Crops,trees, and birds: Biodiversity change under agricultural intensification in Uganda's farmed landscapes

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 106(2): 115–130, 2006

This paper examines the relationship between the intensity of agricultural land use and the abundance and richness of trees and birds in a humid tropical developing region where natural vegetation is being rapidly converted into farmland under market and population pressures. We analysed survey data on land use, birds and woody plants collected in 14 study sites situated within smallholder cropland and commercial plantations in southern Uganda. Commercial plantations had very few trees and only 10% of the original bird species. Land use intensification in smallholder systems also showed losses in bird abundance and species richness, but not nearly as much as in plantations. In both systems the impact of intensification was much bigger on the specialised and threatened birds compared to the less specialised species. This argues strongly for ‘species-sensitive’ conservation policies combining protected areas with land use regulation in areas undergoing intensification. We also found a much higher loss in bird biodiversity during the first phases of land use intensification (when larger tracts of forest are cleared) than in later phases characterised by clearing of smaller patches of vegetation and improved management of farm trees. This suggests high pay-offs to geographical targeting of conservation efforts in farmed landscapes.     

THE ORAL HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY∗

Book Reviewed in this article:

Latin America: Case Studies. Richard G. Boehm and Sent Visser

Locality and Rurality: Economy and Society in Rural Regions. Tony Bradley And Philip Lowe

The City and the Grassroots. Manuel Castells

Geopolitics and Conflict in South America. Quarrels among Neighbors. Jack Child

Post-Industrial America: A Geographical Perspective. David Clark

Coastal Research: UK Perspectives. Malcolm W. Clark

A Rural Policy for the EEC? Hugh Clout

Peasant Agriculture in Assam: A Structural Analysis. M. M. Das.

Environmental Change and Tropical Geomorphology. I. Douglas and T. Spencer

Advances in Abandoned Settlement Analysis: Application to Prehistoric Anthrosols in Colombia, South America. Robert C. Eidt

Measuring Culture. Jonathan L. Gross and Steve Rayner

North America: A Human Geography. Paul Guinness and Michael Bradshaw

A Geographical Bibliography for American Libraries. Chauncy D. Harris et al.

Geography and the Urban Environment: Progress in Research and Applications, Vol. VI. D. T. Herbert and R. J. Johnston

Changes in Global Climate: A Study of the Effect of Radiation and Other Factors During the Present Century. K. Ya. Kondrat'ev.

Rural Development and the State: Contradictions and Dilemmas in Developing Countries. David A. M. Lea and D. P. Chaudhri

The Martial Metropolis: U.S. Cities in War and Peace. Roger W. Lotchin

The Climate of the Earth. Paul E. Lydolph.

Weather and Climate. Paul E. Lydolph.

Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production. Doreen Massey.

Panorama of the Soviet Union. N. Mikhailov.

Soviet Armenia. K. S. Demirchian.

USSR: Geography of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period. K. Spidchenko.

Planung und Verwirklichung der Wiener Ringstrassenzone (Planning and Materialization of the Ringstrasse-Zone of Vienna). Kurt Mollik, Hermann Reining, Rudolf Wurzer.

The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War Gerald D. Nash.

An Overview of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Dawn Nelson, David McMillen, and Daniel Kasprzyk.

Phenomenology, Science and Geography: Spatiality and the Human Sciences. John Pickles.

Biological Diversification in the Tropics. Ghillean T. Prance

Die Wanderviehwirtschaft im gebirgigen Westen der U.S.A. und ihre Auswirkungen im Naturraum. Gisbert Rinschede.

Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Disposal: Considerations for Institutional Management

World-Wide Weather. K. Takahashi

Coastal Geomorphology in Australia. B. G. Thom

Settlement System in Rural India: A Case Study of the Lower Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Ram Chandra Tiwari.

Computer Programming for Geographers. David J. Unwin and John A. Dawson.

Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union. A. A. Velichko, ed. H. E. Wright, Jr. and C. W. Barnosky

Ethics in Planning. Martin Wachs     

Estimation of suspended sediment loads in a seasonal stream in the wet‐dry tropics,Northern Territory,Australia

One year of instantaneous suspended sediment concentration, C, and instantaneous discharge, Q, data collected at Ngarradj downstream of the Jabiluka mine site indicate that the use of a simple C–Q rating curve is not a reliable method for estimating suspended sediment loads from the Ngarradj catchment. The C–Q data are not only complicated by hysteresis effects within the rising and falling stages of individual events, but also by variable depletion of available suspended sediment through multipeaked runoff events. Parameter values were fitted to an event‐based suspended sediment load–Q relationship as an alternative to the C–Q relationship. Total suspended sediment load and Q data for 10 observed events in the Ngarradj stream catchment were used to fit parameter values to a suspended sediment load–Q relationship, using (a) log–log regression and (b) iterative parameter fitting techniques. A more reliable and statistically significant prediction of suspended sediment load from the Ngarradj catchment is obtained using an event‐based suspended sediment load–Q relationship. Fitting parameters to the event‐based suspended sediment load–Q relationship using iterative techniques better predicts long‐term suspended sediment loads compared with log–log regression techniques. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variations in annual snowline and area of an ice-covered stratovolcano in the Cordillera Ampato,Peru, using remote sensing data (1986–2014)

This research focuses on the recent variations in the annual snowline and the total glaciated area of the Nevado Coropuna in the Cordillera Ampato, Peru. Maximum snowline altitude towards the end of dry season is taken as a representative of the equilibrium line altitude of the year, which is an indirect measurement of the annual mass balance. We used Landsat and IRS LISS3 images during the last 30 years due to its better temporal coverage of the study site. It is found that there was a decrease of 26.92% of the glaciated area during 1986–2014. We calculated the anomalies in precipitation and temperature in this region and also tried to correlate the changes in glacier parameters with the combined influence of El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). It is concluded that the snowline of Nevado Coropuna has been fluctuated during ENSO, and maximum fluctuations were observed when ENSO and PDO were in phase.     

Mangrove habitat use by fishes in Southeastern Brazil: are there temporal changes in the structure of the community?

We compared fish community structure in Guaratiba Mangrove, SE Brazil, among three seasons of the hydrological cycle [(i) spring, increasing temperature and rainfall, decreasing salinity; (ii) summer/early fall, high temperature and rainfall, intermediate salinity; (iii) late fall/winter, low temperature and rainfall, high salinity] and between the years 2002–2003 and 2008–2009. The aim was to test the hypothesis that the fish community structure changes seasonally, associated with seasonal changes in environmental conditions, and that changes occurred between the two yearly periods because of increased anthropogenic activities. The sampling protocol for the two surveys was identical. A total of 63 species was recorded, with 38 species occurring in 2002–2003, and 53 species in 2008–2009. The main changes in the mangrove's fish assemblage between 2002–2003 and 2008–2009 were (i) an increase in species richness, fish density and total biomass; and (ii) an increase in the zoobenthivorous species of gerreids Eucinostomus argenteus, Diapterus rhombeus and Ulaema lefroyi, and a decrease in the planktivorous clupeid Harengula clupeola. Other abundant species, such as the opportunistic atherinopsid. Atherinella brasiliensis, the detritivorous mullet Mugil liza and the zoobenthivorous pufferfish Sphoeroides testudineus did not differ in abundance between the two yearly periods. Ten species occurred only in 2002–2003, and 23 species only in 2008–2009, indicating significant changes in community structure over the 6‐year period. Seasonal changes in community structure were more conspicuous in 2008–2009, when species abundance and richness were greatest. The highest fish abundance was recorded in spring and in summer/early fall, and the lowest in late fall/winter. The increased abundance and richness over time may be at least partially attributable to protection policies because of the effective implementation of a biological reserve in the area.     

