IGBP Report 41

The Miombo Network: Framework for a Terrestrial Transect Study of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in the Miombo Ecosystems of Central Africa

Edited by

Desanker, P.V., P.G.H. Frost, C.O. Frost, C.O. Justice, and R.J. Scholes

The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Stockholm, Sweden

Suggested Cited:

Desanker, P.V., P.G.H. Frost, C.O. Frost, C.O. Justice, and R.J. Scholes, (eds.). 1997. The Miombo Network: Framework for a Terrestrial Transect Study of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in the Miombo Ecosystems of Central Africa, IGBP Report 41, The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Stockholm, Sweden, 109 pp.

For Further Information, please contact:

Dr. Paul V. Desanker, Global Environmental Change Program, Dept of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Clark Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA;
tel: (804) 924 3382; fax: (804) 982 2137; email: desanker@virginia.edu; http://miombo.gecp.virginia.edu

Prof. Peter G.H. Frost, Institute of Environmental Studies,  Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263-4-302603;  fax: +263-4-332857; email: pfrost@zimbix.uz.zw

IGBP Secretariat, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Box 50005, S-104 05, Stockholm, Sweden, http://www.igbp.kva.se

Executive Summary

This report describes the strategy for the Miombo Network Initiative, developed at an IGBP intercore-project workshop in Malawi in December 1995 and further refined during the Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) Open Science Meeting in January, 1996 and through consultation and review by the LUCC Scientific Steering Committee (SSC). The Miombo Network comprises of an international network of researchers working in concert on a ‘community’ research agenda developed to address the critical global change research questions for the miombo woodland ecosystems. The network also addresses capacity building and training needs in the Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (SAF) region, of the Global Change System for Analysis Research and Training (START). The research strategy described here provides the basis for a proposed IGBP Terrestrial Transect study of land cover and land use changes in the miombo ecosystems of Central Africa. It therefore resides administratively within the LUCC programme with linkages to other Programme Elements of the IGBP such as Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE). 
The report provides the framework for research activities aimed at understanding how land use is affecting land cover and associated ecosystem processes; assessing what contribution these changes are making to global change; and predicting what effects global change in turn could have on land use dynamics and ecosystem structure and function. The key issues identified are:
•	Patterns, causes and rates of change in land cover in relation to land use
•	Consequences of land-use and land-cover changes on regional climate, natural resources, hydrology, carbon storage and trace gas emissions
•	Determinants of the distribution of species and ecosystems in miombo
•	Fundamental questions of miombo ecosystem structure and function.

Seven core experiments were proposed during the meeting, each addressing a critical objective relating to miombo ecosystems. These were (in no particular order):
•	Land use dynamics
•	Land cover dynamics
•	Ecosystem dynamics and disturbance
•	Nutrient limitation in miombo
•	Biogeography and distribution of miombo
•	Regional primary production and carbon balance of miombo
•	Sustainable natural resource management.

In addition a number of integrating activities are proposed, including modelling, developing shared databases, and building regional research capacity. Each core experiment will be undertaken by a consortium of participating institutions and individuals at a network of sites across the miombo region. A Task Team (TT) for the Miombo Network will guide the scientific content and implementation of the projects. The TT will consist of regional and international representatives of participating IGBP and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) programme elements. It is proposed that a Network Coordinator (NC), appointed by and responsible to the TT, will facilitate the activities of the network. An interim TT has been set up to oversee the launch of the programme and to consolidate the establishment of the Miombo Network 
The initial phase of the programme will run for five years (1996‑2000), building strongly on existing activities. Individual scientists or groups of scientists will develop specific proposals and seek funding for the core experiments in liaison with the TT and the NC. One of the first activities of the network will be to produce, in collaboration with Data and Information Systems (IGBP-DIS), a regional database on CD-ROM to facilitate interdisciplinary research.
Capacity building and research proposals from the initial phases of implementation are being submitted to funding agencies by START, LUCC and GCTE.
The Zomba workshop was jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation (International Programmes) and by the IGBP Secretariat.

TABLE OF CONTECTS

Executive Summary	1
Introduction	1
Background	1
What Is Miombo and Why Is It Important?	1
An Overview of Miombo Ecology	1
Land Uses in Miombo	1
Key Issues in the IGBP Miombo Network	1
What are the Current Directions and Rates of Change in Land Use and Land Cover?	1
What are the Consequences of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change?	1
Water Resources	1
Carbon Storage and Trace Gas Emissions	1
Natural Resources	1
What Controls the Distribution of Miombo Species and Ecosystems?	1
What Controls Primary Production in Miombo Ecosystems?	1
Core Experiments, Activities and Tasks	1
Core Experiment 1: Land Use Dynamics	1
Core Experiment 2: Land Cover Dynamics	1
Core Experiment 3: Ecosystem Dynamics and Disturbance	1
Core Experiment 4: Nutrient Limitation in Miombo	1
Core Experiment 5: Biogeography and Distribution of Miombo	1
Core Experiment 6: Regional Primary Production and Carbon Balance of Miombo	1
Core Experiment 7:  Sustainable Natural Resource Management	1
Core Experiment 8:  Integrating Activities	1
Data Management and Communication	1
Linkages	1
Relationship to National Needs and Priorities	1
Linkages To IGBP Programmes	1
IGBP Framework Activities	1
External Linkages	1
Appendix I Meeting Participants and Other Contributors to the Report	1

Introduction

Background

The Miombo Network is an intercore project activity of the IGBP/IHDP Research Programme LUCC organised within the framework of the IGBP Terrestrial Transects studies (Koch et al. 1995) within START’s SAF region. The aims of the Network are to understand how land use is affecting land cover and associated ecosystem processes in the miombo ecosystems of Central Africa; to assess what contribution these changes are making to global change; and to predict what effects global change in turn could have on land use dynamics and ecosystem structure and function. Given the focus on land-use and land-cover change, the administrative responsibility for the Miombo Network will reside with LUCC. As such this activity has been developed in close collaboration with LUCC and utilized the LUCC Science Plan as a framework. Since changes is land use and cover affect ecosystems and other biophsyical systems, the Miombo Network activity recognizes the need to incorporate ecosystem dynamics and develop links to GCTE and other Programme Elements in a truly trans-programme-element fashion.

This report describes the draft strategy for the Miombo Network drawn up at a workshop held in Zomba, Malawi in December 1995 and further developed at the LUCC Open Science Meeting in Amsterdam, January 1996 and through consultation and review by the LUCC SSC. The initiative was also discussed at a number of meetings preceding the Zomba workshop, as shown in Box 1. The Zomba Workshop was jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (International Programs) and by the IGBP Secretariat.

The rationale for the proposed research programme stems from concern for a better understanding of the long-term environmental and socio-economic effects of changes in the kinds and intensities of land use in the dry forests and woodlands of the tropics. To date, most attention has been focused on land-use and land-cover changes in tropical wet and moist forests, primarily because of the implications for global carbon cycling of the net release to the atmosphere of carbon stored in the vegetation and soils, and for the loss of biodiversity (Myers 1980; Houghton 1990; Houghton and Skole 1990). Much less attention has been paid to the widespread changes occurring in tropical dry forests and woodlands, ecosystems on which a majority of rural people in tropical countries depend for their livelihoods, and which are arguably among the most threatened of tropical ecosystems (Janzen 1988). These ecosystems cover approximately 7.7 million km2 (42 % of tropical forested land) and contain 22-29 % of the carbon stored in tropical forests and underlying soils (Brown and Lugo 1982; Solomon et al. 1993). They are important sources of reactive and radiatively trace gases through biomass burning, termite activity, large mammalian herbivores, and plant and soil processes driven by marked seasonal fluctuations in moisture availability. The largest area of tropical dry forests and woodlands is situated in Africa (5.5 million km2), about half of which occurs in the miombo region of Central Africa.

