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Environmental Management

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01-07-2008

Land Degradation on Barren Hills: A Case Study in Northeast Vietnam

Authors: Nina Nikolic, Rainer Schultze-Kraft, Miroslav Nikolic, Reinhard Böcker, Ingo Holz

Published in: Environmental Management | Issue 1/2008

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Abstract

The term “barren hills” has been a keyword for land degradation in the uplands of Vietnam for over a decade. Nevertheless, the “barren” land is still not adequately ecologically characterized. In this work, we analyze land use-induced changes in vegetation and soil properties along a sequence of barren hills types formed on one physiotope. The study is undertaken in the Bac Kan province, one of the poorest upland regions where livestock plays an important role. A transition from an old-growth laurel forest to a sparse manmade grassland is characterized by a total of 177 species, rapid species turnover, and discrete dominants, and an overwhelming effect of disturbance history on both soil and vegetation patterning. Land degradation is most apparent in land use-induced maintenance of arrested successions, and the regeneration course is shifted towards drier formations. We hypothesize a conceptual model as an aid to understanding the process of early fallow differentiation in response to the patterned, fine-scale disturbances. The larger-scale implications of the observed trends in regeneration potentials deviation, and, in particular, the effect of water buffaloes in halting fallow successions, are discussed.

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Title: Land Degradation on Barren Hills: A Case Study in Northeast Vietnam
Authors: Nina Nikolic
Rainer Schultze-Kraft
Miroslav Nikolic
Reinhard Böcker
Ingo Holz
Publication date: 01-07-2008
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Environmental Management / Issue 1/2008
Print ISSN: 0364-152X
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9099-1

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