Quantitative Review of Ecosystem Services and Disservices Studies in the Tropics

The tropics host about 80% of the planet’s terrestrial species and over 95% of its corals. A well-known tropical forest ecosystem to provide significant global regulating services has declined at a rate of 5.5 M ha per year from 1990-2015, while another region noted an increase per year. There is evidence that tropical region ecosystem services and disservices are the least studied in the world. This study quantified peer-review papers in the tropics, then explored the neglected ecosystem type, service category, assessment mode, applied techniques and choice dependence between ecosystem type, service category, assessment mode and applied techniques. The Google Scholar and Web of Science database were used to collect all ES & ED studies available online from 1960 to December 2017. This review covered 102 countries with 578 articles. The study showed dramatic articles increase in the last three years as more than 50% of articles were published after the year of 2014. The top countries in high articles were Mexico (n = 53), India (n = 43), and Brazil (n = 35). The ES & ED assessment tools/techniques are barely applied in tropics as only social based techniques such as interviews and questionnaire take over 45%, while biophysical tools like remote sensing and GIS appeared only in 20%, InVEST only in 3% while the rest tools are less than 1% even none such as ARIES model. Urban and marine ecosystem types, disservices category and trade-off assessment mode were the least studied. The review concluded that policy analysis ES & ED studies do not reflect the trade-offs and synergy analysis between different services which hinder the development of pragmatic policy and decisions toward ES sustainable management in the tropics. The rampant urbanization in the tropics is subjected to destroy existing ES. Thus, this review highly suggested a high concern of urbanization ecosystem. This study also calls for great academic research to give attention to the tropical rainforest region as most African countries to host such forest have not even a single article on ES & ED.

A preliminary evaluation of throughfall sampling techniques in a mature coniferous forest

Rainfall, throughfall and stemflow were measured and canopy interception loss was derived for 14 rainfall events from June 22 to August 30, 2008 within a mature declining hybrid white spruce(Picea glauca(Moench) Voss × P. engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.)- subalpine fir(Abies lasiocarpa(Hook.) Nutt.)- lodgepole pine(Pinus contorta var.latifolia Dougl. ex Loud.) stand in south-central British Columbia, Canada. Stemflow was negligible during the study period, while, respectively throughfall and canopy interception loss accounted for approximately59.4% and 40.6% of the 50.1 mm of cumulative rainfall. Throughfall variability was assessed with three approaches involving roving and stationary wedge-type gauges, and stationary trough gauges. Throughfall exhibited large spatial variability with the coefficient of variability of study period throughfall sampled using 16 stationary trough gauges being30.3%, while it was 38.0% and 28.7% for 32 stationary and 32 roving wedge gauges, respectively. Our analysis suggests that a roving gauge method is better than a stationary approach since the errors associated with event mean throughfalls are summed quadratically and a greater portion of the canopy area is sampled. Trough gauges were more efficient than wedge gauges; however, this efficiency was less than expected given their much larger sampling areas, suggesting that spatial autocor-relation lengths of throughfall may be longer than the trough systems. The spatial distribution of throughfall showed a high degree of temporal persistence throughout the study suggesting the existence of stable "wet" and "dry" inputs to the floors of these coniferous forests.

The Effect of Small Scale Topographic Gradient on the Distribution and Community Utilization of Indigenous Woody Species in a Lowland Dryland Environment, Lokapel Area, Turkana, Kenya

The landscape of Lokapel is characterized by a distinctive dryland vegetation, whose distribution is influenced by altitudinal change and the use of woody species by the local community along 100 m altitudinal gradient from River Turkwel (662 m) to Lokapel Hill (764 m). The paper undertakes the following: (a) to establish the influence of elevation on woody vegetation species distribution in different landscapes in the area and (b) to assess the consumptive and non-consumptive uses of woody vegetation in the area by the local community and determine the utility patterns along the altitudinal gradient. A total of forty three species of woody plants were identified with the top five species in terms of widespread distribution being;Indigofera cliffordearia (10 percent), Acacia tortilis (9.8 percent), A. nubica (8.8 percent), Balanites rotundifolia (6.3 percent), and Acacia reficiens (5.4 percent). The local people used the indigenous woody species to address a total of 18 demands including provision of livestock fodder, household construction, bio-energy, and herbal medicines. The variation in woody species and their uses showed the total number of woody species distribution has the highest peak around 680 m but altitude accounted only for 51 percent of the variation in woody species.