Box 1. 

Meetings leading to the Miombo Network Initiative.

1.	IGBP/START/IGAC/GCTE Workshop on African Savannahs and the Global Atmosphere, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, June 1993 (IGBP Report 31, 1994).

2. 	START Regional Workshop on Global Changes in Southern, Central and Eastern Africa, Gaborone, Botswana, July 1994 (Virji and Fleming, 1996).

2.	IGBP Regional Workshop on Global Changes in Southern Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, April 1995.

4.	Miombo Network Meeting, Zomba, Malawi, December 1995, and LUCC Open Science Meeting, Amsterdam, Netherlands, January 1996.

5.	Review and discussion held at the LUCC SSC meeting, 12-14 October 1996.

What Is Miombo and Why Is It Important?

Miombo is a vernacular word that has been adopted by ecologists to describe those woodland ecosystems dominated by trees in the genera Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae (CSA/CCTA 1960; Wild and Fernandes 1967). Such woodlands extend across about 2.8 million km2 of the southern subhumid tropical zone from Tanzania and Zaire in the north, through Zambia, Malawi and eastern Angola, to Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the south. Their distribution largely coincides with the flat to gently undulating African (early Tertiary) and post-African I (Miocene) planation surfaces that form the Central African plateau. The soils are predominantly infertile and are derived from underlying acid, crystalline rocks of the Basement Complex. These woodlands constitute the largest more-or-less contiguous block of deciduous tropical woodlands and dry forests in the world. 
Interspersed within the woodlands are broad, grassy depressions (called dambos or mbuga in the vernacular, see Figure 1(a)). These seasonally waterlogged bottomlands can cover up to 40 % of the landscape in some areas. Dambos are not old river systems, as is often supposed, but are set into the landscape through differential weathering and subsurface removal of material by the lateral flow of groundwater (McFarlane and Whitlow 1990). They are important sites for cultivation and livestock grazing .

The soils of the miombo landscape form a catenary  sequence, with well-drained, deeply weathered soils on the higher areas (often with lithosols on the ridge crests in drier areas) giving way to a narrow zone of sandy soils along the footslopes and then to imperfectly- to poorly-drained vertisols in the dambo (Watson 1964; Webster 1965). The dambo clay is largely smectitic and formed in-situ by the concentration of aluminium, silica and bases leached from the interfluves (McFarlane and Whitlow 1990). The basic landscape unit in miombo therefore comprises miombo woodland on the well-drained soils of the interfluve giving way abruptly at the footslope to hydromorphic grasslands on vertisols in the dambo (Figure 1(b)). The sharp transition between woodland and grassland reflects the point where the wet-season water table reaches the surface.

The components of these landscapes are strongly linked by the movement of water, soil and nutrients downslope; by the return of nutrients upslope through animal activity and atmospheric transport; by animal movements and fire; and by patterns of land use. An integrated study of these components is therefore essential. For this reason, the narrow botanical use of the term ‘miombo’ is inappropriate for this programme. In this report the term is used more broadly to encompass not only the woodlands themselves but also the associated land types within the same ecosystem. For the purposes of this programme, therefore, miombo is defined as follows:

Miombo encompasses those southern, Central and East African ecosystems occurring under a hot, seasonally wet climate on soils derived from acid crystalline bedrock, in regions where the woody component of the vegetation is normally dominated by species in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae (family Fabaceae), particularly in the genera Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia.

The area which satisfies this definition is shown in Figure 2. Ecologically similar Isoberlinia woodlands, lacking Brachystegia and Julbernardia, form the Guinea savannahs of West Africa (White 1983). Woodlands dominated by related genera, principally Baikiaea, Pterocarpus, Erythrophleum, Burkea and Cryptosepalum, but differing ecologically in important ways, occur on sandy soils on the fringes of the core miombo region, most notably on Kalahari sands. At a global scale, the ecology of miombo ecosystems is closely related to that of the cerrado and related ecosystems of South America, the dipterocarp woodlands of south‑east Asia and the monsoonal tallgrass eucalypt woodlands of northern Australia. Together these ecosystems occupy about 6% of the global land surface.

Miombo ecosystems directly support the livelihoods of about 39 million people in seven Central African countries, including some with among the lowest per capita income and highest per capita population growth rates in the world. A further 15 million people living in towns and cities throughout the region also depend on food, fibre, fuelwood and charcoal produced in miombo. Estimated woody biomass fuel consumption alone amounts to about 48 Tg yr‑1, releasing almost 22 Tg C. Other natural and anthropogenic processes, such as wildland burning, clearance of land for cultivation, slash-and-burn agriculture and the cultivation of wetlands, also contribute unquantified amounts of trace gases to the atmosphere, as well as altering the nature of the land cover and hydrological processes. On a more positive note, about 9 % of the region is protected as national parks, safari areas, and wildlife and forest reserves. Moreover, important advances have been made towards developing community-based natural resource management programmes, initially based on the sustainable use of wildlife but increasingly being extended to woodland resources in general (Child 1995, Bradley and McNamara 1993, Dewees 1994).

Given the predominance of woodland cover and the areal extent of miombo, the region has the potential to be either a source or a sink for carbon in the global carbon cycle, depending on the land-management practices adopted. The research activities proposed here are designed to provide a better understanding of the processes involved in land-use and land-cover changes, their socio-economic and biophysical contexts, and their global and regional consequences, as an input to the development of policies and programmes aimed at encouraging sustainable patterns of resource use.

An Overview of Miombo Ecology

Miombo has been portrayed as the archetype of moist-dystrophic savannah ecosystems (Huntley 1982; Frost et al. 1986). The vegetation, landscapes, and ecology of miombo ecosystems have been described by Malaisse (1978a), White (1983), Cole (1986) and Chidumayo (1993), among others. The following overview of miombo ecology is paraphrased from a review by Frost (in press).

The unifying features of miombo ecosystems, as defined in the previous section and elaborated on below, are:

•	The upland soils are predominantly alfisols, oxisols and ultisols - infertile, with low cation exchange capacities (2-18 cmol[+] kg-1), low total exchangeable bases (1-15 cmol[+]  kg-1), high acidity (pH 4-6 in CaCl2), low available phosphorus (9-18 ppm), and a dominance of low‑activity clays and sesquioxides, while the bottomland soils are predominantly gleysols and vertisols.
•	The dominant climatic feature is the marked seasonality of rainfall, with more than 95% of the 700-1 400 mm MAP falling during a 5‑7 month, hot summer wet season (mean annual temperatures 18-23oC, mean maximum temperatures 24‑30oC), which results in marked seasonality of plant production, growth, reproduction, and decay.
•	Most of the trees are deciduous but produce new leaves before the rains, drawing on substantial internal reserves.
•	The woodlands are dominated by broad-leafed, thornless trees of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae (family Fabaceae), while the grasses mainly comprise species in the family Andropogoneae.
•	Woody plants make up more than 95% of total plant biomass in mature woodlands but grasses predominate in dambos.
•	The dominant tree genera are all ectomycorrhizal.
•	The biomass of, and consumption by, indigenous large herbivorous mammals is generally low.
•	Consumption by herbivorous invertebrates is generally low though episodic outbreaks occur every few years.
•	Fire is frequent and important, both as an ecological factor and as a management tool.
•	Miombo ecosystems have been occupied and used by people for millennia, with slash-and-burn agriculture in the woodlands and cultivation of dambos major traditional forms of land use, though there are currently profound changes occurring in both the kinds and intensity of use.

