title: Woody encroachment and forest degradation in sub-Saharan Africa's woodlands and savannas 1982-2006.
abstract: We review the literature and find 16 studies from across Africa's savannas and woodlands where woody encroachment dominates. These small-scale studies are supplemented by an analysis of long-term continent-wide satellite data, specifically the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) dataset. Using dry-season data to separate the tree and grass signals, we find 4.0% of non-rainforest woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding West Africa) significantly increased in NDVI from 1982 to 2006, whereas 3.52% decreased. The increases in NDVI were found predominantly to the north of the Congo Basin, with decreases concentrated in the Miombo woodland belt. We hypothesize that areas of increasing dry-season NDVI are undergoing woody encroachment, but the coarse resolution of the study and uncertain relationship between NDVI and woody cover mean that the results should be interpreted with caution; certainly, these results do not contradict studies finding widespread deforestation throughout the continent. However, woody encroachment could be widespread, and warrants further investigation as it has important consequences for the global carbon cycle and land-climate interactions.
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, UK. edward.mitchard@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Edward T A
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Mitchard
authors.forename: Clara M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Flintrop
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D064308:Ecological Parameter Monitoring; D017753:Ecosystem; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D011891:Rain; D014197:Trees / Q000378:metabolism; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR); Africa; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI); deforestation; savanna; woody encroachment