Predator-Proof Bomas as a Tool in Mitigating Human-Predator Conflict in Loitokitok Sub-County Amboseli Region of Kenya

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) arises when wildlife shares the same physical space with humans. HWC, particularly livestock predation results in great negative impacts both to pastoralist and carnivores. Various approaches including compensation, livestock guarding, translocation of the problematic predator, and predator-proof bomas (PPB) have been used to mitigate such conflicts. We assessed PPB in mitigating human-predator conflict in Loitokitok sub-county by focusing on its effectiveness, most problematic predator, community’s perceptions, and comparing the PPB and traditional bomas characteristics. Data were obtained from 90 homesteads in Olgulului, Mbirikani and Kimana/Tikondo group ranches. Correlation and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data. Our findings suggest that the boma sizes correlated with the total number of livestock in the boma (r = 0.386, n = 90, p = 0.000) but not the number of people. Hyena and lion accounted for the highest loss of shoats and cattle, with hyena mostly killing shoats (37%) and lions preying largely on cattle (34%). The most problematic predator was as hyena (68%). We found positive relationships between the most problematic predator and total number of livestock (r = 0.319, n = 90, p = 0.002), and boma circumference (r = 0.295, n = 90, p = 0.005). Livestock predation was high in boma during the wet seasons (April, September, October and December). The erection of PPB reduced livestock predation by 91.11% (n = 45) and time spend guarding livestock at night. We recommend a continuous maintenance of the PPB as a long term solution to livestock loss at night and a close guarding of livestock during the day by adults to reduce day time predations.

Wildlife Population Change in Africa from the Eyes of the Public—The Case of Mara Enoonkishu Conservancy in Southern Kenya

The aims of the study were to: 1) determine the wildlife population trends in the Mara Enoonkishu Conservancy from the eyes and minds of the public, 2) assess the recent trends in wildlife populations based on actual scientific counts, and 3) compare the two patterns and establish whether they are similar or not. The solicitation of public views was based on household surveys using a standard questionnaire which was administered to 115 randomly selected respondents. The dominant wildlife species according to 39% of the respondents was the elephant followed by the zebra with 35%. 40% of the respondents indicated that the rhino population had declined followed by wild dogs (7%) and cheetah (6%). The actual counts showed that the herbivores with increasing populations included the rhino (r2 = 0.9992), impala (r2 = 0.9824), Thomson’s gazelle (r2 = 0.6965), Grant’s gazelle (r2 = 0.7052), elephant (r2 = 0.5798), and topi (r2 = 0.4426) while the increasing predators included the lion (r2 = 1.000), cheetah (r2 = 0.9093) and hyena (r2 = 0.8462). The actual wildlife counts appeared to tally with the public views only for the elephant and zebra. The actual counts contradicted the public views in terms of the rhino, lion and gazelles whose numbers were on the increase but the people did not appear to notice. Based on this, it was concluded that the public view on the wildlife population trend was not similar to the actual wildlife population status on the ground based on scientific monitoring.

Land Cover Dynamics in the Kirisia Forest Ecosystem, Samburu County, Kenya

The study characterized the status and trend of land cover transformation in Kirisia forest ecosystem between 1973 and 2015 using remote sensing and GIS. The dominant land cover types consisted of indigenous forest followed by shrub land and bush land. The findings showed a major increase in the built environment by 55.4% and an overall reduction in forest cover by 21.3%. Up to 83.9 km2 of the original indigenous forest was lost between 1973 and 1986 due to severe fires. Thereafter, 23.7 km2 of the remaining indigenous forest was lost between 1986 and 2000 mainly through charcoal burning, illegal timber logging and livestock forage harvesting. A slight recovery occurred between 2000 and 2015 with a 5% increase in indigenous forest cover mostly through natural succession by shrub land and bush land in the burnt forest areas especially following the 1998 El Nino period. The land cover change in the forest ecosystem was not exceptional in Kenya but mirrors similar changes that have been documented in other valued dry land watershed ecosystems in the country including the national water towers. The continued loss of forest cover is likely to affect the water recharge capacity in the watershed thereby creating severe water scarcity for the people in Mararal town as well as nearly 142,954 other individuals in the Kirisia region. Appropriate interventions are therefore needed to mitigate the negative land cover change in Kirisia forest and restore its hydrological functions and water recharge capacity.