Abstract
Forest-savanna transition zones of West Africa are uniquely characterized by forest groves, forest patches, or forest islands, the importance of which for sustainable resource management and their potential for carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling is often underrated. Our study conducted a comparative analysis of the soil organic carbon and nutrient characteristics of the Anogeissus groves in the old Opara forest reserve and their adjoining arable lands. We established 30 sampling frames of 100 m × 100 m plots with 15 frames per land use type. For each sampling frame, six observation points were randomly selected, and composite soil samples were collected at soil depths of 0–20 cm and 20–50 cm per observation point. Our results showed Anogeissus groves and their adjoining arable lands to exist on similar landscapes while the groves have enriched soil morphological characteristics (e.g., soil color), higher soil organic carbon (SOC), and better nutrient characteristics. There were strong positive relationships between SOC, effective cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and calcium, zinc, electrical conductivity, and copper. The significant soil organic matter accumulation in the groves accounts for the overall improved soil characteristics over the adjoining arable lands. Preserving the groves and similar African ecosystems may be important in climate regulation, resources and biodiversity conservation, and ethnopharmacology for rural communities. Thus, a question arises: should more land be set aside for ecological conservation or for agricultural productivity?
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Acknowledgements
We appreciate the Government of Oyo State Nigeria for providing the funds for this study through the Ministry of Agriculture. The authors are grateful to the Aleniboro community head and members of the community who provided security and logistic support during the execution of the field campaign in 2019. We also thank the staff of the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture Oyo State Nigeria for their technical and administrative support. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not represent any opinion of the Government of Oyo State Nigeria.
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The study was funded by the Government of Oyo State Nigeria through the Ministry of Agriculture.
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SAM and EJH conceptualized the work and jointly wrote the main manuscript. SAM performed the quality control of the data, and statistical data analysis, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Both authors wrote, read and approved the final manuscript version.
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Mesele, S.A., Huising, E.J. Soil organic carbon and nutrient characteristics of Anogeissus groves in old Opara forest reserve, Nigeria. Environ Monit Assess 196, 490 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-12636-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-12636-9