Selecting proper tree species for revegetation is important for restoring tropical peatland. Tamanu (Calophyllum inophyllum L.) has been suggested one of the promising native species in Indonesia for the revegetation of tropical peatland; however, there is a lack of understanding of its growth in peat soil with different groundwater levels. We investigated the survival rate, plant height, number of leaves, root collar diameter, and dry biomass of tamanu seedlings grown in peat soil with different groundwater levels using a randomized block design in a water tank. The study involved five groundwater level treatments and 12 tree-level replicates each: M0 (non-groundwater level, control); M1 (−15 cm below the soil surface); M2 (−10 cm); M3 (−5 cm); and M4 (0 cm, soil surface level). The results showed that all tamanu seedlings survived in every treatment. However, their plant height, number of leaves, and root collar diameter growth were significantly inhibited in the highest groundwater level condition (M4, 0 cm) at 81 days after sowing, while their growth in −15 cm of groundwater level (M1) was as good as the growth in the fully drained conditions in M0 (control). This result indicates that the groundwater level should not be higher than −15 cm for the growth of tamanu. Considering that peatlands in Indonesia are assessed to be degraded when the groundwater level is lower than −40 cm, this study suggests that maintaining groundwater levels between −40 cm and −15 cm in peatland is the best condition for rapid growth of early tamanu seedlings while protecting peatlands. Further studies are needed to extend the range of water levels and water treatment duration.
Tag: plants
Islamic Sacred Groves: Ecological Niches of Plant Diversity and Climate Change Mitigation in Northern Ethiopia
Islamic sacred groves represent critical ecological niches, fostering diverse habitats for plants and animals. Despite their ecological significance, safeguarding these areas presents formidable challenges stemming from multifaceted factors. Consequently, our study examines plant diversity, biomass and carbon stock estimation in eight Islamic cultural centers in northern Ethiopia. The data were collected from sixty-three plots: 20×20 m for trees, 5×5 m for shrubs, and five 1×1 m subplots within each main plot. We identified 204 plant species belonging to 144 genera and 66 families. The Asteraceae family emerged as dominant, comprising 17 species accounting for 15.3% of the total species identified. Herbs were the predominant growth form, constituting 102 species (50.2%), followed by shrubs (48 species, 23.7%), trees (43 species, 21.2%), and climbers (10 species, 4.9%). Thirteen endemic plant species were identified, while six indigenous tree species predominantly populated the sites. The altitude and slope significantly influenced the plant species distribution patterns. The total biomass of the stud sites ranged from 12.2 to 283 tons per hectare, contributing 6.1 to 141.5 tons of carbon per hectare. The exhibited CO2 sequestration potential ranged from 17.7 to 408.8 tons per hectare. The study sites serve as repositories of plant genetics, essential for conserving biodiversity and providing germplasm for restoration initiatives. Moreover, they play a crucial role in mitigating climate change impacts in northern Ethiopia.
Policy Support for Home Gardens in Vietnam Can Link to Sustainable Development Goals
Despite research evidence on the diverse benefits of home gardens and their potential contributions to multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), the role of policy towards supporting these contributions remains unclear in developing countries like Vietnam. In this study, we found that 25 out of Vietnam’s 86 key rural development and agricultural policies enacted over the last decade (2010–2021) set specific targets for home gardens. The targets, however, focus strongly on income generation with indicators stipulating e.g., 50–80% of total income from home gardens should be generated by the main product. The policies set no specific target for other potential roles of home gardens beyond the economy of rural households and can exacerbate the widespread transformation of home gardens in Vietnam into farming practices with low crop diversity. The latter potentially limits contributions of home gardens to two (SDG 1, 10) of at least 11 (SDG 1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10–13, 15) of Vietnam’s 17 SDGs. To narrow the gap between research and policy in home garden contributions to Vietnam’s SDGs, we need to better mainstream integrated home garden systems and their diverse benefits, enrich policy targets beyond the income generation, and strengthen coordination among state departments for policy implementation.