Late Pleistocene snowline fluctuations at Nevado Coropuna (15°S), southern Peruvian Andes

Deposits preserved on peaks in the southern Peruvian Andes are evidence for past glacial fluctuations and, therefore, serve as a record of both the timing and magnitude of past climate change. Moraines corresponding to the last major expansion of ice on Nevado Coropuna date to 20‐25 ka, during the last glacial maximum. We reconstructed the snowline at Coropuna for this period using a combined geomorphic‐numeric approach to provide a first‐order estimate of the magnitude of late‐Pleistocene climate change. Our reconstructions show that snowline was approximately 550‐770 m lower during the last glacial maximum than during the late Holocene maximum, which ended in the 19^th century, and ～750 m lower than today. While these values are similar to data from nearby Nevado Solimana, reconstructions from the neighbouring peak of Nevado Firura reveal a smaller snowline depression, suggesting the glacial response to climate forcing in the tropics is strongly influenced by non‐climatic factors. These data constitute some of the first directly dated palaeo‐snowline data from the arid tropics and suggest that the magnitude of the last glaciation in at least parts of the tropical Andes was similar to late‐Pleistocene events at higher latitudes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Last glacial maximum equilibrium-line altitude and paleo-temperature reconstructions for the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuelan Andes

The pattern and magnitude of glacier equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) lowerings in the tropics during the last glacial maximum (LGM) are topics of current debate. In the northern tropics, paleo-ELA data are particularly limited, inhibiting the ability to make regional and large-scale paleoclimatic inferences. To improve these records, nine paleo-glaciers in the Venezuelan Andes were reconstructed based on field observations, aerial photographs, satellite imagery and high-resolution digital topographic data. Paleo-glacier equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) were estimated using the accumulation-area ratio (AAR) and the area-altitude balance ratio (AABR) methods. During the local LGM in Venezuela (∼ 22,750 to 19,960 cal yr BP), ELAs were ∼ 850 to 1420 m lower than present. Local LGM temperatures were are at least 8.8 ± 2°C cooler than today based on a combined energy and mass-balance equation to account for an ELA lowering. This is greater than estimates using an atmospheric lapse rate calculation, which yields a value of 6.4 ± 1°C cooler. The paleo-glacial data from the Venezuelan Andes support other published records that indicate the northern tropics experienced a greater ELA lowering and possibly a greater cooling than the Southern Hemisphere tropics during the LGM.     

1948—2003年热带地区降水气候特征与变化

使用1948—2003年全球陆地和海洋的月降水资料,研究了热带地区年降水量场的趋势变化,同时还研究了ENSO事件与热带地区年降水量的关系。结果表明,在1948—2003年,热带地区年降水量场以负趋势为主要变化特征。给出了降水趋势明显的13个区域,指出热带海洋降水趋势明显的地区比陆地的范围广而且强度大,正趋势区基本都在南半球的海洋上,且北半球降水趋势明显的海洋区域都呈负趋势。研究结果还表明,ENSO事件可能是热带地区年降水量减少的一个重要原因;同时给出了ENSO事件发生时热带地区的明显旱涝区,并与以往的研究进行了比较。     

A GCM Study on the Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation

The ability of AGCM to simulate the tropical intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) has been studied using the output of global spectral model (ALGCM (R42L9)) of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the outoput is compared with the results from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for the year 1978-1989. The model displays an evident periodic signal of the tropical ISO. Basic propagating characters of the tropical ISO are captured, and changes in phase speed between Eastern and Western Hemispheres are also well presented, and the simulation of eastward propagation is better than that of westward propagation. This model has increased the ability to simulate the strength of the tropical ISO, especially at 200 hPa, and basically simulates the horizontal structure of wind characterized by the convergence in low-level and divergence in upper-level. The vertical structure of the zonal wind is also well reproduced. Moreover, observed results show that the representing of seasonal preference to form strong ISO in winter and spring is related to ISO's interannual variability, but it is shown in this model with strong ISO in winter and summer and weak ISO in spring and autumn. Structures of some physical elements such as vertical velocity, divergence, specific humidity, etc., and the special distribution of ISO have also differences with these from NCEP reanalysis data, which make it clear to develop this model to simulate the structure and spatial distribution of the ISO.