Article Sidebar
Article Details
Issue
Section
Articles
Submission of a paper for publication implies the transfer of the copyright from the author(s) to the publisher upon acceptance. International Formulae Group is therefore the copyright holder after publication of an article in International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences, and published articles should not be used for commercial purpose without the written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. They are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Main Article Content
Prescribed burning and its effect on plant biomass and species diversity in savanna ecosystem, Sokoto, Nigeria
Abstract
Three burning regime (fire protected, early burning, late burning) and their effects on plant biomass and species diversity in Dabagi forest Reserve of Sokoto State were investigated. Prescribed burning was carried
out on randomly selected plots (10 m x 10 m) in November (early burn) and March (late burn) 2004. The design of experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and the burning treatments were
replicated three times. The data obtained were analyzed using analysis of variance. The diversity index of the shrubs species was higher (P<0.05) in the early burnt plot (H1=0.86) than in the late burnt plot (H1=0.66), even
though the species richness index in the late burnt plot (d = 3.31) was higher than that of the early burnt plot (d=2.50). Species evenness index was higher (P<0.05) in the early burnt plot (E=1.00) than in the late burnt
plot (E=0.92), indicating that the shrub species in the early burnt plot shows greater uniformity in the distribution of individual among the taxa, hence the higher species diversity. Similarly for forbs and grasses,
the diversity index was higher in the early burnt plot (H1=0.89) while it was least in the late burnt plot (H1=0.83). The grass species biomass (g/m2) production were higher in the early burnt plots than in the late burnt plot during the nine-month post fire sampling period, while late burning initiated higher forbs biomass than the biomass of grasses throughout the nine-month post fire period.
Key words: Burning regime, evenness, indices, richness and species.
out on randomly selected plots (10 m x 10 m) in November (early burn) and March (late burn) 2004. The design of experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and the burning treatments were
replicated three times. The data obtained were analyzed using analysis of variance. The diversity index of the shrubs species was higher (P<0.05) in the early burnt plot (H1=0.86) than in the late burnt plot (H1=0.66), even
though the species richness index in the late burnt plot (d = 3.31) was higher than that of the early burnt plot (d=2.50). Species evenness index was higher (P<0.05) in the early burnt plot (E=1.00) than in the late burnt
plot (E=0.92), indicating that the shrub species in the early burnt plot shows greater uniformity in the distribution of individual among the taxa, hence the higher species diversity. Similarly for forbs and grasses,
the diversity index was higher in the early burnt plot (H1=0.89) while it was least in the late burnt plot (H1=0.83). The grass species biomass (g/m2) production were higher in the early burnt plots than in the late burnt plot during the nine-month post fire sampling period, while late burning initiated higher forbs biomass than the biomass of grasses throughout the nine-month post fire period.
Key words: Burning regime, evenness, indices, richness and species.
