The ecological significance of baobab trees in the Savanna ecosystem is yet to be recognized despite its numerous socio-economic importance in the area. This study was conducted at Doba to investigate the impact of basal area of baobab trees on associated plant species diversity and their aboveground biomass. Purposive sampling technique was used to identify the various baobab aggregation regimes categorized into highly-clumped, moderately-clumped and the isolated stands. A design consisting of concentric circles (zones) in addition to plot sizes of 100 m x 100 m was used. All woody species (height ≥ 1.5 m) within the 100 m x 100 m plots were enumerated and also the non-woody species within the concentric zones nested within the larger plots were enumerated using 1 m2 quadrats. All trees/shrubs characteristics were measured. Also, the woody species biomass was determined by a non-destructive method while non-woody species biomass was determined by a destructive technique. The results showed that the mean height of the isolated, moderately-clumped and the highly-clumped baobab stands were 14.2 ± 2.20 m, 11.3 ± 1.06 m and 11.5 ± 0.81 m respectively. The results also indicated that the greatest mean woody species biomass was recorded at the highly-clumped baobab sites (4539.18±715.97 kg/ha) while the least was found at the isolated baobab stands (2497.36 ± 1088.87 kg/ha). Similarly, woody species diversity at the highly-clumped sites was the highest among the three sites. The mean biomass values of the non-woody species did not vary under the various baobab stands, however, their biomass under the various concentric zones differ significantly. Also, the non-woody species diversity showed that zone B (2.07 ± 0.36) under the highly-clumped stands was the most diverse area while zone C (1.24 ± 0.24) under the moderately-clumped stands was the least diverse zone. It is therefore recommended that baobabs are a potential nurse and/or facilitative plant for some species and should be managed and conserve on the parklands to realize its fullest potential.
| Published in | Journal of Plant Sciences (Volume 1, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16 |
| Page(s) | 81-91 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Aboveground biomass, Baobab, Doba, Highly-clumped, Isolated, Moderately-clumped
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APA Style
Abdul-Wahab Mbelayim Imoro, Victor Rex Barnes. (2013). Different Densities of Adansonia digitata. L. Trees: Structure and Impact on Neighbouring Flora in Northern Ghana. Journal of Plant Sciences, 1(4), 81-91. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16
ACS Style
Abdul-Wahab Mbelayim Imoro; Victor Rex Barnes. Different Densities of Adansonia digitata. L. Trees: Structure and Impact on Neighbouring Flora in Northern Ghana. J. Plant Sci. 2013, 1(4), 81-91. doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16
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Download@article{10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16,
author = {Abdul-Wahab Mbelayim Imoro and Victor Rex Barnes},
title = {Different Densities of Adansonia digitata. L. Trees: Structure and Impact on Neighbouring Flora in Northern Ghana},
journal = {Journal of Plant Sciences},
volume = {1},
number = {4},
pages = {81-91},
doi = {10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jps.20130104.16},
abstract = {The ecological significance of baobab trees in the Savanna ecosystem is yet to be recognized despite its numerous socio-economic importance in the area. This study was conducted at Doba to investigate the impact of basal area of baobab trees on associated plant species diversity and their aboveground biomass. Purposive sampling technique was used to identify the various baobab aggregation regimes categorized into highly-clumped, moderately-clumped and the isolated stands. A design consisting of concentric circles (zones) in addition to plot sizes of 100 m x 100 m was used. All woody species (height ≥ 1.5 m) within the 100 m x 100 m plots were enumerated and also the non-woody species within the concentric zones nested within the larger plots were enumerated using 1 m2 quadrats. All trees/shrubs characteristics were measured. Also, the woody species biomass was determined by a non-destructive method while non-woody species biomass was determined by a destructive technique. The results showed that the mean height of the isolated, moderately-clumped and the highly-clumped baobab stands were 14.2 ± 2.20 m, 11.3 ± 1.06 m and 11.5 ± 0.81 m respectively. The results also indicated that the greatest mean woody species biomass was recorded at the highly-clumped baobab sites (4539.18±715.97 kg/ha) while the least was found at the isolated baobab stands (2497.36 ± 1088.87 kg/ha). Similarly, woody species diversity at the highly-clumped sites was the highest among the three sites. The mean biomass values of the non-woody species did not vary under the various baobab stands, however, their biomass under the various concentric zones differ significantly. Also, the non-woody species diversity showed that zone B (2.07 ± 0.36) under the highly-clumped stands was the most diverse area while zone C (1.24 ± 0.24) under the moderately-clumped stands was the least diverse zone. It is therefore recommended that baobabs are a potential nurse and/or facilitative plant for some species and should be managed and conserve on the parklands to realize its fullest potential.},
year = {2013}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Different Densities of Adansonia digitata. L. Trees: Structure and Impact on Neighbouring Flora in Northern Ghana AU - Abdul-Wahab Mbelayim Imoro AU - Victor Rex Barnes Y1 - 2013/12/30 PY - 2013 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16 DO - 10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16 T2 - Journal of Plant Sciences JF - Journal of Plant Sciences JO - Journal of Plant Sciences SP - 81 EP - 91 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2331-0731 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20130104.16 AB - The ecological significance of baobab trees in the Savanna ecosystem is yet to be recognized despite its numerous socio-economic importance in the area. This study was conducted at Doba to investigate the impact of basal area of baobab trees on associated plant species diversity and their aboveground biomass. Purposive sampling technique was used to identify the various baobab aggregation regimes categorized into highly-clumped, moderately-clumped and the isolated stands. A design consisting of concentric circles (zones) in addition to plot sizes of 100 m x 100 m was used. All woody species (height ≥ 1.5 m) within the 100 m x 100 m plots were enumerated and also the non-woody species within the concentric zones nested within the larger plots were enumerated using 1 m2 quadrats. All trees/shrubs characteristics were measured. Also, the woody species biomass was determined by a non-destructive method while non-woody species biomass was determined by a destructive technique. The results showed that the mean height of the isolated, moderately-clumped and the highly-clumped baobab stands were 14.2 ± 2.20 m, 11.3 ± 1.06 m and 11.5 ± 0.81 m respectively. The results also indicated that the greatest mean woody species biomass was recorded at the highly-clumped baobab sites (4539.18±715.97 kg/ha) while the least was found at the isolated baobab stands (2497.36 ± 1088.87 kg/ha). Similarly, woody species diversity at the highly-clumped sites was the highest among the three sites. The mean biomass values of the non-woody species did not vary under the various baobab stands, however, their biomass under the various concentric zones differ significantly. Also, the non-woody species diversity showed that zone B (2.07 ± 0.36) under the highly-clumped stands was the most diverse area while zone C (1.24 ± 0.24) under the moderately-clumped stands was the least diverse zone. It is therefore recommended that baobabs are a potential nurse and/or facilitative plant for some species and should be managed and conserve on the parklands to realize its fullest potential. VL - 1 IS - 4 ER -
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