Fire regimes and forest loss in the fragmented tropical forests of West Africa

Francis Kwabena Dwomoh, South Dakota State University, francis.dwomoh@sdstate.edu (Presenter)
Michael Wimberly, South Dakota State University, michael.wimberly@sdstate.edu

The West African tropical forest (referred to as the Upper Guinean forest, UGF), is a global biodiversity hotspot providing ecosystem services crucial for socio-economic development of the region. The UGF has also become one of the most human-modified tropical forest ecosystems with substantial forest decline in recent decades. Currently, the most significant original tropical forests left in the region are those contained in protected areas (PAs), including forest reserves. However, these PAs are susceptible to further degradation and widespread fire-mediated forest loss due to intense climatic, demographic and land use pressures. Forest fragmentation, degradation, and fire spread from agricultural areas have made them increasingly vulnerable to fire-induced habitat loss. This study analyzes spatial and temporal patterns of fire-driven tropical forest loss in the deciduous forest of the UGF. We conducted remote sensing analyses of historical Landsat and MODIS imagery along with forest inventory and meteorological data to analyze the fire regime, forest cover loss, and changes in forest attributes at a landscape-scale over the past 30 years. The UGF was heavily impacted by large fire events during the 1980s El Nino-driven drought. Following these historic fire events some PAs in the region have experienced recurrent fires. These frequent fires combined with logging have led to rapid forest cover loss and created conditions that push tropical forest to tipping points, beyond which forest resilience is lost. This study assesses pathways and drivers of disturbance and land cover change in tropical forest ecosystems that are highly relevant to the Earth Science Division’s research focus on Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems. The results demonstrate the potential interactive effects of changing climate, land use and disturbance regimes on tropical forest ecosystems. Lessons learned will expand our understanding of the spatio-temporal dynamics of fires, fire-mediated ecosystem state transitions, and forest degradation in the tropics.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Theme 4: Human influence on global ecosystems   (Mon 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Related Activity: Related Activity or Previously Funded CC&E Activity not listed ...details

Poster Location ID: 64