Abstract
Trees in agroforestry parklands influence crops both through competitive and facilitative mechanism, but the effects are challenging to disentangle due to the complexity of the system with high variability in tree cover structure and species diversity and crop combinations. Focusing on a landscape in central Burkina Faso dominated by Vitellaria paradoxa and Parkia biglobosa, this paper examines how tree cover influences crop yield at landscape scale using satellite data and spatial statistics. Our analysis is based on data from 2017 to 2018 with differences in rainfall to assess the stability in identified relationships. Our findings showed that tree canopy cover and tree density inside the fields tended to decrease crop yield because of competition, but also that these variables when considering the surrounding landscape exerted an opposite effect because of their buffering effects. The explanatory variables representing soil properties did have limited effects on crop yield in this study. These patterns were consistent during the two years of monitoring. Overall, our results suggest that farmers in this area might manage the tree cover in a way that optimizes sustainable yields as canopy cover and tree density in most parklands is below the limits identified here where competition outweight the facilitative effects.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Tree canopy cover within fields tended to decrease crop yield.
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Verbatim
e0“tree canopy cover and tree density inside the fields tended to decrease crop yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree density within fields tended to decrease crop yield.
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Verbatim
e0“tree canopy cover and tree density inside the fields tended to decrease crop yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Canopy cover in the surrounding landscape had a positive buffering effect on crop yield.
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e0“these variables when considering the surrounding landscape exerted an opposite effect because of their buffering effects”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree density in the surrounding landscape had a positive buffering effect on crop yield.
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Verbatim
e0“these variables when considering the surrounding landscape exerted an opposite effect because of their buffering effects”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil properties had limited effects on crop yield.
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Verbatim
e0“The explanatory variables representing soil properties did have limited effects on crop yield in this study.”
Claim · model-written summary
The tree cover and soil relationships with yield were consistent across both monitoring years.
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Verbatim
e0“These patterns were consistent during the two years of monitoring.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest managing tree cover to optimize sustainable yields because most parklands fall below the identified competition threshold.
- Outcome
- manage the tree cover in a way that optimizes sustainable yieldse0
- Qualifier
- below the limits identified heree0
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Verbatim
e0“farmers in this area might manage the tree cover in a way that optimizes sustainable yields as canopy cover and tree density in most parklands is below the limits identified here where competition outweight the facilitative effects”