Pantaleo; Owen, Nisha; Jørgensen, Elmer T.; Lewis, Simon L.Agricultural expansion has resulted in both land use and land cover change (LULCC) across the tropics. However, the spatial and temporal patterns of such change and their resulting impacts are poorly understood, particularly for the pre-satellite era. Here we quantify the LULCC history across the 33.9 million ha watershed of Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains, using geo-referenced and digitised historical land cover maps (dated 1908, 1923, 1949 and 2000). Our time series from this biodiversity hotspot shows that forest and savanna area both declined, by 74% (2.8 million ha) and 10% (2.9 million ha), respectively, between 1908 and 2000. This vegetation was replaced by a five-fold increase in cropland, from 1.2 million ha to 6.7 million ha. This LULCC implies a committed release of 0.9 Pg C (95% CI: 0.4-1.5) across the watershed for the same period, equivalent to 0.3 Mg C ha−1 yr−1. This is at least three-fold higher than previous estimates from global models for the same study area. We then used the LULCC data from before and after protected area creation, as well as from areas where no protection was established, to analyse the effectiveness of legal protection on land cover change despite the underlying spatial variation in protected areas. We found that, between 1949 and 2000, forest expanded within legally protected areas, resulting in carbon uptake of 4.8 (3.8-5.7) Mg C ha−1, compared to a committed loss of 11.9 (7.2-16.6) Mg C ha−1 within areas lacking such protection. Furthermore, for nine protected areas where LULCC data is available prior to and following establishment, we show that protection reduces deforestation rates by 150% relative to unprotected portions of the watershed. Our results highlight that considerable LULCC occurred prior to the satellite era, thus other data sources are required to better understand long-term land cover trends in the tropics. Discover the world's research 100 million publications 2.5 million new publications each month 10 million members Join for freeItem Land Cover Dynamics As A Result Of Charcoal Production: Use Of Remote Sensing And Gis(2008) Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Misana, Salome B.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Monela, G. C.; Jambiya, GeorgeCharcoal is the most important energy source for middle and low-income people in many African cities. Its consumption shows no sign of decrease for the reasons of cost, convenience and availability. The use of charcoal, however, has been blamed for deforestation and degradation of natural forests and woodlands. To increase the understanding of the effects of charcoal use in three countries in Southern Africa: Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique, a collaborative project, CHAPOSA (Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa), was conducted. One of the project objectives was to assess the extent of environmental degradation due to charcoal production and to identify indicators that can quantify and locate such degradation. To meet this objective, an integration of remote sensing, using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data, and Geographical Information System (GIS) tools was used to quantify and locate land cover changes, particularly degradation and regeneration of woodlands that had occurred in the study area between 1991 and 1998. The results reveal that, in the study period, much of the closed woodland has been converted to either open woodland or other cover types including agricultural farms. However, in some locations regeneration of woodlands has been observed. This precludes the presumption that cutting down trees for charcoal production must result in irreversible degradation. Given the fact that charcoal is and will remain, at least in a foreseeable future, the main domestic energy source, sustainable use of the woodland coupled with more use of other energy sources seems to be our best strategy if we want to sustain the remaining woodland.Item Quantifying and understanding carbon storage and sequestration within the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania, a tropical biodiversity hotspot(2014-04) Willcock, Simon; Phillips, Oliver L.; Platts, Philip J.; Balmford, Andrew; Burgess, Neil D.; Lovett, Jon C.; Ahrends, Antje; Bayliss, Julian; Doggart, Nike; Doody, Kathryn; Fanning, Eibleis; Green, Jonathan; Hall, Jaclyn; Howell, Kim; Marchant, Rob A.; Marshall, Andrew R.; Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Munishi, Pantaleo; Owen, Nisha; Swetnam, Ruth D.; Jørgensen, Elmer T.; Lewis, Simon L.Background: The carbon stored in vegetation varies across tropical landscapes due to a complex mix of climatic and edaphic variables, as well as direct human interventions such as deforestation and forest degradation. Mapping and monitoring this variation is essential if policy developments such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) are to be known to have succeeded or failed. Results: We produce a map of carbon storage across the watershed of the Tanzanian Eastern Arc Mountains (33.9 million ha) using 1,611 forest inventory plots, and correlations with associated climate, soil and disturbance data. As expected, tropical forest