Tree occurrence in agricultural landscapes of peri-urban Kigali in semi-arid context of Rwanda
- Author
- Jean Aime Ruticumugambi (UGent) , Beth A. Kaplin, Haben Blondeel (UGent) , Athanase Mukuralinda, Alain Ndoli, Ann Verdoodt (UGent) , Jules Rutebuka, Ephrem Imanirareba, Valens Uwizeyimana, Julienne Gatesi, Jean Bosco Nkurikiye, Hans Verbeeck (UGent) , Kris Verheyen (UGent) and Frieke Vancoillie (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- In tropical Africa, a wide range of agroforestry practices exist, resulting in various configurations of trees in the landscape, with an unknown impact on ecosystem services. We evaluated tree occurrence, structure, and composition in agroforestry systems within four contrasting landscapes representing different levels of tree cover in peri-urban Kigali and in the eastern province of Rwanda. We used a stratified random sampling procedure, based on soil depth and slope, to allocate 60 plots of 0.26 ha in each of the four landscapes. We conducted an extensive field inventory to provide deeper insight into the dendrometric characteristics of woody vegetation and compare landscapes. We counted all woody plants with ≥ 4 cm diameter at breast height (DBH). Over 70% of the individual trees were exotic tree species across the four agricultural landscapes. The three most common and dominant tree species across the landscapes were Grevillea robusta, a tree used mainly for timber which represents 42.7% of all individuals encountered, followed by Mangifera indica (12.34%) mainly used for fruit production, and Euphorbia turcalii (11.04%) mainly used for hedgerows. Most of the agroforestry trees encountered were small, scattered individuals, with almost 80% < 15 cm DBH bordering the farmlands and cut before reaching bigger sizes. The occurrence of trees varied considerably within and between landscapes, suggesting the effect of agroecological systems. Here, future studies may potentially address this link more explicitly. We showed that it is important to consider native tree species in landscape restoration initiatives given a high adoption rate of exotics.
Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01HGD7JHK4C7NV1EWKW0KQDFS5
- MLA
- Ruticumugambi, Jean Aime, et al. “Tree Occurrence in Agricultural Landscapes of Peri-Urban Kigali in Semi-Arid Context of Rwanda.” RESEARCH SQUARE, 2023, doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3356571/v1.
- APA
- Ruticumugambi, J. A., Kaplin, B. A., Blondeel, H., Mukuralinda, A., Ndoli, A., Verdoodt, A., … Vancoillie, F. (2023). Tree occurrence in agricultural landscapes of peri-urban Kigali in semi-arid context of Rwanda. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3356571/v1
- Chicago author-date
- Ruticumugambi, Jean Aime, Beth A. Kaplin, Haben Blondeel, Athanase Mukuralinda, Alain Ndoli, Ann Verdoodt, Jules Rutebuka, et al. 2023. “Tree Occurrence in Agricultural Landscapes of Peri-Urban Kigali in Semi-Arid Context of Rwanda.” RESEARCH SQUARE. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3356571/v1.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Ruticumugambi, Jean Aime, Beth A. Kaplin, Haben Blondeel, Athanase Mukuralinda, Alain Ndoli, Ann Verdoodt, Jules Rutebuka, Ephrem Imanirareba, Valens Uwizeyimana, Julienne Gatesi, Jean Bosco Nkurikiye, Hans Verbeeck, Kris Verheyen, and Frieke Vancoillie. 2023. “Tree Occurrence in Agricultural Landscapes of Peri-Urban Kigali in Semi-Arid Context of Rwanda.” RESEARCH SQUARE. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3356571/v1.
- Vancouver
- 1.Ruticumugambi JA, Kaplin BA, Blondeel H, Mukuralinda A, Ndoli A, Verdoodt A, et al. Tree occurrence in agricultural landscapes of peri-urban Kigali in semi-arid context of Rwanda. RESEARCH SQUARE. 2023.
- IEEE
- [1]J. A. Ruticumugambi et al., “Tree occurrence in agricultural landscapes of peri-urban Kigali in semi-arid context of Rwanda,” RESEARCH SQUARE. 2023.
@misc{01HGD7JHK4C7NV1EWKW0KQDFS5,
abstract = {{In tropical Africa, a wide range of agroforestry practices exist, resulting in various configurations of trees in the landscape, with an unknown impact on ecosystem services. We evaluated tree occurrence, structure, and composition in agroforestry systems within four contrasting landscapes representing different levels of tree cover in peri-urban Kigali and in the eastern province of Rwanda. We used a stratified random sampling procedure, based on soil depth and slope, to allocate 60 plots of 0.26 ha in each of the four landscapes. We conducted an extensive field inventory to provide deeper insight into the dendrometric characteristics of woody vegetation and compare landscapes. We counted all woody plants with ≥ 4 cm diameter at breast height (DBH). Over 70% of the individual trees were exotic tree species across the four agricultural landscapes. The three most common and dominant tree species across the landscapes were Grevillea robusta, a tree used mainly for timber which represents 42.7% of all individuals encountered, followed by Mangifera indica (12.34%) mainly used for fruit production, and Euphorbia turcalii (11.04%) mainly used for hedgerows. Most of the agroforestry trees encountered were small, scattered individuals, with almost 80% < 15 cm DBH bordering the farmlands and cut before reaching bigger sizes. The occurrence of trees varied considerably within and between landscapes, suggesting the effect of agroecological systems. Here, future studies may potentially address this link more explicitly. We showed that it is important to consider native tree species in landscape restoration initiatives given a high adoption rate of exotics.}},
author = {{Ruticumugambi, Jean Aime and Kaplin, Beth A. and Blondeel, Haben and Mukuralinda, Athanase and Ndoli, Alain and Verdoodt, Ann and Rutebuka, Jules and Imanirareba, Ephrem and Uwizeyimana, Valens and Gatesi, Julienne and Nkurikiye, Jean Bosco and Verbeeck, Hans and Verheyen, Kris and Vancoillie, Frieke}},
language = {{eng}},
series = {{RESEARCH SQUARE}},
title = {{Tree occurrence in agricultural landscapes of peri-urban Kigali in semi-arid context of Rwanda}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3356571/v1}},
year = {{2023}},
}
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