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Synchrony in the phenologies of fine roots and leaves of Vitellaria paradoxa in different land uses of Burkina Faso

DOI:10.1007/s10457-017-0135-0
Authors:
Bazie Paulin at Institut de l'Environnement et Recherches Agricoles
Bazie Paulin
Catherine Ky-Dembele at Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
Catherine Ky-Dembele
Christophe Jourdan at Cirad - La recherche agronomique pour le développement
Christophe Jourdan
Olivier Roupsard at Cirad - La recherche agronomique pour le développement
Olivier Roupsard
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Abstract and Figures

This study focused on leaf and root density dynamics of the most dominant tree species (Vitellaria paradoxa) of West African savannas in two land use types (farmed land and forest). Ten trees located at least 100 m from each other were selected, with five trees each located in the field and in the forest. Five of the trees were of small-diameter [two in the fields (diameter at breast height or DBH 20.1–20.7 cm) and three in the forest (DBH 7.0–8.0–10.8 cm)] and five others were of large-diameter [three in the fields (DBH 38.2–81.8–81.9 cm) and two in the forest (DBH 20.1–20.7 cm)]. One near-vertical rhizotron was installed under each tree to evaluate root density while canopy openness, diffuse and directly transmitted light were monitored by taking hemispheric photograph monthly. After a two-year period of monitoring, the results revealed a strong seasonality in root density with peak root density observed during the rainy season in August and the lowest production during the dry season in April. Significant lowest canopy openness was observed from August to September while the highest occurred from March to May, which was found to be synchronous with fine root dynamics. The light interception followed the same trends as the leaf production. Furthermore, both mature and young trees showed significant higher root density in the fields compared to the forest while the mean values of all the parameters of canopy openness and light transmittance were higher in the forest than the fields.
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Synchrony in the phenologies of fine roots and leaves
of Vitellaria paradoxa in different land uses of Burkina Faso
Paulin Bazie
´.Catherine Ky-Dembele .Christophe Jourdan .Olivier Roupsard .
Ge
´rard Zombre
´.Jules Bayala
Received: 16 May 2017 / Accepted: 25 September 2017 / Published online: 27 September 2017
ÓSpringer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017
Abstract This study focused on leaf and root density
dynamics of the most dominant tree species (Vitellaria
paradoxa) of West African savannas in two land use
types (farmed land and forest). Ten trees located at
least 100 m from each other were selected, with five
trees each located in the field and in the forest. Five of
the trees were of small-diameter [two in the fields
(diameter at breast height or DBH 20.1–20.7 cm) and
three in the forest (DBH 7.0–8.0–10.8 cm)] and five
others were of large-diameter [three in the fields (DBH
38.2–81.8–81.9 cm) and two in the forest (DBH
20.1–20.7 cm)]. One near-vertical rhizotron was
installed under each tree to evaluate root density while
canopy openness, diffuse and directly transmitted light
were monitored by taking hemispheric photograph
monthly. After a two-year period of monitoring, the
results revealed a strong seasonality in root density
with peak root density observed during the rainy season
in August and the lowest production during the dry
season in April. Significant lowest canopy openness
was observed from August to September while the
highest occurred from March to May, which was found
to be synchronous with fine root dynamics. The light
interception followed the same trends as the leaf
production. Furthermore, both mature and young trees
showed significant higher root density in the fields
compared to the forest while the mean values of all the
parameters of canopy openness and light transmittance
were higher in the forest than the fields.
Keywords Canopy openness Ecosystem
Hemispherical photography Savanna Shea
Introduction
In Burkina Faso, as well as in other Sahelian countries,
parklands constitute the main rural land use system
that allows farmers to produce annual crops in
combination with multi-purpose trees. Thus, park-
lands constitute one type of agricultural land use of the
P. Bazie
´
Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles /
De
´partement Environnement et Fore
ˆts (INERA/DEF),
03 BP 7047 Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
C. Ky-Dembele J. Bayala (&)
World Agroforestry Centre, West and Central Africa
Regional Office, Sahel Node, BP E5118, Bamako, Mali
e-mail: j.bayala@cgiar.org
C. Jourdan O. Roupsard
CIRAD, UMR Eco&Sols (Ecologie Fonctionnelle &
Bioge
´ochimie des Sols et des Agro-e
´cosyste
`mes),
34060 Montpellier, France
O. Roupsard
CATIE, Centro Agrono
´mico Tropical de Investigacio
´ny
Ensen
˜anza, Turrialba 30501, Costa Rica
G. Zombre
´
Universite
´de Ouagadougou, Unite
´de Formation et
Recherche en Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre,
03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
123
Agroforest Syst (2019) 93:449–460
DOI 10.1007/s10457-017-0135-0
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... In contrast the proportion of larger diameter and height class individuals is greater in farmland. Such differences between farmland and fallow or between farmland and forest have been reported in Mali (Kelly et al. 2004) and Burkina Faso (Lamien et al. 2004;Kaboré et al. 2012;Bazié et al. 2019). Tree selection when clearing farmland aims at reducing competition with crops. ...
... Tree selection when clearing farmland aims at reducing competition with crops. Indeed, Bazié et al. (2019), reported that V. paradoxa trees located on farmlands had a three-fold greater root density than those growing in the forest while canopy openness was greater for trees growing in the forest compared with those in farmlands. Furthermore, our finding revealed that farming favors P. biglobosa growth compared to forest as shown in the figures of height and stem collar diameter structure of P. biglobosa. ...
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... In recognition of the medicinal importance of the Frankincense (Ouédraogo et al., 2006), many farmers preserve largest individuals during crop land clearing for the debarking. In addition, these individuals benefit from certain agricultural practices such as weeding and fertilization for their growth (Gouwakinnou et al., 2009;Bazié et al., 2019). The higher density in woodlands compared to fallows and farmlands can be explained by the fact that adult trees of B. dalzielii are associated to agriculture in the farmlands. ...
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... The events of senescence and leaf fall are probably related to the beginning of the dry season, when there is an increase in evapotranspiration. Thus, leaf loss in the dry season is a water saving factor for plants, and low moisture indexes stimulate leaf abscission (BAZIÉ et al., 2019). ...
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... Specifically, we need more time series of development and growth of roots (e.g., Abramoff & Finzi, 2015;McCormack et al., 2014), and internal structures (e.g., Cuny et al., 2015), to learn when leaf phenology directly fuels the phenological patterns of other plant organs (and thus can represent them by proxy), and when it does not. Building upon studies examining synchrony in phenology of multiple plant organs (Bazié et al., 2017;Delpierre et al., 2016;Michelot, Simard, Rathgeber, Dufrene, & Damesin, 2012;Omondi, Odee, Ongamo, Kanya, & Khasa, 2016;Perrin, Rossi, & Isabel, 2017;Wagner et al., 2013), (Bush et al., 2016), and should be explored for revealing phenology that is otherwise ambiguous. ...
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Temporal variations in transpiration of Vitellaria paradoxa in West African agroforestry parklands
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