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Africa's miombo woodlands constitute one of the most important dry tropical forests on earth, yet the hydraulic function of these woodlands remains poorly researched. Given the current predictions of increased aridity by the end of this century in the miombo ecoregion, understanding the likely response of miombo woodlands tree species to water stress is crucial in planning adaptation strategies. Predicting the response of miombo woodlands to future climate trends is hampered by a lack of knowledge on the physiology of the common miombo woodlands tree species. In particular, plant-water relations for this woodlands type are not well understood. An understanding of plant-water relations for this woodlands type will provide insights into how water limits tree species distribution in this ecosystem. This will also improve our prediction model on the likely response of this ecosystem to predicted climate change. For this reason, the overall objective of this research was to evaluate the hydraulic architecture and xylem vulnerability to cavitation for nine principal miombo woodlands tree species differing in drought tolerance ability and habitat preference. This was achieved by; examining the hydraulic properties and evaluating the extent to which each hydraulic design was vulnerable to water stress-induced xylem cavitation; investigating how seasonal changes in plant-water relations influences seasonal patterns of leaf display and; analyzing the relationship between stem hydraulic supply and leaf functional traits related to drought tolerance ability. This research has found that drought-intolerant tree species with mesic specialization have more efficient stem hydraulic systems than co-occurring habitat broad ranging species. Broad ranging tree species attain wider habitat distribution by adjusting their hydraulic supply in response to changing ecosystem water availability. The finding that hydraulic properties differ significantly between tree species with contrasting habitat preference suggests that tree hydraulic design may have some adaptive ecological role in influencing species habitat preferences in miombo woodlands. The evaluation of xylem vulnerability to cavitation revealed that mesic specialized tree species were more vulnerable to water stress-induced cavitation than habitat broad ranging tree species. Vulnerability to cavitation in individuals from the same broad-ranging species growing in contrasting habitats showed only marginal and statistically insignificant (P > 0.05) differences between wet and dry sites. In the investigation of the influence of seasonal changes in stem water relations on seasonal leaf display, seasonal rhythms in stem water status were found to exert significant controls on leaf phenology. Mesic specialists had strong stem water controls throughout the year in comparison to broad ranging tree species. An analysis of the relationship between stem hydraulic supply and leaf functional traits suggests that stem hydraulic supply constrains leaf biomass allocation patterns among miombo tree species. Mesic specialists tend to invest more in leaf longevity than broad ranging tree species. This thesis has uncovered some interesting relationships between plant-water-relations and the distribution of miombo woodlands tree species. These results lead to the conclusion that in an event of increased ecosystem drying under future climate trends, tree species with mesic specialisation are at a greater risk of experiencing cavitation related species mortality than broad ranging ones.

African elephants are ‘keystone’ species with respect to biodiversity conservation in Africa since they maintain habitats that support several animal communities by changing vegetation structure through foraging and by dispersing seeds between landscapes. Elephants are also ‘flagship’ species because, given their impressive size, they can make people sympathetic and stimulate local and international concerns for their protection. Economically, elephants contribute to national revenues as tourists are willing to pay to watch them. Despite all these factors, little is known however about elephant movement and how they utilize resources, especially in miombo-wetland ecosystems. This thesis investigates how elephants utilize resources in a miombo-wetland ecosystem in the Ugalla landscape of Western Tanzania over different protected areas containing different resource users. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) collars fitted to six elephants, it was observed that some elephant families are not confined in one protected area in the Ugalla landscape. Rather, they moved readily between different protected areas. Elephant movements were restricted to areas near the rivers, especially the Ugalla River, during the dry season and were dispersed widely during the wet season. As they move, elephants in the miombo woodlands of Ugalla selected the most abundant woody plants for browsing. Common to many woody plants, the browsed plants were short of mineral nutrients (e.g., sodium, calcium). Elephants obtained additional minerals by eating soils from certain termite mounds. Soils from termite mounds are richer in mineral elements (e.g., sodium, calcium, iron) compared to soils from the surrounding flood plain or compared to the browsed plants. However, the recorded termite mounds from which elephants eat soils were not evenly distributed in the landscape but confined mainly to the flood plains in the Ugalla Game Reserve. The Ugalla River, which is the main source of water for the elephants and other animals and also supports fishing activities by the local people in Ugalla during the dry seasons, is infested by the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). Such infestation potentially limits access to these precious surface water supplies. In addition at the regional level, the Ugalla River is among the major rivers that flow into the Lake Tanganyika which is shared by the countries of Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. Thus, the spread of water hyacinth if left unchecked threatens to impact Lake Tanganyika, affecting many countries and ecosystem services. This thesis highlights that sustainable conservation of biodiversity in different protected areas in the Ugalla landscape requires an integrated management approach that will embrace conservation of different interrelated landscape resources required by both wildlife and the rural poor populations for their livelihoods. Regular coordinated wildlife anti-poaching patrols should be initiated across the entire Ugalla landscape because the elephants, among other wildlife, utilize different protected areas in Ugalla. Local communities should also be engaged in conservation initiatives (e.g., controlling the spread of the water hyacinth) as these directly impact local livelihoods. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p> / INTEGRATED NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

