Rice Farming | SilverScorpio.Com

NASA scientist makes first full assessment of Africa’s mangrove forests

Washington, August 21 (ANI): A NASA scientist has made what is believed to be the first full assessment of the African continent’s mangrove forests.

Environmental scientist Lola Fatoyinbo of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed and employed a method that can be used across the continent, overcoming expensive, ad hoc, and inconsistent modes of ground-based measurement.

“We’ve lost more than 50 percent of the world’s mangrove forests in a little over half a century; a third of them have disappeared in the last 20 years alone,” said Fatoyinbo, whose earlier study of Mozambique’s coastal forests laid the groundwork for the continent-wide study.

“Hopefully, this technique will offer scientists and officials a method of estimating change in this special type of forest,” she added.

Mangroves are the most common ecosystem in coastal areas of the tropics and sub-tropics.

The swampy forests are essential, especially in densely-populated developing countries, for rice farming, fishing and aquaculture (freshwater and saltwater farming), timber, and firewood.

Some governments also increasingly depend on them for eco-tourism.

The large, dense root systems are a natural obstacle that helps protect shorelines against debris and erosion.

Mangroves are often the first line of defense against severe storms, tempering the impact of strong winds and floods.

These coastal woodlands also have a direct link to climate, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere at a rate of about 100 pounds per acre per day, which is comparable to the per acre intake by tropical rainforests (though rainforests cover more of Earth’s surface).

“To my knowledge, this study is the first complete mapping of Africa’s mangroves, a comprehensive, historic baseline enabling us to truly begin monitoring the welfare of these forests,” said Assaf Anyamba, a University of Maryland-Baltimore County expert on vegetation mapping, based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Fatoyinbo’s research combines multiple satellite observations of tree height and land cover, mathematical formulas, and “ground-truthing” data from the field to measure the full expanse and makeup of the coastal forests.

Her measurements yielded three new kinds of maps of mangroves: continental maps of how much land the mangroves cover; a three-dimensional map of the height of forest canopies across the continent; and biomass maps that allow researchers to assess how much carbon the forests store.

“Beyond density or geographical size of the forests, the measurements get to the heart of the structure, or type, of mangroves,” explained Fatoyinbo. (ANI)

‘Urban sprawl’ responsible for collapse of ancient Cambodian city of Angkor

Sydney, June 24 (ANI): A team of international scientists has suggested that over-development of water infrastructure and extreme climate fluctuations were responsible for the collapse of the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor.

According to a report in The Australian, the team comprised of Sydney University archeologist Roland Fletcher and his GAP (Greater Angkor Project) co-director, Sydney University paleo-climatologist Dan Penny, and paleoclimatologist Brendan Buckley of New York’s Columbia University.

The scientists used new archeological, pollen and tree-ring dating evidence to back their claims.

The group argues that before an alternating series of droughts and monsoonal floods hit Angkor from the mid-14th to late 15th centuries, the capital of the Khmer empire had already had extensive problems with its vast, complicated water system.

Ultimately, it became impossible for the city to keep pace with further pressures from extreme weather.

“Although there was ongoing conflict with neighbouring states, it was this over-built, inflexible (water) infrastructure that locked them into this trajectory of decline,” Dr Penny said.

Before Angkor vanished into the jungle in the 17th century, it was the world’s largest low-density pre-industrial city.

Between the ninth and 13th centuries, the metropolis spread across 1000sq km and was home to as many as 750,000 people.

To feed the population, land was extensively cleared for rice farming and hundreds of kilometres of canals and enormous reservoirs were built to provide water for farming and drinking.

The water works also supported religious ceremonies at hundreds of temple complexes.

The most spectacular was Angkor Wat, the world’s largest premodern religious monument. “It was the size of a medieval European town,” Professor Fletcher said.

As the city grew, so did the highly integrated system of canals, spillways and reservoirs needed to support it.

Sand had begun filling major canals from the 14th century. Spillways and other features of the waterworks were badly damaged and shut down.

By the late 16th century, Angkor was largely abandoned, taking with it the entire region.

According to Professor Fletcher, Angkor is not the only city that fell victim to unsustainable low-density urban sprawl followed by climate instability.

“The famous example is the classic Maya cities of the Yucatan Pensinsula like Tikal in Guatemala. They died between the ninth and the 11th century,” he said. (ANI)

NASA scientist makes first full assessment of Africa’s mangrove forests

Search More News

Technology News

Ads