One of the characteristic features of miombo woodland is its apparent uniformity over large regions. The woodland typically comprises an upper canopy of pagoda- or umbrella-shaped trees, occasionally with a scattered layer of subcanopy trees, and a discontinuous understorey of shrubs and saplings with a patchy herbaceous layer of grasses, forbs and suffrutices. This uniformity is due partly to the remarkably similar physiognomy of the dominant canopy trees, a reflection of their origins in the Caesalpinioideae, and partly to broadly similar environmental conditions across the region.

Differences in structure and species composition occur along rainfall gradients, from the drier fringes of the miombo region to the wetter core. White (1983) divided miombo into wet and dry types. Wet miombo is centred on eastern Angola, northern Zambia, south western Tanzania and central Malawi in areas receiving more than 1000 mm rainfall per year. Canopy height is usually greater than 15 m, reflecting the generally deeper and moister soils which create favourable conditions for growth. The vegetation is floristically rich and includes nearly all of the characteristic miombo species. Dry miombo occurs in Zimbabwe, central Tanzania, and the southern areas of Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, in areas receiving less than 1000 mm rainfall annually. Canopy height is shorter than 15 m and the vegetation is floristically impoverished. Many of the dominant canopy tree species of the wet miombo are either absent or local in occurrence.

The present-day distribution of miombo reflects its history, principally past climatic changes and past and present human activities, though the scarcity of well preserved and accurately dated pollen profiles from Central Africa currently hampers the detailed reconstruction of the palaeoenvironments and past vegetation of the region (Scott 1984). Sediment cores containing Brachystegia pollen and covering various periods over the past 38 kyr have been recovered from a number of sites across northern Zambia (Lawton 1963; Clark and Van Zinderen Bakker 1964; Livingstone 1971), and from the southern basin of Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania (Vincens 1991), all near the centre of distribution of miombo. Brachystegia pollen has also been recovered from cores taken in the Inyanga highlands, Zimbabwe, at the present upper altitudinal limit of Brachystegia (Tomlinson 1974), and at Dundo, Angola (Van Zinderen Bakker and Clark 1962), close to the current lower altitudinal limit, adjacent to the lowland moist tropical forests of Zaire. In addition, traces of Brachystegia pollen have been found in 1-4 kyr BP sediments from near Naboomspruit and Pretoria, South Africa (Scott 1982, 1983), well beyond the present southern limit of the genus. 

Brachystegia appears to have been widespread across Central Africa prior to the Last Glacial Maximum, but at the height of the glaciation, around 19 kyr BP, the vegetation became more open with Compositae, Cliffortia and Cyathea dominant, all elements of the present-day montane flora of Central Africa. This open vegetation was later replaced by Podocarpus, Olea, Myrica and Ericaceae (Scott 1984; Vincens 1991). Interpretations of these data, together with general circulation model (GCM) simulations of palaeoclimates, suggest that at the Last Glacial Maximum around 18 kyr BP the climate was about 3‑5 oC cooler, and mean annual precipitation about 250 mm lower, than now (Vincens et al. 1993; Jolly et al. in press). This would have produced widespread change in the distribution of miombo, with the woodland vegetation of the central plateau probably being displaced to lower altitudes as the climate became cooler and drier.

With the amelioration of climate during the Holocene, Brachystegia again became a prominent component of the plateau vegetation. Subsequent expansions and contractions are suggested by changes in pollen abundance in late-Holocene sediments from the Inyanga highlands, where the genus had become well established by 4.7 kyr BP (Tomlinson 1974); and by traces of Brachystegia pollen in 2-4 kyr BP and < 1 kyr BP sediments from near Naboomspruit, South Africa (Scott 1982) and in < 1 kyr BP sediments from Pretoria (Scott 1983). The marked northwards contraction in the geographic range of Brachystegia in the past 1 000 yrs from sites more than 400 km south of its present distribution in Zimbabwe implies either a sudden change in climate during that period, something for which there is no evidence (Scott 1984), or that relatively minor shifts in temperature and moisture regimes during that period adversely affected the population dynamics of Brachystegia at its geographical limits.

Within the broad divisions between wet and dry miombo, there is much local variation in composition and structure in relation to soil depth, texture and drainage; fire regime; wildlife impact; and past and present land use. Aboveground woody biomass of old-growth stands in wet miombo averages about 90 Mg DM ha‑1 (range 47‑144 Mg ha‑1), while that of old-growth stands in dry miombo is generally lower, averaging 55 Mg DM ha‑1 (range 21‑84 Mg DM ha‑1) (Malaisse 1978a; Guy 1981; Stromgaard 1985; Chidumayo 1987b, 1988, 1990, 1991; Frost in press). The biomass of disturbed woodlands is lower still. Mean aboveground biomass increases with increasing mean annual rainfall of a site. Recorded mean annual increments of biomass in coppice woodland are 1.2-2.0 Mg ha‑1 yr‑1 in dry miombo and 2.2-3.4 Mg ha‑1 yr‑1 in wet miombo, about 4-7 % of aboveground biomass (Chidumayo 1990, 1991, 1993).

Much less is known about the amount of biomass belowground. Miombo species have horizontally and vertically extensive root systems. Maximum recorded lateral distances are 27 m (J. globiflora: Strang 1965) and 15 m (B. longifolia, B. spiciformis and J. paniculata: Savory 1963). The tap roots of these species can exceed 5 m in deep soils. Available estimates of belowground biomass are 7-39 Mg ha‑1 (24-53 % of aboveground biomass or 20-35 % of total biomass: Malaisse and Strand 1973; Chidumayo 1993, 1995; Malimbwi et al. 1994).

Woody plants make up 95 - 98 % of the aboveground biomass of undisturbed stands; grasses and herbs comprise the remainder (Martin 1974; Malaisse 1978a; Chidumayo 1993; Frost in press). Aboveground herbaceous biomass in relatively undisturbed, mixed-aged stands of miombo is usually less than 2.0 Mg ha‑1 (range of recorded values: 0.1‑4.0 Mg ha‑1). On average, forbs make up about 30 % of this biomass, though this varies considerably among sites and between years. Herbaceous yield declines exponentially with increasing woody plant basal area, levelling off at a low value above 10 m2 ha‑1, the approximate point where the tree canopy cover is complete.

The nutrient content of the foliage of miombo plants is generally low. The nitrogen content of mature leaves of non-nodulated canopy tree species is about 1.9 %, significantly lower than that of the few nodulated, N-fixing species: 2.7%. The average phosphorus level is 0.17 % P. Mature leaves of understorey species have higher average N and P concentrations than non-nodulated canopy species and higher average P concentrations than nodulated species: 3.0 % N and 0.26 % P (Frost in press). Grass nutritional quality is lower than that of woody leaves for much of the year, 1.3-2.2 N % during the early growing season, falling to 0.5‑0.8 % during the early dry season. This is below the approximate level required to maintain grazing ungulates, and is a major constraint to livestock production in the region in the absence of supplementary feeding. 
Nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements are withdrawn from the leaves of miombo trees as the leaves age (Ernst 1975). The concentrations of N and P in senescing leaves of canopy trees are respectively about 34 % and 23 % lower than those of mature leaves. This withdrawal reduces the quantity of nutrients being recycled and lowers litter quality. Despite this, the N and P content of litterfall is higher than in other tropical moist forests at equivalent levels of N and P flux in litterfall (Vitousek 1984). Estimated annual fluxes at two dry miombo sites amounted to 30-35 kg N ha‑1 and 3.4-4.2 kg P ha‑1. 

The quality of foliage as a resource for herbivores or decomposers is also influenced by the amount of structural carbohydrates and the concentrations of secondary chemical compounds. Lignin levels are surprisingly low, less than 8 % (Jachmann 1989; Mtambanengwe and Kirchmann 1995). The level of total polyphenols is variable, 0-19 %, with non-N fixing species having higher levels on average, 10.2 %, than N-fixing species, 6.8 % (Palo et al. 1993). The difference in polyphenol:N ratios is even greater. Since leaf chemistry is a factor influencing both consumption by herbivores and decomposition, a wider survey of the chemical composition of leaves is needed, both among species and within a species through time.

