ALBERT

Beschreibung: Despite the widely accepted idea that shaded plantations are valuable habitats for Neotropical migrants in disturbed landscapes, little empirical evidence is available in relation to the quality of this habitat for Neotropical-Nearctic migratory birds in the Andes. We evaluated the suitability of shaded plantations for overwintering Neotropical-Nearctic migratory birds by examining diurnal and seasonal variation in body condition of migrants in these agroforests in the Andes. During October to April 2008–2009 and 2009–2010, we mist-netted eight species of Neotropical-Nearctic migrants in shaded plantations in the Colombian Andes. Body condition improved throughout the day for Cerulean Warbler ( Setophaga cerulea ), Blackburnian Warbler ( Setophaga fusca ), Tennessee Warbler ( Leiothlypis peregrina ), and especially Canada Warbler ( Cardellina canadensis ). Similarly, body condition improved across the season for Tennessee Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak ( Pheucticus ludovicianus ), and Summer Tanager ( Piranga rubra ). Our results provided additional evidence that several common Neotropical migrants, including species of conservation concern such as Cerulean Warbler and Canada Warbler, may improve their body condition in shaded plantations. However, about half of the species assessed in this study did not show any significant improvement in their body condition (e.g. Red-eyed Vireo). Furthermore, on average, species were in poor condition (i.e. body condition scores were negative) in these coffee farms. Thus, the extent to which this agricultural system represents high quality habitat should be looked with caution. Overall, our data contribute novel information on daily patterns of body condition improvement for several common migratory birds in Andean shaded plantations.

Beschreibung: Planting hedgerows on farm field edges can help mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural landscapes by sequestering carbon (C) in woody biomass and in soil. Sequestration rates however, must be assessed in terms of their overall global warming potential (GWP) which must also consider GHG emissions. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from two types of hedgerows and adjacent annual agricultural production fields, and 2) better understand how climate, soil properties and plant species configurations affect hedgerow GHG emissions. At eight study sites in the lower Fraser River delta of British Columbia, we measured emissions from soil in both planted (P-Hedgerow) and remnant hedgerows (R-Hedgerow), as well as in adjacent annual crop production fields over 1 year using a closed-static chamber method. CO 2 emissions were 59 % higher in P-Hedgerow than R-Hedgerow, yet there were no significant differences of relative emissions of CH 4 and N 2 O. The environmental variables that explained the variation in emissions differed for the three GHGs. CO 2 emissions were significantly correlated with soil temperature. CH 4 and N 2 O and emissions were marginally significantly correlated with soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil water-filled pore space (WFPS), respectively. Emissions were not significantly correlated with hedgerow plant species diversity. While hedgerows sequester carbon in their woody biomass, we demonstrated that it is critical to measure hedgerow emissions to accurately ascertain their overall GHG mitigation potential. Our results show that there are no CO 2 e emission differences between the management options that plant new diverse hedgerows or conserve existing hedgerows.

Beschreibung: Agroforestry in the Czech Republic has vanished both from the landscape and public conscience. That raises questions about its history and fate; there are examples of this land use type from all neighbouring countries. The article looks at the record of such systems in a historical land tax survey, the Franciscan cadastre made in the Czech Republic in the mid nineteenth century. With this source, patterns of preindustrial-era subsistence systems were analysed in a considerable part of what is now the Czech Republic. Any correlation among occurrences of various land uses (including agroforestry cultures) and influences of chosen natural and cultural factors was statistically tested and further visualised by multivariate analysis. The main existing agroforestry types and their historical distribution were investigated. The results have shown that cropland with fruit trees, and meadows, and pastures with either fruit trees or wood use, were a common part of Czech countryside in the mid-nineteenth century. Some agroforestry plots were found in the 1689 total studied cadastral areas. The types of agroforestry and the overall subsistence patterns were attuned to elevation, soil fertility, population density, and the dominant language group of the inhabitants. Cropland and pastures with fruit trees were associated with more fertile inland lowlands with sound infrastructure and prevalently Czech inhabitants (so-called ‘old settlement’ areas), wood meadows and pastures with cadastral units located in border regions at higher elevations characterised by lower soil fertility, a greater ratio of coniferous forests and predominantly inhabited by Czech Germans. Traditional agroforestry, as is discussed, however, did not survive the industrialisation of agriculture.