L’Arganier [Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels] est un arbre de la famille des Sapotacées, endémique du sud-ouest marocain. C’est un arbre multi-usages, qui constitue une ressource primordiale pour les populations de cet espace semi-aride et aride du Maroc. Il constitue la clef-de-voûte de l’agro-écosystème traditionnel de l’arganeraie reposant sur un équilibre entre ressources et exploitation humaine, et joue également un rôle important dans la lutte contre la désertification et l’érosion. Actuellement, la menace de dégradation de l’arganeraie est une préoccupation majeure aussi bien pour la population que pour les scientifiques. On assiste en effet depuis plusieurs décennies à une diminution du couvert arboré, à la fois en surface occupée et en densité d’arbres. Face à cette préoccupation, nous avons étudié l’espace multidimensionnel de l’arganeraie en cherchant à identifier les principales caractéristiques de cet espace, ainsi que les facteurs responsables de sa dégradation. Ensuite, nous avons dévoilé l’originalité de cet espace à partir de son organisation sociale et spatiale, ainsi que le mode de fonctionnement et de gestion de ce territoire. Dans la deuxième partie nous avons montré l’apport de la télédétection spatiale et des systèmes d’information géographique pour la caractérisation de l’occupation du sol et l’identification des changements à partir d’un suivi diachronique, en utilisant une série d’images SPOT, Landsat, Google Earth, Ikonos. Nous avons également testé la possibilité d'évaluer la densité des arganiers à partir des images à haute résolution spatiale Ikonos et Google Earth. Nous concluons à la nécessité d’un suivi de ce territoire afin de pouvoir évaluer les changements et prendre les mesures d’aménagement et de protection nécessaires / The Argan [Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels] is a species of tree endemic to the calcareous semi-desert Sous valley of southwestern Morocco. It is the sole species in the genus Argania (family of Sapotaceae). It is a multi-purpose tree, and the main resource provider for the population of this semi-arid and arid area (source of forage, oil, timber and fuel). Argan is the keystone species of the traditional agro-ecosystem of the Berber society, ensuring a meta-stable equilibrium between resource availability and anthropic use; it plays a major role in preventing erosion and desertification damages.Currently, in spite of the Biosphere Reserve label attributed by UNESCO in 1998, the threat of degradation of the sparse Argan forest is a main concern for both local population and scientists. Since several decades, a decrease of extension area of the species and of tree density has been observed. According to this preoccupation, we have studied the multidimensional space of the Argan forest, in view of identifying its main features and the potential drivers of degradation processes. Then the originality of this area has been demonstrated through the assessment of its social and spatial organization, and of land-use and management practices.In the second part, we have shown the possible use of remotely sensed data and of Geographic Information Systems for surveying land-use/land-cover and for monitoring changes through a multi-temporal analysis of satellite images: SPOT, Landsat, Ikonos and Google Earth imagery. The evaluation of tree density has been performed through object-oriented classification of high spatial resolution satellite imagery (Ikonos, Google Earth). In conclusion, we recommend the effective use of a monitoring system to follow environmental changes in the Argan tree area, and to produce the detailed information needed for implementation of management and conservation strategies ensuring a sustainable development of the area.

<p>This thesis aims to show how biogeophysical and social processes are interlinked in landscape change, and to propose approaches for interdisciplinary environmental assessments (such as EIAs), concentrating on developing countries’ situations, and representation of findings from such studies. </p><p>Landscape in its holistic sense is a very good concept and basis for intellectual and practical use in environmental dialogues. However, landscapes are valued and assessed differently, depending on cultural background along with individual characteristics. </p><p>Methods of conducting interdisciplinary environmental assessments need to vary, but it is important to follow a structure to avoid too broad and general studies that only assemble a few factors and present them without an integrated synthesis. This thesis has suggested one research sequence and structure that has proven to be practical and possible to execute in areas where data is scarce and where local involvement is a major component. It extends the observation period in time and space where remote sensing analyses are integrated with interviews, archive material, land-cover assessments and soil analyses.</p><p>Case studies from Tanzania have been used to investigate how perceptions of land and resources manifest themselves at local scales and how this information can contribute to sustainable environmental planning. Preferences and perceptions of land as being ‘important’ and ‘good’ do not always correlate with favourable biogeophysical conditions, indicating that both social services, such as health care, access to markets, education and employment, as well as “non-rational” factors are essential to consider in environmental planning and management.</p><p>This study has partly been part of a larger research project investigating the links between human livelihood and biodiversity in <i>miombo</i> woodlands. It has been shown how <i>miombo</i> woodland is important to local populations as it provides material goods as well as many intangible services. However, it is also associated with problems and dangers, which are important to consider and understand in planning for the environment and sustainable development.</p>