The generally low nutritional quality of foliage is reflected in the low biomass of both wild and domestic herbivores. On average, the biomass density of indigenous large herbivores in conservation areas in which miombo predominates is only about 20-30 % of that expected at the same mean annual rainfall in those African ecosystems with nutrient-rich soils. In the richer ecosystems large herbivore biomass increases with increasing mean annual rainfall (Coe et al. 1976; Bell 1982), whereas in miombo it declines. Much of the herbivore biomass is made up of large-bodied species such as elephant, buffalo and selective grazers such as Lichtenstein’s hartebeest and sable and roan antelope. Specialist ungulate browsers are rare.

The level of consumption by large herbivores is low (about 1 % yr‑1 of available browse: Martin 1974) and is generally less than the amount eaten by invertebrates, mainly lepidopteran larvae (2‑4 % yr‑1 of annual tree leaf production in normal years, see Frost in press). Consumption by invertebrates is distributed differently in time and space from that by mammals. Invertebrates are active mainly in the wet season and feeding tends to be distributed more uniformly among preferred food plants at a site. There are also marked year-to-year differences in consumption, associated with periodic outbreaks of lepidoptera larvae (Malaisse-Mousset et al. 1970). In contrast, mammals are active throughout the year but, except for elephant, they feed on herbaceous and understorey plants rather than in the canopy. Feeding is also patchily distributed, due both to selectivity for plant species and parts, and to daily and seasonal movements of the animals. Selection of mature leaves by elephant in Malawi was significantly positively correlated with the sugar and mineral content of tree leaves, and negatively correlated with total polyphenol, lignin and steroidal saponin levels (Jachmann and Bell 1985; Jachmann 1989). The controls on invertebrate herbivory are not known, though secondary chemistry is likely also to be involved.

Large areas of woodland can be defoliated during insect outbreaks. This results in a temporary reduction in leaf area, though the plants rapidly produce a new flush of leaves, particularly if defoliation occurs during the early part of the growing season. Insect outbreaks also produce a pulsed flux of nutrients from trees to the litter layer in insect frass which may stimulate microbial decomposition.

Litter quality is important in regulating the rate of litter decay, though moisture availability is perhaps the overriding constraint. Nitrogen mineralisation from litter is positively correlated with the initial N content and negatively correlated with C:N, cellulose:N and lignin:N ratios, among others (Mtambanengwe and Kirchmann 1995). Both litter decay rates and N mineralisation are low during the dry season. At a wet miombo site in Zaire (1270 mm MAP) more than 90 % of leaf litter decayed within a year (Malaisse et al. 1975), compared with only about 60 % at a drier site (885 mm MAP: Swift et al. in prep.). Termites took much of the litter at the wet miombo site.

Organic matter levels in miombo soils are generally low. The average organic carbon content of A-horizon soils from 64 profiles in miombo woodland was 1.4 % (range: 0.3-3.8 %). Organic carbon levels in dambo grasslands are substantially higher: 8.0 %, range 1.1‑21.8 %. Low organic matter is a consequence of several factors: a preponderance of low-activity clays; high soil temperatures; the frequent incidence of fire; and the abundance of termites (Trapnell et al. 1976; Jones 1989). Widespread foraging on litter by termites of the family Macrotermitinae, most of which is completely decomposed by cellulase-producing fungi in their mounds, is particularly important (Jones 1989).

The size, density and regularity of tall termitaria is one of the prominent features of miombo landscapes. Tall mounds made by Macrotermes species can occur at densities of up to 5 mounds ha‑1, covering about 8 % of the area (Malaisse 1973). At this density, the biomass of Macrotermes species alone may be as much as 46 kg DM ha‑1, outweighing other soil fauna groups except humivorous termites. The biomass of the latter has been estimated to be up to 61 kg ha‑1 (Goffinet 1976). This high biomass of termites may be responsible for considerable emissions of methane (Zimmerman et al. 1982, but see Seiler et al. 1984). Considerable amounts of methane are likely also to be emitted from seasonally flooded dambo soils, while during the dry season miombo soils generally may be a sink for methane.

Termite mound soils have higher levels of total N, acid-extractable P and cations than surrounding soils (Watson 1977; Trapnell et al. 1976; Jones 1989), due to both the concentration in, and subsequent decomposition of, organic matter within the mounds (Jones 1989), and the concentration of minerals through the evaporation of soil water in chimneys within the mound (Weir 1973). This produces nutrient-rich patches within an otherwise nutrient-poor landscape. The termitaria, as a result, invariably support distinctively different vegetation from the surrounding woodlands (Malaisse 1978b), and are often the focus of activity for birds and other animals which might otherwise not do so well in such a largely unproductive environment. Termitarium soil is widely used by farmers as an amendment to their fields (Watson 1977).

Miombo is notable among dry tropical woodlands and forests for the number of tree species having ectomycorrhizae (ECM) rather than vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) associations (Högberg 1982, 1992; Högberg and Piearce 1986). Most of the dominant tree species including species of Brachystegia, Julbernardia, Isoberlinia (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae), Marquesia and Monotes (Dipterocarpaceae) and Uapaca (Euphorbiaceae) have ectomycorrhizae. Fewer tree species in miombo have VAM, and only some of these are nodulated and so potentially fix nitrogen. In contrast, many of the dominant understorey shrubs and herbs are nodulated, particularly in regularly burnt communities. The dominance of ECM tree species in miombo may reflect the advantage that such species have on seasonally-dry infertile soils; the few other tropical ecosystems dominated by ECM tree species also occur on infertile soils (Högberg 1982). Ecto-mycorrhizae may be particularly important in enabling plants to take up nutrients direct from the litter. The mycorrhizae depend on carbon supplied by the host plant but the cost of maintenance to the plants has not been measured in miombo. It could be substantial.

Dry season fires are a regular and frequent feature of miombo ecosystems (Trapnell 1959), occurring at most sites at 1-3 yearly intervals. Fires in miombo probably constitute the single largest area burned in the world, around 1 million km2 yr-1 (Scholes et al. 1996). Fire-return intervals depend on fuel accumulation rates, both at the site and in the surrounding vegetation, and on proximity to potential sources of ignition. Fires in the miombo region are an important source of trace gas emissions, methane, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide (Scholes et al. 1996, Andreae et al. 1996). Most fires probably originate accidentally from people preparing land for cultivation, collecting honey, or making charcoal (Chidumayo 1995). Deliberate burning is done by hunters and livestock owners, to provide a green flush that attracts the animals. Fire is also used to clear areas around homesteads and alongside paths between settlements.

Fires in miombo are fuelled largely by grass and fine woody material, and their impact on plants depends on their intensity and timing in relation to plant phenology. Late dry season fires are more intense and destructive than fires occurring in the early dry season when fuel moisture contents are relatively high and ambient temperatures and windspeeds are low. Fuel load is largely a function of time since the last fire, the previous season’s rainfall (which determines grass production), the amount of grazing and the extent of woody plant cover. Fires tend to be more frequent and intense in areas of low woodland cover and high mean annual rainfall, where grass production is high but where grass quality and therefore grazing pressure is low. Emission factors for trace emissions from these fires can vary by a factor of 6 to 8, depending on grass:woodland ratio (Ward et al. 1996).