Beschreibung: Agroforestry species Leucaena leucocephala (subabul), a multipurpose leguminous tree, is one of the most suitable species for silvipasture system. Its seeds, a good protein source to livestock, also have lot of industrial application. Subabul responds well to pollarding, a practice that helps growth of understory crops but reduces seed yield of main tree species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nutrient application on fruit and seed characters, seed yield, germination and vigour of pollarded subabul trees. The study was conducted on three important salvodar type subabul varieties (K8, K636 and S24) with different fruit and seed characters. Three nutrient mixtures (SSP @ 150 kg/ha + ZnSO 4 @ 20 kg/ha; CuSO 4 @ 0.25 % + Borax @ 0.15 % + KNO 3 @ 1 % in 500 l spray volume per ha and KNO 3 @ 4 kg/ha) were applied before anthesis. The nutrient treatments have enhanced fruit length and weight without affecting the fruit width. Similarly, seed characters responded positively to nutrient applications resulting in enhanced mean yield across varieties and years. The seed viability measured as germination percentage varied among varieties with maximum viability in small-seeded K 636. The application of nutrients enhanced the germination and vigour in all three varieties irrespective of the seed size. Among the nutrient mixtures, potassium nitrate @ 4 kg/ha has better effect on seed yield and its attributing characters as well as on seed quality across the varieties over the years.

Beschreibung: Agroforestry is an ancient practice widespread throughout Africa. However, the influence of Sahelian agroforestry systems on carbon storage in soil and biomass remains poorly understood. We evaluated the carbon storage potential of three agroforestry systems (fallow, parkland and rangeland) and five tree species ( Faidherbia albida , Acacia raddiana , Neocarya macrophylla , Balanites aegyptiaca and Euphorbia balsamifera ) growing on three different soils (clay, sandy loam and sandy) in the Niayes zone, Senegal. We calculated tree biomass carbon stocks using allometric equations and measured soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks at four depths (0–20, 20–50, 50–80 and 80–100 cm). F. albida and A. raddiana stored the highest amount of carbon in their biomass. Total biomass carbon stocks were greater in the fallow (40 Mg C ha −1 ) than in parkland (36 Mg C ha −1 ) and rangeland (29 Mg C ha −1 ). More SOC was stored in the clay soil than in the sandy loam and sandy soils. On average across soil texture, SOC stocks were greater in fallow (59 Mg C ha −1 ) than in rangeland (30 Mg C ha −1 ) and parkland (15 Mg C ha −1 ). Overall, the total amount of carbon stored in the soil + plant compartments was the highest in fallow (103 Mg C ha −1 ) followed by rangeland (68 Mg C ha −1 ) and parkland (52 Mg C ha −1 ). We conclude that in the Niayes zones of Senegal, fallow establishment should be encouraged and implemented on degraded lands to increase carbon storage and restore soil fertility.

Beschreibung: In sub-Saharan Africa, extraction for daily livelihood needs often results in uncontrolled exploitation of bark and leaves of valuable medicinal and fodder trees. However, overharvesting of bark and foliage can reduce fruit production and threaten reproduction. This study evaluates the impact of combined bark and foliage harvesting on the performance of fruit production of Afzelia africana in Burkina Faso. We compared fruit and seed production at different harvesting intensities. Data on fruit yields were collected by stratified random sampling of 91 trees with no, low, severe, and very severe harvesting intensities. The fruit production varied with harvesting intensity, tree size and number of branches. Fruit and seed quantity and quality decreased with increasing harvesting intensity. However, no significant difference was detected between trees without and trees under low harvesting. Trees of all size classes under very severe harvesting intensity had no fruits. Under low harvesting impact, large trees had twice as many fruits as the control, whereas fruits were reduced by half to 95 % for the small trees. High harvesting intensity is an unsustainable practice that should be completely prohibited in order to ensure longterm persistence of Afzelia africana . Low harvesting intensity should be allowed, but only on large reproductive individuals.

