Aboveground biomass production of a semi-arid southern African savanna: towards a new model |
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| Authors: | Anthony R Palmer Igshaan Samuels Clement Cupido Andiswa Finca W Fransiska Kangombe Isa AM Yunusa |
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| Institution: | 1. Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, Grahamstown, South Africa;2. Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa;3. Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa;4. Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa;5. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia;6. School of Environmental and Rural Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Following a field campaign to determine the species composition, canopy cover, aboveground annual production and leaf area index (LAI) of the semi-arid savanna of north-western Namibia, we present a production model that can be used by graziers to determine the livestock carrying capacity. The model predicts the annual aboveground net primary production (ANPP) from regression equations of canopy cover by annual production fraction for plant functional classes. We tested the output of the model against another fully independent net primary production (NPP) model, namely the MODIS NPP product. The mean MODIS NPP for the 29 sites was 343 ± 22?kg dry matter (DM) ha?1 y?1 as opposed to 285 ± 142?kg DM ha?1 y?1 for the fAP model that used the regression method (p < 0.01). As a proof of concept, these landscape-scale ANPP values are used to calculate a recommended livestock carrying capacity for the Ehirovipuka Communal Conservancy, a 1 980 km2 communal area with both wildlife and livestock populations. In addition, we also provide details of a field method for predicting landscape-scale LAI from line transect data. This approach can be used to ground reference the LAI values generated from the MODIS LAI product. |
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| Keywords: | ecosystem ecology foraging ecology Namibia plant production remote sensing |
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