Four functional groups of miombo plants are recognised in relation to their degree of tolerance to fire (Trapnell 1959; Lawton 1978): fire-intolerant, such as the forest species; fire-tender (including most of the dominant canopy species when young); and semi-tolerant and fire-tolerant species. Changes in fire frequency therefore change vegetation structure and composition. Frequent late dry season fires eventually transform woodland into open, tall grass savannah with only isolated, fire-tolerant canopy trees and scattered understorey trees and shrubs. In contrast, woody plants are favoured by both early burning and complete protection. Since grass biomass declines sharply as tree cover increases, a period without fire would lead to gradual tree canopy closure, the suppression of grass growth, and lower fuel loads. Lower fuel loads mean less intense fires, less damage to woody plants, uninterrupted woody regrowth and continued canopy closure. 

Fire interacts with large herbivores in affecting vegetation structure (Guy 1989). Elephants are well known for their habit of ringbarking, breaking, pushing over and uprooting trees and shrubs (Thomson 1975). This transforms relatively dense woodlands into more open wooded grasslands with scattered tall trees, resprouting tree stumps, and a dense layer of low growing shrubs. The increased grass production leads to higher dry season fuel loads, more frequent and intense fires and further suppression of woody plants. 

The dominant trend in regenerating miombo in the absence of frequent hot fires or other intense disturbances is therefore towards the development of woodland (Strang 1974). The trees are difficult to eradicate, most of the woody plants resprout vigorously from surviving stems and rootstocks. Only where the plants are thoroughly uprooted during disturbance are marked changes in composition likely. Both the dispersability and longevity of the seeds of Brachystegia, Julbernardia and most other Caesalpinioideae are low so that, where the trees are eliminated, recovery to the original state, at best, will be slow. 

The dynamics of miombo woodlands have been interpreted largely in terms of a single-state equilibrium model of succession to a regional climax vegetation - dense woodland in drier regions and semi-evergreen or evergreen forest in wetter areas ‑ with fire and disturbance by people or wildlife being the main agents of disturbance (Freson et al. 1974; Strang 1974; Lawton 1978). For example, Freson et al. (1974) propose a three‑stage regressive series (dense dry forest‑open miombo woodland‑savannah) induced by the combination of wood cutting and fire. The view that miombo is a sub-climax formation arises partly from observations of miombo juxtaposed with patches of evergreen forest where topography and soils seem superficially to be the same (e.g., Lawton 1978). White (1983), however, notes that where evergreen forest occurs alongside wet miombo there is a transition to deeper soils, suggesting an edaphic control.

More recently, there have been attempts to describe miombo dynamics in terms of multi-state models in which, following abandonment of cultivated fields, or the combined impacts of elephants and fire, there is a transition either to open woodland dominated by Combretum spp. or to grassland (Stromgaard 1986; Starfield et al. 1993). Fire is considered to be the driving force behind the transitions. A longer than normal fire-free period is needed to return the vegetation to Brachystegia-dominated woodland.

Few studies of vegetation change in miombo have followed changes at a site over time. Most interpretations have been based instead on contemporaneous studies of the vegetation at a number of sites presumed to differ only in fire regime (Trapnell 1959; Lawton 1978; Chidumayo 1988) or time since abandonment of cultivation (Stromgaard 1986). Short-term studies in any event are unlikely to produce many insights, given that most of the tree species, including all the canopy dominants, are relatively long-lived (lifespans 60-120 years). Simulation models of plant community dynamics (e.g., Desanker and Prentice 1994), supported by long-term monitoring of vegetation change at a range of sites, will be needed to predict vegetation change under existing and changed conditions.

Land Uses in Miombo

Human population densities over much of the miombo region are relatively low, averaging about 15 persons km-2 (range: 7-8 persons km-2 in Angola and Zambia to over 110 persons km-2 in Malawi), generally lower than those found in climatically similar areas elsewhere in Africa. Population growth rates are high, 2.5-3.5 % per annum, and although some of the increase in population is being absorbed by urbanisation (bringing its own problems), the expanding populations mean greater demands on the land and its resources and changes in the kinds and intensities of land use.

There is considerable diversity in the ways people use miombo (Trapnell and Clothier 1937; Allan 1965; Puzo 1978). Apart from commercial farming (tobacco, maize, soya) and land set aside for wildlife conservation and tourism (national parks, safari areas and game reserves etc.) the main form of land use is small-scale sedentary and shifting cultivation of maize, cassava, small grains and pulses. Where present, dambos are used for growing cereals and root crops during the wet season, and for growing vegetables and grazing livestock during the dry season. The interfluves are used for cultivating rain-fed crops, wet-season grazing, and as the source of wood for fuel and construction, as well as of various non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Apart from the drier areas of Zimbabwe and Tanzania, there are relatively few livestock, many fewer than people would like to have. The reasons are complex; low forage quality and animal diseases are major proximate constraints, themselves reflections of broader influences of climate, geology and soils (Bell 1982).

Many households depend on natural products derived from the surrounding woodlands and grasslands. These products include fuelwood, charcoal, timber, thatching grass, fibre, fruit, mushrooms, honey, edible caterpillars and other animals, organic inputs for fields, fodder for livestock, and many other items. At least 50 edible plant species are recorded from miombo (Malaisse 1978a). A number of cultural practices, largely unique to the miombo region in their extent, have developed in response to some of the prominent ecological features of miombo ecosystems. For example, the widespread traditions of bee-keeping, gathering mushrooms, and collecting edible caterpillars reflect, respectively, the dominance of prolific flowering entomophilous trees (Clauss 1992); the dominance of tree species with ectomycorrhizal associations, many of which produce edible mushrooms (Pegler and Piearce 1980); and periodic eruptions of some lepidoptera populations (Malaisse-Mousset et al. 1970).

The farmers use miombo landscapes in a fine-grained manner, exploiting localised patches of higher fertility and avoiding areas of particularly poor soils (Carter and Murwira 1995). Because of the low fertility of most of the soils, few areas, other than fertile alluvium in river valleys, can be cultivated continuously without a decline in fertility. Organic amendments (leaf litter, manure), termitarium soil, ash from burnt brush piles and, where available and affordable, inorganic fertilizers, are used to counter low and declining soil fertility (Swift et al. 1989; Carter and Murwira 1995). Shifting cultivation is carried out where there is enough land, though this is changing as population pressures increase (Chidumayo 1987a; Stromgaard 1989).

Slash-and-burn (ash-fertilisation) agriculture in particular is widely practised in miombo. The practice appears well adapted to the generally infertile soils of miombo, particularly in the wetter regions where woody plant biomass is high and cut trees regenerate rapidly through resprouting. The best-known of these is the large-circle chitemene system practised by the Bemba people of northern Zambia and southeastern Zaire (Richards 1939; Allan 1965; Puzo 1978). In this system the foliage and outer branches of trees are cut from an outfield area and stacked in an infield area where they are left to dry before being burnt just prior to the annual rains. The outfield area is about 5-8 times larger than the infield area, which averages about 0.3 ha (range 0.02-1.03 ha). Traditionally, the trees are not stumped but are allowed to resprout before again being harvested about 25 years later (Chidumayo 1987a; Stromgaard 1988).

The plots to be chopped are selected on the amount of wood available for burning (Puzo 1978). By concentrating the brush into large piles, rather than spreading them over a wider area, farmers obtain a deeper ash bed and a greater fertilising effect through the release of plant nutrients and increases in soil pH (Stromgaard 1984; Mapiki 1988; Araki 1992). A deeper ash bed reduces the amount of soil tillage required, an advantage to farmers who have no livestock, while the greater fertility contributes to larger crop yields. This means that the plots to be cultivated can be smaller and more manageable. More brush also means a hotter fire, more complete combustion of the plant material, and the suppression of weeds during the first few years of cultivation. The land is cultivated until the added fertility is exhausted or until the regenerating woody vegetation and weeds make continued cultivation unproductive. The plot is then abandoned to a long fallow period and new fields are opened up (Puzo, 1978).

