Observations on Savanna Burning in the Olokemeji Forest Reserve, Nigeria

Abstract

The guinea savanna zone occupies about 400 of the area of Nigeria and derived savanna extends southwards from it into the forest zone. Much of the savanna occupies the area known as the Middle Belt-a thinly populated area which appears to have great possibilities for agricultural development. Almost all this savanna is burnt annually, so that a study of some fundamental aspects of savanna fires may be of considerable practical value. This paper describes some observations on the nature and effects of savanna burning in the Olokemeji Forest Reserve, which lies astride the boundary between the forest and the derived savanna zones. The physiognomy of the vegetation of the guinea zone and of the derived savanna zone is similar, but the dry season is longer and severer in the more northerly guinea zone. Hence, the results obtained at Olokemeji, while valid for the derived savanna zone, may not be fully applicable to the guinea zone proper. Most of the observations described here were made on the 'research' plot of derived savanna woodland previously described (Hopkins 1962), or quite near to this on very similar plots. In addition, some measurements of fire temperatures were made on the 'early burnt' and 'late burnt' plots of the fire-control experiment, about 3 km away from the 'research' plot described by Macgregor (1937) and Charter & Keay (1960).