Variation in vegetation cover and livestock mobility needs in Sahelian West Africa. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Turner, Matthew D.; Butt, Bilal; Singh, Aditya; Brottem, Leif; Ayantunde, Augustine; Gerard, Bruno
• Is Part Of: Journal of land use science. Volume 11:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 76
• Page End: 95
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: nonequilibrium ecology -- rangeland management -- NDVI -- climate change -- Mali; Land use -- Periodicals; 333.7313
• DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2014.965280
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1747-423X

Abstract

Abstract : A new approach was developed to evaluate the implications of the spatiotemporal variability of green vegetation for the dispersion of livestock that is required to access quality forage in semi-arid Africa. Maximum NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) at 1 km 2 resolution was determined for concentric rings (0–31 km radii) around 227 individual sample locations within the study area for 14 dates (between 1 April to 1 November) annually over the 2000–2010 period. A sigmoidal curve was fitted to points within the maximum NDVI × distance radii space to determine the asymptote distance (AD) – the radius at which further dispersion from the sample location does not lead to significant gains in access to green forage. AD was found to: increase with latitude (or increasing aridity); decline as the rainy season proceeds; and show no trend over the 2000–2010 period. These results introduce much-needed empirical data to current debates surrounding the scales of governance to support livestock mobility.