Various other forms of shifting cultivation occur within the region. Some are variants of the chitemene system described above, others involve short-rotation fallows. On inherently infertile soils, a long fallow period is necessary for replenishment of both the vegetation and soil nutrients. With the ongoing expansion of the human population in the region, leading to a reduction in the area of uncultivated land, fallow periods are becoming shorter and shifting cultivation is gradually being replaced by more permanent agriculture (Lawton 1982; Chidumayo 1987a; Stromgaard 1989). As the duration of the fallow declines, trees are felled rather than lopped to produce sufficient biomass to burn and fertilize the soil, reducing subsequent fallows to a fire-maintained wooded grassland called chipya. Eventually, most of the potentially arable land is cultivated more-or-less permanently. In the absence of more intensive soil fertility management, this is likely to result in a gradual and long-lasting decline in fertility.

Shifting cultivation is often viewed as an early stage in agricultural development, conditioned by low population densities (and therefore plenty of uncultivated land and no incentive to develop more intensive methods of farming) and limited technology. In miombo, this argument is extended to cover the impact of tsetse fly, mainly Glossina morsitans, the vector of the protozoan blood parasites, Trypanosoma spp., that cause trypanosomiasis (‘sleeping sickness’ in humans; nagana among domestic livestock). The threat posed by trypanosomiasis is thought to prevent people from keeping domestic livestock, particularly cattle and donkeys, leading to shortages of animal draught power and manure for fertilising the fields; inefficient hand-cultivation of small plots; rapid exhaustion of the soil; and early abandonment in favour of virgin woodland elsewhere.

At best, this is a gross oversimplification of the complexities involved in the development and practice of shifting agriculture. Richards (1985) has cautioned against viewing shifting cultivation as a single, undifferentiated system of farming, distinct from permanent cultivation, for example. Instead, it should be seen to constitute a range of actions, among a wider array of land-use practices, each used according to particular ecological and economic circumstances. 
Given the low nutrient status and high acidity of the soils it is perhaps more appropriate to view chitemene as well-adapted strategy of ash-fertilisation that makes use of the inherent capacity of the plants to resprout when cut, and which allows people with limited resources to overcome the constraints of their environment through capitalising on the nutrients stored in the vegetation.
The presence of tsetse fly undoubtedly has affected human ecology in miombo, but not necessarily in the way and to the extent commonly assumed. 

The presence of tsetse fly and the threat of trypanosomiasis seems to have determined pre-colonial settlement patterns and densities. For example, in south-eastern Tanzania, people lived in small isolated settlements, minimising the risk of infection by human trypanosomiasis (Matzke 1979). People responded to outbreaks of sleeping sickness by abandoning the affected areas and dispersing to new settlements at lower densities. The alternative response, widely promoted by colonial authorities, was to consolidate people into large enough concentrations to clear and keep open the surrounding bush thereby destroying tsetse fly habitat in a sufficient radius around the settlement and associated agricultural lands (Matzke 1979). This was possible in drier areas but has proved difficult to sustain in wetter regions where tree regrowth rates are high and the soils too infertile to be able to support the local density of people needed to keep the vegetation open (Matzke 1979). The presence of tsetse fly still governs aspects of agricultural, veterinary and development policies in the region. Attempts to rid miombo of tsetse fly through bush-clearing, eradication of wildlife, ground- and aerial-spraying of insecticides, and the use of insecticide-impregnated, odour-baited ‘targets’, have all had, and continue to have, an impact on land use and land cover across large areas of miombo. 

Land use in miombo therefore reflects a range of adaptations by farmers to the intrinsic constraints and opportunities of climate, landscapes, soils, vegetation, animals, pests and disease. Many of the adaptations, however, have developed under different socio-economic and demographic circumstances from those prevailing today, and are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain as populations increase and the demand for agricultural land intensifies. Population growth, however, is not the only, nor necessarily the main, cause of pressure on natural resources. Superimposed on a largely inherently infertile environment are inequalities in land distribution; unsecured tenure; deteriorating economic circumstances; lack of credit; technical advances in disease-control and agricultural production; commoditisation of agriculture; declining terms of trade among less developed countries on world trade markets; increasing commercialisation of natural products; and frequent droughts. 

Individually and interactively, these factors are affecting the patterns of land-use and productivity. Large areas of woodland have been, and continue to be, modified or transformed by people. The changes include reductions in tree density due to frequent harvesting for fuelwood, charcoal production, construction material, and slash for burning and fertilising fields; declines in woodland cover due to frequent burning; and conversion to permanently cultivated land or, to a much lesser extent, plantations of fast-growing non-miombo trees. These changes in land cover and ecological functioning have long-term socio-economic impacts (such as reductions in the availability of NTFPs, less forage for livestock, and fewer inputs to sustain the fertility of increasing areas of arable land), as well as a range of environmental impacts affecting ecological functioning, carbon storage, trace gas emissions, hydrology and regional climate (Justice et al. 1994 ). This programme is aimed at understanding these impacts and their consequences.

Key Issues in the IGBP Miombo Network 

At the Miombo Intercore Project Meeting in Zomba, key issues for a miombo global change research initiative were identified, these were formulated into series of research questions and hypotheses which are presented below.

What are the Current Directions and Rates of Change in Land Use and Land Cover?

Human activities are central to the current dynamics of miombo ecosystems. The extensive and intensive use of the soils and vegetation by agrarian communities has undoubtedly shaped, and continues to shape, much of the present miombo landscape. The details, however, have still to be fully revealed and understood. Much of the available data are descriptive rather than analytical; collected in different ways, making comparisons difficult; short-term, so that lagged feedbacks are not apparent; and focused either at the micro-scale, with extreme emphasis on local detail, or at a regional or larger scale, where the data are so aggregated and generalised that the underlying processes are difficult to discern. 

There is therefore an urgent need to link the findings of site-, time-, and circumstance-specific case studies with the broader findings of regional studies of land-use and land-cover change. A more systematic approach is required that aims to understand which details of human circumstances, knowledge, perceptions, motives, actions and responses, so apparent at a local scale, emerge as pattern and influence processes at a larger scale. Moreover, because the circumstances are not static, the focus of research must shift from descriptions of pattern to studies of processes.

•	What are the present patterns of land use in miombo, and what are their historical, socio-economic and environmental determinants?
•	To what extent, in what ways, and at what rates are the patterns of land use changing, and why?
•	What are the external driving forces and internal modifiers of the changes in land use and land cover?
•	What are the effects on land use of current macroeconomic policies, and of sectoral policies on agriculture, forestry and conservation? 
•	Can the location and rates of future land use change be predicted?
•	How are these changes altering the attributes of different land cover types and their spatial patterns (sizes, shapes, contiguity and connectivity)?

One hypothesis is that traditional land use practices are governed by the constraints of infertile soils, inadequate draught power (due to a shortage of livestock because of poor-quality grazing and the prevalence of animal diseases), and limited markets for produce. These constraints are currently being alleviated through a wider use of fertilizers and cattle feed supplements, the control of disease, and improvements in infrastructure, coupled with a rapidly-growing population and political stabilization in southern Africa. The prediction is that these developments will lead in turn to massive changes in land use and land cover throughout the miombo region in the coming decades. The process is already observable in countries such as Malawi and Zimbabwe. The rapid conversion of large areas of cerrado in Brazil to crop lands during the 1980s illustrates the speed with which the process can occur once constraints are removed.

