Abstract
Crown diameter and tree density were measured in 52 communities in the Sudan-Sahel using satellite imagery to determine the relationships between rainfall and distance from community center to crown size diameter and tree density. As distance from the community center increased, tree density and crown diameter decreased. As rainfall increased, tree density decreased while crown diameter increased. Distance from the community center is a proxy for age since urbanization and our results indicate that older parts of communities show longer and more consistent tree management. The trends in patterns of tree distribution and size in communities are different from those in natural woodlands.
Highlights
Our objective was to determine the tree distribution patterns in village, town and small-city environments in the Sudan-Sahel of Africa and to determine if these patterns are consistent with intentional management of trees by local residents
We primarily investigated relationships between the pairs of variables that tested our primary hypotheses about crown diameter and trees per plot, but we tested for collinear relationships between all pairs of cardinal variables
While each landowner’s plot could have more and larger trees, there might be fewer landowners, especially residential households, per hectare in the community center as residential use is replaced by commercial land use; as a whole, the community center might have fewer trees
Summary
Our objective was to determine the tree distribution patterns in village, town and small-city environments in the Sudan-Sahel of Africa and to determine if these patterns are consistent with intentional management of trees by local residents. While our study could not determine specific uses of individual trees, we hypothesized that the combination of these uses would lead to patterns within communities that are consistent with human care and management of trees, whether these trees are originally present, naturally regenerated or planted. These patterns can be rapidly assessed using satellite imagery. We hypothesize that trees will be larger and found in greater numbers in older parts of the communities This would be consistent with value and care of trees in an area where population and community size are expanding. As the total population of a community increases each circle expands outwards so that distance from the city center is a proxy for age; more distant points have been in the current land use for a shorter time period [8,9]
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