stores more carbon per hectare (182 Mg C ha-1) than woody savanna (51 Mg C ha-1). However, woody savanna is the largest aggregate carbon store, with 0.49 Pg C over 9.6 million ha. We estimate the whole landscape stores 1.3 Pg C, significantly higher than most previous estimates for the region. The 95% Confidence Interval for this method (0.9 to 3.2 Pg C) is larger than simpler look-up table methods (1.5 to 1.6 Pg C), suggesting simpler methods may underestimate uncertainty. Using a small number of inventory plots with two censuses (n = 43) to assess changes in carbon storage, and applying the same mapping procedures, we found that carbon storage in the tree-dominated ecosystems has decreased, thItem Tanzania's reptile biodiversity: Distribution, threats and climate change vulnerability(2016-05) Meng, Han; Carr, Jamie; Beraducc, Joe; Bowles, Phil; Branch, William R.; Capitani, Claudia; Chenga, Jumapili; Cox, Neil; Howell, Kim; Malonza, Patrick K.; Marchant, Rob A.; Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Mukama, Kusaga; Msuya, Charles; Platts, Philip J.; Safari, Ignas; Spawls, Stephen; Farpon, Yara S.; Wagner, Philipp; Burgess, Neil D.Assessments of biodiversity patterns and threats among African reptiles have lagged behind those of other vertebrate groups and regions. We report the first systematic assessment of the distribution, threat status, and climate change vulnerability for the reptiles of Tanzania. A total of 321 reptile species (including 90 Tanzanian endemics) were assessed using the global standard IUCN Red List methodology and 274 species were also assessed using the IUCN guidelines for climate change vulnerability. Patterns of species richness and threat assessment confirm the conservation importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains, as previously demonstrated for birds, mammals and amphibians. Lowland forests and savannah-woodland habitats also support important reptile assemblages. Protected area gap analysis shows that 116 species have less than 20% of their distribution ranges protected, among which 12 are unprotected, eight species are threatened and 54 are vulnerable to climate change. Tanzania's northern margins and drier central corridor support high numbers of climate vulnerable reptile species, together with the eastern African coastal forests and the region between Lake Victoria and Rwanda. This paper fills a major gap in our understanding of the distribution and threats facing Tanzania's reptiles, and demonstrates more broadly that the explicit integration of climate change vulnerability in Red Listing criteria may revise spatial priorities for conservation.Item Towards Regional, Error-Bounded Landscape Carbon Storage Estimates for Data-Deficient Areas of the World(2012-09) Willcock, Simon; Phillips, Oliver L.; Platts, Philip J.; Balmford, Andrew; Burgess, Neil D.; Lovett, Jon C.; Ahrends, Antje; Bayliss, Julian; Doggart, Nike; Doody, Kathryn; Fanning, Eibleis; Green, Jonathan; Hall, Jaclyn; Howell, Kim; Marchant, Rob A.; Marshall, Andrew R.; Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Munishi, Pantaleo; Owen, Nisha; Swetnam, Ruth D.; Jørgensen, Elmer T.; Lewis, Simon L.Monitoring landscape carbon storage is critical for supporting and validating climate change mitigation policies. These may be aimed at reducing deforestation and degradation, or increasing terrestrial carbon storage at local, regional and global levels. However, due to data-deficiencies, default global carbon storage values for given land cover types such as 'lowland tropical forest' are often used, termed 'Tier 1 type' analyses by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Such estimates may be erroneous when used at regional scales. Furthermore uncertainty assessments are rarely provided leading to estimates of land cover change carbon fluxes of unknown precision which may undermine efforts to properly evaluate land cover policies aimed at altering land cover dynamics. Here, we present a repeatable method to estimate carbon storage values and associated 95% confidence intervals (CI) for all five IPCC carbon pools (aboveground live carbon, litter, coarse woody debris, belowground live carbon and soil carbon) for data-deficient regions, using a combination of existing inventory data and systematic literature searches, weighted to ensure the final values are regionally specific. The method meets the IPCC 'Tier 2' reporting standard. We use this method to estimate carbon storage over an area of33.9 million hectares of eastern Tanzania, reporting values for 30 land cover types. We estimate that this area stored 6.33 (5.92-6.74) Pg C in the year 2000. Carbon storage estimates for the same study area extracted from five published Africa-wide or global studies show a mean carbon storage value of ∼50% of that reported using our regional values, with four of the five studies reporting lower carbon storage values. This suggests that carbon storage may have been underestimated for this region of Africa. Our study demonstrates the importance of obtaining regionally appropriate carbon storage estimates, and shows how such values can be produced for a relatively low investment. Discover the world's research 100 million publications 2.5 million new publications each month 10 million members Join for free