Other important issues relate to the human dimensions of land use and resource allocation in this important and sensitive region. Transnational and internal demographic factors, most notably migration, must be considered part of the research. In addition, broad issues which relate land use practices to cultural attributes on the one hand and market forces on the other must be considered in terms of understanding the current and future trajectories of land use and cover change in Miombo. For instance one hypothesis is that strong culturally-endowed land use practices limit peasant involvement in market economies; that African peasants deliberately refuse to be captured by the market economy. Finally the tenent that land use intensification cannot take place in this region must be examined critically.

What are the Consequences of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change?

Changes in land use and land cover in miombo potentially affect a wide range of socio-economic and environmental processes. Reductions in the area of uncultivated woodlands may reduce the availability of fuel wood, construction material, and non-timber forest products; diminish the area of communal grazing land; and adversely affect the free ecological services provided by trees. Such impacts may fall disproportionately on the poorest members of society, worsening their socio-economic circumstances. Reductions in tree canopy cover can adversely affect local, and possibly regional, climates through effects on albedo, air temperatures and relative humidity (Malaisse 1978a), while the reduced leaf area means lower evapotrans-piration rates, greater recharge of groundwater, and changes in hydrological functioning downstream (McFarlane and Whitlow 1990). Conversion to permanently cropped land, in the absence of intensive soil management, can lead to reductions in soil organic matter, nutrient depletion, and soil erosion. In all cases, changes in the kinds and rates of emission of trace gases can be expected.
Regional Climate

The land surface, and in particular vegetation, regulates the partitioning of radiant energy into different components. This partitioning is an important boundary condition for the climate system at all scales. Changes in land surface properties will result in changes in energy partitioning, and hence in climate. The land surface is also important for climate as it is a major potential source of radiatively reflective particulates and radiatively active trace gases such as CO2 and methane. Complex feedbacks exist between the land surface and climate which operate through both the hydrological and carbon cycles.

Processes that influence surface albedo are reviewed by Henderson‑Sellers and Wilson (1983). In general, human‑induced land‑use changes tend to increase albedo, resulting in more energy being reflected back into the atmosphere. It has been suggested that this contributes to warming of the upper troposphere, which in turn leads to greater atmospheric stability and less convective rainfall (Shukla et al. 1990). Gornitz (1985, 1987) reconstructed land use changes in West Africa from historical records, censuses, atlases and descriptive reports and calculated changes in albedo due to alterations in land use. He concluded that evidence for apparent desiccation or ‘desert creep’ (‘desertification’) may be attributed, in large part, to adverse changes in soil and stream hydrology caused by anthropogenic disruption of the vegetation cover (Gornitz 1985). There are many counteracting factors to take into account when predicting how land-use changes might affect climate. Therefore, it is important to document the details of land cover and reconstruct its dynamics to analyze the effects of changes on the fluxes of energy and water, and how these in turn will affect climate.

•	What are the phenological characteristics, physical features (plant height, density, cover, leaf area and distribution) and surface attributes (albedo, surface roughness, canopy conductance) of different land cover types in miombo?
•	In what ways do these features influence soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions?
•	What is the impact of widespread, frequent fires on surface albedo, energy and water balance, and surface roughness?
•	What effects do interannual climate variability have on land use, soil-
vegetation-atmospheric interactions and the frequency of fire?

Water Resources

The headwaters of several major southern and Central African river systems lie in the miombo region. These rivers, on which many people depend, include the Zambezi, Kafue, Lualaba, Okavango, Ruaha, Rufiji, Rovuma, Save and Zaire. Changes in land cover are likely to have a variety of impacts on the total amount of water reaching these rivers, the timing of discharge, and on water quality (especially sediment and nutrient contents). For example, reductions in tree canopy cover on interfluves has been shown to increase annual streamflow in the upper Kafue River (Mumeka 1986), while augmented groundwater flow has been implicated in faster rates of subaerial erosion of dambos (McFarlane and Whitlow 1990).

•	In what ways, and to what extent, do changes in land use and land cover affect local, landscape and regional hydrological processes?
•	What is the relationship between land use and mass transport of the products of interfluve erosion, and what is the impact on water storage capacity downstream?
•	What effects will these changes have on the availability and quality of both surface and subsurface water resources?
•	What is the impact of more intensive land use of wetlands, particularly dambos?
•	In what ways might changes in climate, including changes in rainfall variability, affect patterns of land use, water storage, and water quality?

Carbon Storage and Trace Gas Emissions

The wide extent of miombo means that land use change in the region could have globally-significant impacts. Miombo landscapes are the main source of the cloud of tropospheric ozone which drifts off Africa every September (Fishman et al. 1991), and are the source of about 10% of the global carbon monoxide and biomass‑burning aerosol particle budgets (Scholes et al. 1996a). Detailed analyses of tropospheric ozone over southern Africa are given in Thompson et al. (1996a and 1996b). The miombo woodlands are also significant sources of nitric oxide from biogenic processes in the soil; methane from the dambo wetlands, ruminants and termites; and non-methane hydrocarbons from the vegetation.

Mature miombo woodlands contain about 95-136 Mg C ha‑1 in the vegetation (~40 %) and soil (~60 %), depending on climate. Conversion of these woodlands to short-duration crop agriculture would release large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, perhaps as much as 50 Mg C ha‑1, or about 14 Pg C if the entire miombo region were to be converted. This is a potentially large contribution in relation to the current annual global flux due to land use change of about 1.6 Pg C yr‑1 (IPCC 1996). On the other hand, if miombo woodlands were managed to maximise carbon storage, a substantial quantity of carbon could be sequestered in biomass, soils and woodland products. 

•	What are the major trace-gas fluxes between miombo ecosystems and the atmosphere, and how do these differ among the various land-cover types?
•	What are the controls on these fluxes?
•	What effects do changes in land use and land cover have on the flux of trace gases, both during conversion and afterwards?
•	What are the types and amounts and geographic distribution of trace-gas emissions from different kinds of biomass fires (wildfires, slash-and-burn, hearth fires, charcoal fires), and what is their interannual variability?
•	What are the residual (post-fire) effects of wildfires on the exchange of trace gases among soils, vegetation, and the atmosphere? 

Natural Resources

The principle natural resources derived from miombo woodlands are not reflected in the formal economy. They consist of fuelwood and charcoal, essential for household energy for millions of people; fruit and other foods - honey, edible fungi, edible caterpillars, rodents and other small animals; timber for house construction; thatching grass; and wood and fibre for making household implements, baskets and other handicrafts. Rainfall in the miombo area is variable, resulting in periodic food shortages. On these occasions, the availability of wild foods, as well as other natural products that can be harvested and sold or exchanged for food, can be crucial to survival. These products also supplement peoples’ livelihoods and diets during high-production years.

•	What are the present trends in the use of natural resources of miombo?
•	What impacts are present policies on land use (agriculture, forestry, conservation), agricultural credit, pricing and marketing, and economic structural adjustment, having on the resource-use practices at local and regional scales? What would be the potential impact of major changes in these policies?
•	What is the impact of commercialization on the patterns of resource use?
•	What are the key ecological processes sustaining production in miombo ecosystems and how are these being affected by land use change?
•	In what ways are changes in land use affecting the kinds and availability of natural products?
•	To what extent are these changes affecting the patterns and intensities of use of these resources?

What Controls the Distribution of Miombo Species and Ecosystems?

The ability to understand the course of ecological change and to predict its longer-term consequences depends greatly on the level of understanding of how a particular ecosystem functions and what controls the distribution and abundance of key species. Miombo forms one of the major ecosystem types in Africa, occurring over a wide climatic range and a somewhat narrower range of soils, yet still displaying a relatively sharp transition to other major formations. Any Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) must be able to predict the current extent of miombo if it is to be useful in predicting the consequences of future climate change. Existing DGVMs have been developed from a north-temperate perspective and are largely untested for major tropical formations. Similarly there is a need for such models to incorporate land use (e.g. fire) as an integrated ecosystem process.

