Livestock induces strong spatial heterogeneity of soil CO2, N2O and CH4 emissions within a semi-arid sylvo-pastoral landscape in West Africa

Greenhouse gas （GHG） emissions from the surface soils and surface water receiving animal excreta may be important components of the GHG balance of terrestrial ecosystems, but the associated processes are poorly documented in tropical environments, especially in tropical arid and semi-arid areas. A typical sylvo-pastoral landscape in the semi-arid zone of Senegal, West Africa, was investigated in this study. The study area （706 km2 of managed pastoral land） was a circular zone with a radius of 15 km centered on a borehole used to water livestock. The landscape supports a stocking rate ranging from 0.11 to 0.39 tropical livestock units per hectare depending on the seasonal movements of the livestock. Six landscape units were investigated （land in the vicinity of the borehole, natural ponds, natural rangelands, forest plantations, settlements, and enclosed plots）. Carbon dioxide （CO2）, nitrous oxide （N2O） and methane （CH4） fluxes were measured with static chambers set up at 13 sites covering the six landscape units, and the 13 sites are assumed to be representative of the spatial heterogeneity of the emissions. A total of 216 fluxes were measured during the one-year study period （May 2014 to April 2015）. At the landscape level, soils and surface water emitted an average 19.8 t C-CO2 eq/（hm2.a） （CO2： 82%, N2O： 15%, and CH4： 3%）, but detailed results revealed notable spatial heterogeneity of GHG emissions. CO2 fluxes ranged from 1148.2 （±91.6） mg/（m2.d） in rangelands to 97,980.2 （±4,861.7） mg/（m2.d） in surface water in the vicinity of the borehole. N2O fluxes ranged from 0.6 （±0.1） mg/（m2.d） in forest plantations to 22.6 （±10.8） mg/（m2.d） in the vicinity of the borehole. CH4 fluxes ranged from -3.2 （±0.3） mg/（m2.d） in forest plantations to 8788.5 （±2295.9） mg/（m2.d） from surface water in the vicinity of the borehole. This study identified GHG emission ＂hot spots＂ in the landscape. Emissions from the surface soils were significantly higher in the landscape units most frequently used by the animals, i.e., in the vicinity of the borehole and settlements; and emissions measured from surface water in the vicinity of the borehole and from natural ponds were on average about 10 times higher than soil emissions.

Evaluation of Combined Landscape Restoration Practices on Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in Semiarid Regions of Burkina Faso

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) practices have been reported to improve soil organic carbon stocks (SOCs) and contributing to climate change mitigation. This study aims to evaluate the impact of combined FLR practices, mainly developed in semiarid regions, on SOCs. The SOCs, soil texture, bulk density (ρ), pH, CO2 emissions, and herbaceous biomass were determined at a 0 - 30 cm depth. The experimental design comprised degraded land without FLR practices and three sets of combined FLR practices. These practices included “zaï” + stone bunds + organic manure + assisted natural regeneration (ANR) used to convert degraded land into forest (GF) and cropland (PARL);“zaï” + stone bunds + crop rotation + crop/fallow successions + ANR used to convert degraded land into cropland (OARL) and “zaï”+ stone bunds + organic manure used to convert degraded land into cropland (KARL). SOCs were highest (20.02 t C ha−1) under OARL compared with the other combinations of FLR practices. SOCs increased by 99% (+0.2 t C ha−1⋅yr−1), 58% (+0.3 t C ha−1⋅yr−1) and 13% (+0.2 t C ha−1⋅yr−1) under GF, OARL and KARL, respectively, and decreased by 15% (−0.1 t C ha−1⋅yr−1) under PARL. This study provides additional information explaining SOC variation in restored degraded land through the implementation of a combination of FLR practices. This is useful for recommending the combination “zaï” + stone bunds + crop rotation + crop/fallow successions + ANR to improve SOCs in the semiarid agroecosystem.