Beschreibung: Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in soil fertility and productivity. It occurs in soil in labile and non-labile forms that help in maintaining the soil health. An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the dynamics of total soil organic carbon ( C tot ), oxidisable organic carbon ( C oc ), very labile carbon (C frac 1 ), labile carbon (C frac 2 ), less labile carbon (C frac 3 ), non-labile carbon (C frac 4 ), microbial biomass carbon ( C mic ) and SOC sequestration in a 6-year-old fruit orchards. The mango, guava and litchi orchards caused an enrichment of C tot by 17.2, 12.6 and 11 %, respectively, over the control. The mango orchard registered highest significant increase of 20.7, 13.5 and 17.4 % in C frac 1 , C frac 2 and C frac 4 , respectively, over control. There is greater accumulation of all the C fractions in the surface soil (0–0.30 m). The maximum total active carbon pool was 36.2 Mg C ha −1 in mango orchard and resulted in 1.2 times higher than control. The passive pool of carbon constituted about 42.4 % of C tot and registered maximum in the mango orchard. The maximum C mic was 370 mg C kg −1 in guava orchard and constituted 4.2 % of C tot . The carbon management index registered 1.2 (mango orchard)- and 1.13 (guava and litchi orchard)-fold increase over control. The mango orchard registered highest carbon build rate of 1.53 Mg C ha −1  year −1 and resulted in 17.3 % carbon build-up over control. Among the carbon fractions, C frac 1 was highly correlated ( r  = 0.567**) with C mic .

Beschreibung: This introductory paper aims to synthesize the findings on on-farm trees research with the integration of traditional silvicultural knowledge on multipurpose trees for the design of small scale forestry practices in Africa and Asia. The science, socio-economics and governance aspects of traditional tree based management systems have been documented through the different papers. The findings provide a synopsis of on- farm tree management in Africa and Asia. The synthesis shows that there are still important knowledge gaps such as the ownership of land and trees, gender, the motivation to invest on farm trees, income and livelihood strategies and ecological issues of on farm trees in the context of climate change adaptation and sustainable development goals. There is a general consensus that successful implementation of community involvement in natural resource management in Africa and Asia will only be realized by implementing enabling policies on land tenure, devolution for full empowerment visa viz planning, beneficiation and sharing of benefits.

Beschreibung: The influence of tree and stand variables, debarking intensity, and precipitation on the caliper of cork produced by a tree and on the evolution of cork caliper between consecutive cork extractions was researched. A total of 370 cork samples were collected in 23 permanent plots distributed across the cork production area in Portugal, covering a period from 1984 to 2010. Cork growth was evaluated using the cork growth index (cgi), defined as the radial width of the first eight complete years of cork growth after stripping. The differences in mean cgi at plot level between two consecutive cork growth periods (cgp) were assessed using nonparametric tests. A mixed model approach was used due to the nested structure of the data for modelling cgi value at tree level. The cgi of two consecutive cork extractions is linearly related at tree level. At plot level, the mean value of cgi decreased in 5 out of the 23 plots and increased in 2 plots for α = 0.05. The number of debarked branches and the variation of precipitation between two cgp were the variables that explained the largest part of the cgi evolution. However, significance of plot random parameters indicates that other variables are involved in the tree cgi evolution, pointing out to the need of further research. Tree size and precipitation during the cgp are related to the individual tree cgi. The effect of increasing stand density and debarking intensity on cork growth was not clear. Long term research based on permanent plot measurements and research trials is needed to clarify the impact of tree competition and debarking intensity.

Beschreibung: Fertilizer trees, the nitrogen-fixing legumes, such as gliricidia ( Gliricidia sepium ) and tephrosia (Tephrosia spp.) have been used to improve soil fertility for higher crop yields in nitrogen deficient soils. Many studies have focused on how these fertilizer trees improve maize yield, but there has been a dearth of information on the effect of fertilizer tree species on cotton growth and yield. A study was undertaken for two cropping seasons (2012/13 and 2013/14) with the objective of assessing IRM 81 cotton growth and yield responses to tephrosia and/or gliricidia biomass with or without inorganic fertilizer application. Boll opening significantly varied ( P  〈 0.0001) with treatments and early boll opening was observed in plots where only inorganic fertilizer was applied. Higher lint yield (mean of 1397 kg/ha) was obtained in the second cropping season than in the first cropping season (480 kg/ha) and the application of gliricidia biomass with fertilizer gave the highest lint yield (2121 kg/ha). The lowest lint and seed yields were obtained from plots where tephrosia biomass only was applied. It is concluded that the use of gliricidia biomass with inorganic fertilizer improved cotton yields. The high amount of gliricidia biomass (due to prolific coppicing) applied contributed to higher cotton lint yields with reduced rates of inorganic fertilizer application, making gliricidia-cotton intercropping a cost-effective option to smallholder farmers.