This thesis aims to show how biogeophysical and social processes are interlinked in landscape change, and to propose approaches for interdisciplinary environmental assessments (such as EIAs), concentrating on developing countries’ situations, and representation of findings from such studies. Landscape in its holistic sense is a very good concept and basis for intellectual and practical use in environmental dialogues. However, landscapes are valued and assessed differently, depending on cultural background along with individual characteristics. Methods of conducting interdisciplinary environmental assessments need to vary, but it is important to follow a structure to avoid too broad and general studies that only assemble a few factors and present them without an integrated synthesis. This thesis has suggested one research sequence and structure that has proven to be practical and possible to execute in areas where data is scarce and where local involvement is a major component. It extends the observation period in time and space where remote sensing analyses are integrated with interviews, archive material, land-cover assessments and soil analyses. Case studies from Tanzania have been used to investigate how perceptions of land and resources manifest themselves at local scales and how this information can contribute to sustainable environmental planning. Preferences and perceptions of land as being ‘important’ and ‘good’ do not always correlate with favourable biogeophysical conditions, indicating that both social services, such as health care, access to markets, education and employment, as well as “non-rational” factors are essential to consider in environmental planning and management. This study has partly been part of a larger research project investigating the links between human livelihood and biodiversity in miombo woodlands. It has been shown how miombo woodland is important to local populations as it provides material goods as well as many intangible services. However, it is also associated with problems and dangers, which are important to consider and understand in planning for the environment and sustainable development.

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Land managers need to rapidly assess vegetation composition and bare ground to effectively evaluate, manage, and restore shrub steppe communities that have been encroached by pinyon and juniper (P-J) trees. A major part of this process is assessing where to apply mechanical and prescribed fire treatments to reduce fuel loads and maintain or restore sagebrush steppe rangelands. Geospatial technologies, particularly remote sensing, offers an efficient option to assess rangelands across multiple spatial scales while reducing the need for ground-based sampling measurements. High-spatial resolution color-infrared imagery (0.06-m pixels) was acquired for sagebrush steppe communities invaded by P-J trees at five sites in Oregon, California, Nevada, and Utah with a Vexcel Ultra CamX digital camera in June/July 2009. In addition to untreated P-J woodlands, imagery was acquired over P-J woodlands where fuels were reduced by either prescribed fire, tree cutting, or mastication treatments. Ground measurements were simultaneously collected at each site in 2009 on 0.1-hectare subplots as part of the Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP). We used Trimble eCognition Developer to 1) develop efficient methods to estimate land cover classes found in P-J woodlands; 2) determine the relationship between ground measurements and object-based image analysis (OBIA) land cover measurements for the following classes: trees (live, burned, cut, and masticated), shrubs, perennial herbaceous vegetation, litter (including annual species), and bare ground; and 3) evaluate eCognition rule-sets (models) across four spatial scales (subplot, site, region, and network) using untreated P-J woodland imagery. At the site scale, the overall accuracy of our thematic maps for untreated P-J woodlands was 84% with a kappa statistic of 0.80. For treatments, the overall accuracy and kappa statistic for prescribed fire was 85% and 0.81; cut and fell 82% and 0.77, and mastication 84% and 0.80, respectively, each indicating strong agreement between OBIA classification and ground measured data. Differences between mean cover estimates using OBIA and ground-measurements were not consistently higher or lower for any land cover class and when evaluated for individual sites, were within 5% of each other; all regional and network OBIA mean cover estimates were within 10% of the ground measurements. The trade-off for decreased precision over a larger area (region and network scale) may be useful to prioritize fuel-management strategies but will unlikely capture subtle shifts in understory plant communities that site and subplot spatial scales often capture. Although cover assessments from OBIA differed somewhat from ground measurements, they were accurate enough for many landscape-assessment applications such as evaluating treatment success and assessing the spatial distribution of fuels following fuel-reduction treatments on a site scale.

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