Key descriptors for Ziziphus mauritiana (jujube)
This Descriptor list consists of an initial minimum set of characterization and evaluation descriptors for Ziziphus mauritiana (jujube). This strategic set aims at facilitating access to and utilization of this African indigenous fruit tree. It does not exclude the addition of other descriptors at a later date. The strategic set of data standards is designed to facilitate access to and utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture information. Together with passport information, descriptors are critical to the effective sharing of characterization and evaluation data and to the efficient use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Key descriptors for Irvingia spp. (bush mango)
This Descriptor list consists of an initial minimum set of characterization and evaluation Irvingia spp. (bush mango). Irvingia species, commonly known as bush mango, as well as in their local names namely, dikka, dikanut, dikabread tree, odika, ogbono, or iba-tree, are multipurpose fruit trees growing in Africa and Asia. They belong to the family Irvingiaceae. This strategic set aims at facilitating access to and utilization of this fruit tree. The strategic set of data standards is designed to facilitate access to and utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture information. Together with passport information, descriptors are critical to the effective sharing of characterization and evaluation data and to the efficient use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Key descriptors for Docynia indica (Wall.) Decne
This Descriptor list consists of an initial minimum set of characterization and evaluation of Docynia indica (Wall.) Decne. also known locally as son tra or H’mong apple (Vietnam), dou-yi (China), pin-sein (Myanmar), Assam apple/wild apple (India), belongs to the family Rosaceae. D. indica is an important multi-purpose fruit tree species in agroforestry systems in the highlands. Its fruit is appreciated for its nutrient and vitamin C content as well as antioxidant properties. It also contains substances with high biological activity, which are used as herbal medicine. Fruits are often processed into products such as juice, wine, vinegar, syrup, jam, and preserved by drying.
The Ontologies Community of Practice: A CGIAR Initiative for Big Data in Agrifood Systems
Heterogeneous and multidisciplinary data generated by research on sustainable global agriculture and agrifood systems requires quality data labeling or annotation in order to be interoperable. As recommended by the FAIR principles, data, labels, and metadata must use controlled vocabularies and ontologies that are popular in the knowledge domain and commonly used by the community. Despite the existence of robust ontologies in the Life Sciences, there is currently no comprehensive full set of ontologies recommended for data annotation across agricultural research disciplines. In this paper, we discuss the added value of the Ontologies Community of Practice (CoP) of the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture for harnessing relevant expertise in ontology development and identifying innovative solutions that support quality data annotation. The Ontologies CoP stimulates knowledge sharing among stakeholders, such as researchers, data managers, domain experts, experts in ontology design, and platform development teams. Digital technology use in agriculture and agrifood systems research accelerates the production of multidisciplinary data, which spans genetics, environment, agroecology, biology, and socio-economics. Quality labeling of data secures its online findability, reusability, interoperability, and reliable interpretation, through controlled vocabularies organized into meaningful and computer-readable knowledge domains called ontologies. There is currently no full set of recommended ontologies for agricultural research, so data scientists, data managers, and database developers struggle to find validated terminology. The Ontologies Community of Practice of the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture harnesses international expertise in knowledge representation and ontology development to produce missing ontologies, identifies best practices, and guides data labeling by teams managing multidisciplinary information platforms to release the FAIR data underpinning the evidence of research impact. The deployment of digital technology in Agriculture and Food Science accelerates the production of large quantities of multidisciplinary data. The Ontologies Community of Practice (CoP) of the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture harnesses the international ontology expertise that can guide teams managing multidisciplinary agricultural information platforms to increase the data interoperability and reusability. The CoP develops and promotes ontologies to support quality data labeling across domains, e.g., Agronomy Ontology, Crop Ontology, Environment Ontology, Plant Ontology, and Socio-Economic Ontology.
Field Guide to Common Homegarden Crops of Southwestern Uganda
Uganda’s homegardens are highly diverse small-scale farming systems. They provide the majority of the food consumed by local people and preserve a large number of traditional crops. This booklet provides a guide to common crops found in southwestern Uganda’s homegardens. It features descriptions and uses for 68 crops divided into four sections according to crop type (annual crops, perennial herbaceous crops, shrubs and trees). Crops are ranked according to their ethnobotanical importance. Each section begins with the most important crop. Each page has four photos of the crop and includes the most common local names (in Runyankole and Luganda), as well as the common English and botanical names. Additional information on the uses and occurrences is provided as well. We hope that this booklet will be of interest to a broad community of people interested in sustainable agriculture, food systems and food security issues: e.g. both Ugandan and international academics, non-government and government actors.
TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access
Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
Plant diversity and composition vary with elevation on two equatorial high mountains in Uganda: baselines for assessing the influence of climate change
We describe the distribution and diversity of vascular plants at high elevations (3980–4570 m above sea level) in the Rwenzori Mountains and Mount Elgon National Parks in Uganda. These were the first target regions of the “Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments” (“GLORIA”) on the African continent. In each target region, four summits spanning elevations from the treeline ecotone up to the limits of vascular plant life were selected and assessed in July and August 2011 using the standardised GLORIA protocol. Few vascular plant species were present on high elevation summits, particularly in Rwenzori, where many sub-plots had little or no vascular plant cover. Observations from Rwenzori include 26 vascular plant species, and from Mount Elgon 47, of which 10 and 15 species, respectively, were endemic. In contrast, non-vascular plant cover greatly increased with elevation. The lowest sites showed considerable diversity and were floristically dissimilar to the highest summits. Subsequent resurveys, repeating the GLORIA protocol, will be critical in the assessment of ongoing dynamics and change.