Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia

Ecological restoration through exclosure establishment has become an increasingly important approach to reversing degraded ecosystems in rangelands worldwide. The present study was conducted in northwestern Ethiopia where policy programs are aiming to restore degraded lands. Changes in soil properti...

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Autores principales: Mekuria, Wolde, Langan, Simon J., Noble, A.D., Johnston, Robyn M.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77084
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author Mekuria, Wolde
Langan, Simon J.
Noble, A.D.
Johnston, Robyn M.
author_browse Johnston, Robyn M.
Langan, Simon J.
Mekuria, Wolde
Noble, A.D.
author_facet Mekuria, Wolde
Langan, Simon J.
Noble, A.D.
Johnston, Robyn M.
author_sort Mekuria, Wolde
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Ecological restoration through exclosure establishment has become an increasingly important approach to reversing degraded ecosystems in rangelands worldwide. The present study was conducted in northwestern Ethiopia where policy programs are aiming to restore degraded lands. Changes in soil properties following establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands were investigated. A space-for-time substitution approach was used to monitor changes in soil properties after conversion of communal grazing lands to exclosures with ages of establishment ranging from 1 to 7-years. Significant differences in soil pH, exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity, soil moisture content, and bulk density were observed within exclosures and between exclosures and communal grazing land. Communal grazing land displayed significantly higher soil total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compared to exclosures. Exclosures did not display significantly higher soil organic matter content when compared to the communal grazing land. The results confirm that more than 7 years after the establishment of exclosures is required to detect significant improvements in most of the investigated soil properties. Prohibition of the practice of grass harvesting during the first 3 to 5 years following the establishment of exclosure, and decreasing the amount of grass harvest with exclosure age could support to increase easily decomposable organic inputs to the soil and improve soil properties in relatively short period of time.
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spelling CGSpace770842025-11-13T10:38:21Z Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia Mekuria, Wolde Langan, Simon J. Noble, A.D. Johnston, Robyn M. soil fertility soil properties soil moisture soil organic matter soil sampling soil management ecology ecosystem services land degradation ph grazing lands carbon environmental degradation watershed management vegetation development Ecological restoration through exclosure establishment has become an increasingly important approach to reversing degraded ecosystems in rangelands worldwide. The present study was conducted in northwestern Ethiopia where policy programs are aiming to restore degraded lands. Changes in soil properties following establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands were investigated. A space-for-time substitution approach was used to monitor changes in soil properties after conversion of communal grazing lands to exclosures with ages of establishment ranging from 1 to 7-years. Significant differences in soil pH, exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity, soil moisture content, and bulk density were observed within exclosures and between exclosures and communal grazing land. Communal grazing land displayed significantly higher soil total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compared to exclosures. Exclosures did not display significantly higher soil organic matter content when compared to the communal grazing land. The results confirm that more than 7 years after the establishment of exclosures is required to detect significant improvements in most of the investigated soil properties. Prohibition of the practice of grass harvesting during the first 3 to 5 years following the establishment of exclosure, and decreasing the amount of grass harvest with exclosure age could support to increase easily decomposable organic inputs to the soil and improve soil properties in relatively short period of time. 2017-05 2016-09-20T08:09:17Z 2016-09-20T08:09:17Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77084 en Open Access Wiley Mekuria, Wolde; Langan, Simon; Noble, A.; Johnston, Robyn. 2016. Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia. Land Degradation and Development, 30p. (Online first) doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2527
spellingShingle soil fertility
soil properties
soil moisture
soil organic matter
soil sampling
soil management
ecology
ecosystem services
land degradation
ph
grazing lands
carbon
environmental degradation
watershed management
vegetation
development
Mekuria, Wolde
Langan, Simon J.
Noble, A.D.
Johnston, Robyn M.
Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia
title Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia
title_full Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia
title_fullStr Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia
title_short Soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern Ethiopia
title_sort soil restoration after seven years of exclosure management in northwestern ethiopia
topic soil fertility
soil properties
soil moisture
soil organic matter
soil sampling
soil management
ecology
ecosystem services
land degradation
ph
grazing lands
carbon
environmental degradation
watershed management
vegetation
development
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77084
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AT johnstonrobynm soilrestorationaftersevenyearsofexclosuremanagementinnorthwesternethiopia