The Dead Forest of Chiefs Island: Soil Water Logging from Major Floods and Rainfalls Drive Rapid Vegetation Change in the Okavango Delta (Botswana)

The flood-controlled Okavango Delta in Botswana is an endoreic alluvial fan system developing within the arid to semi-arid Kalahari Desert. The Delta sustains a unique association of ecosystems, from rivers to floodplains, riverine forests to savanna forests. This complex environment is nearly prist...

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Published in:Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) N.C.), 2024-06, Vol.44 (5), p.49, Article 49
Main Authors: Jolivet, Marc, Murray-Hudson, Mike, Makati, Kaelo, Dauteuil, Olivier, Gaudare, Louis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alluvial fans
Aquatic ecosystems
Aridity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Climate change
Coastal Sciences
Dieback
Drought
Drowning
Earth Sciences
Ecology
Environmental Management
Evolution
Floodplains
Floods
Forests
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Hydrogeology
Islands
Landscape Ecology
Life Sciences
Logging
Moisture content
Original Research Article
Rainfall
Rivers
Savannahs
Sciences of the Universe
Seasons
Soil water
Trees
Vegetation
Waterlogged ground
Wetlands
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Summary:The flood-controlled Okavango Delta in Botswana is an endoreic alluvial fan system developing within the arid to semi-arid Kalahari Desert. The Delta sustains a unique association of ecosystems, from rivers to floodplains, riverine forests to savanna forests. This complex environment is nearly pristine from anthropic activity but its preservation, especially in the face of global change, requires a detailed understanding of the functioning and evolution of its ecosystems. In this work we describe extensive tree dieback in the savanna forest of southern Chiefs Island, the largest permanently emerged island of the Delta. While tree dieback is generally linked to drought, extreme temperatures, fire or increased biotic attacks, we suggest that the destruction in the years 2009–2012 of the Acacia sp. and Colophospernum mopane dominated forest unexpectedly results from drowning through soil water logging associated to a series of successive exceptional floods and abundant rainfall seasons. This result highlights the necessity of transdisciplinary studies in understanding the autogenic functioning of the Delta as a prerequisite to describe the effects of global change.
ISSN:0277-5212
1943-6246
DOI:10.1007/s13157-024-01804-9