Land-use and land tenure explain spatial and temporal patterns in terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) in Southern Africa

Net primary productivity (NPP) is an important indicator of ecosystem health and its estimation and understanding of factors determining its spatial and temporal variations is critical. It is important to note that biophysical factors and human induced factors are interlinked in determining NPP patterns. Nevertheless, it is difficult to consider some aspects of human management systems in relation to NPP variations on a global scale analysis than on a local scale analysis. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that, at the local scale, particularly in highly intensive systems, land-use/land tenure types influence NPP variations by altering the biophysical conditions of the land. We estimated NPP between 2000 and 2009 using MODIS data and used ANOVA to test the abovementioned hypotheses. Results showed that NPP significantly (p < 0.05) varied by land-use/land tenure type. We also found that biophysical factors remained essential in explaining NPP variations even at local scales. These results exhibit the intricacies that exist between the biophysical and human-induced factors in explaining NPP variations within ecological landscapes.