A working hypothesis is that the distribution of miombo ecosystems is controlled by four factors: warm temperatures; moderate rainfall; a marked dry season; and infertile soils. The present biophysical boundaries of miombo are considered to be determined by climatic factors and soil fertility as follows:

•	The upper altitudinal limit and possibly the southern geographical limit of miombo is controlled by low temperature (~-4 oC absolute mean minimum temperature: Ernst 1971).
•	There is a lower limit to the length of the dry season (~4 months) below which either the trees are evergreen and form a closed canopy, precluding fire, or the soil is permanently saturated and supports hydromorphic grasslands and swamp forest.
•	There is a lower limit to water availability (700-1500 mm yr‑1 and a minimum of 90-100 days growth opportunity annually) below which trees belonging to the Caesalpinioideae are replaced by more arid-adapted groups.
•	There is an upper limit to soil fertility, primarily in terms of P availability and possibly pH, above which miombo species are out-competed by faster growing species characteristic of Acacia-dominated savannahs.

The distribution of the key miombo species is likely to be controlled by a similar combination of climatic and edaphic factors.

What Controls Primary Production in Miombo Ecosystems?

The working hypothesis is that primary production in miombo ecosystems is broadly related to rainfall, but is everywhere strongly constrained by nutrient availability, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. The relative importance of these two elements, and the extent to which they interact in their effects on miombo production, is not fully known. Because primary production underpins both the natural resource potential of miombo and its potential for absorbing or emitting greenhouse gases, the question of the controls on primary production is of fundamental importance.

The structure and composition of miombo woodlands, and hence its production potential, is also affected by disturbances such as fire and the felling of trees by people or elephants. These disturbances in turn affect the availability of water and nutrients, often positively. The nature of the interactions between climate, disturbance, structure, composition and function need to be explored more systematically, not least because they probably hold the key to understanding how miombo species and systems will respond to changes in global climate.

Core Experiments, Activities and Tasks

The proposed research on Miombo is partitioned into seven core experiments and a set of integrating activities that cut across the core experiments. The order in which they are listed does not reflect any particular priority. The approach taken begins with analyses of the character and dynamics of land use and cover change, which is then tied to its ecological effects. In essence, the approach described below first defines the causes of land use and cover change, and then its consequences in ecological terms. 

It is recognized that there will also be significant social, institutional and economic consequences to changing land use patterns in the region, and this component will be developed at a later point through close collaboration with the appropriate Programme Elements of the IHDP, such as its emerging Institutions Project. However, since the program structure of the IHDP is in its formative stages, this report focuses the discussion of consequences of LUCC in biophysical terms.

The first two Core Experiments define an approach which is parallel to Focus 1 and Focus 2 of the LUCC Science Plan (IGBP Report 35/HDP Report 7). The approach articulated in this document heavily emphasizes Focus 2 of LUCC, which is oriented around direct observations and empirical models. This approach, which could be called “pattern to process”, begins with analyses of the spatial and temporal characteristics of LUCC in the region, and then, through case studies, attempts to define the underlying processes at various scales which give rise to the patterns observed. Further refinement of the science plan is expected, and in doing so the Core research activities would expand the work of Focus 1 through more detailed case studies.

Core Experiment 1: Land Use Dynamics

Case studies, along with spatial analyses from direct observation (Core Experiment 2) can be used to build sets of micro- and meso-level models of land-use and land-cover change through time. The goals of such an approach are both description and explanation in the form of useful causal understanding (Clark, Jones and Holling 1979).

The aim of this experiment is to develop and test hypotheses regarding the controls on land use in the miombo region. The complexity of the problem deepens with the understanding that three dimensions of drivers - socio-economic, biophysical, and land management (proximate causes) - are relevant to land-use/cover change, two of which involve adaptive agents and systems that respond to and sometimes anticipate changes in the other spheres. Global change modellers have only recently begun to deal with this problem with regard even to biotic feedbacks (Baskin 1993). An approach that integrates the three spheres, therefore, is not only necessary, it is forward looking.

The approach will consider the multiple ways in which land cover and human activity interact. It can change as a result of: (i) independent changes in biophysical drivers (e.g., climate and atmospheric change); (ii) direct alteration (e.g., deforestation); (iii) indirectly mediated through the biophysical processes (e.g., groundwater withdrawal leading to a lowered water table and to reduced stream flow and altered vegetation); or (iv) a more complex chain of human activity, which feeds back to human activity, which then directly alters land cover (e.g., human introduction of rinderpest, change in wild herbivore population, advance of woodland with tsetse, leading ultimately to mechanised clearing, see Sinclair 1979).

There are two steps to disaggregating this problem of multiple factors. The first is to divide forcing functions into social and biophysical drivers and proximal drivers. The second is to analyse each set of drivers in terms of spatial and temporal scale in an attempt to resolve at least some of the complexity and controversy regarding multiple driving forces. This step draws on Holling’s argument that the dynamic behaviour of many ecological systems can be explained by a few driving forces operating at characteristic frequencies and spatial scales - the extended keystone hypothesis (Holling 1992).

Available data (mostly descriptive) will be collated and new data collected. These data will be used to discern underlying processes of land-use change at the regionl scale. Land-use change models will be constructed and will include factors such as biophysical suitability of broad areas for various land uses; trends in regional and global economics and trade; and regional demographic trends. Results from this experiment will be used along with land cover change information from the Land Cover Dynamics Experiment to develop an understanding of how land cover changes are driven by land-use changes.

The kinds of questions which will be emphasized relate to the spatial and temporal dynamics of land use and cover change, in particular investigating what controls the interannual vaiability of land use changes as well as its spatial pattern over time. The research will consider such questions as: (a) Are the inter-annual dynamics and rates of land conversion and abandonment to secondary forest significantly different than the decadal mean trends; and (b) Through the integration of socioeconomic and satellite data and the development of dynamic LUCC models, can we improve our understanding of the dynamics of LUCC and the various controls (proximate and distant determinants) on rates of conversion and regrowth and land use transition sequences?

Activity 1	Microscale Land Use Case Studies

Case studies will document important factors for major current land-use systems such as shifting cultivation, slash and burn systems, modern village scale agriculture, cash-economy agriculture, and government land use (forest reserves, national parks, plantations). Studies will also document patterns of land-use in areas constrained by major pests and disease, such as the tsetse fly and sleeping sickness. Some of these data exist in the region, and will be collated and evaluated. 

Task 1	Case Studies of Specific Land-Use Systems, Communities and Cultures

Activity 2	Historical Land-Use Patterns

The purpose of this activity is to build datasets for the development and testing of models. These will be reconstructed from written records for the period 5000 to 20 years ago. Recent data will rely heavily on remote sensing products and regional/global data sets developed by various agencies such as FAO, CIESEN, World Bank, and national archives.

Task 1	Reconstruction of Land Cover and Land-Use over the Last 300 years
Task 2	Development of Spatial Database of Land Use and Socio-Economic Drivers
Task 3	Archaeological and Historical Studies of Land‑Use Patterns 

Activity 3	Regional Land-Use Change Modelling

The current distribution of land cover, recent trends in land use change when combined with existing socio-economic data bases and trends can be used to model potential changes of land cover and land-use change under different scenarios of population, economy and climate change. In the miombo region there are several relatively small scale studies (e.g., Scudder 1982; Kalipeni et al. 1988) which can form the basic platform for creating a model for the entire region. Scudder has studied one area over a 30+year period, while Kalipeni et al. have documented a case study of the rural communities supporting a major city. Other case studies exist. Information like these is invaluable in looking at human dimensions of land cover change. The main purpose is to build a predictive model of land use change that will capture our current understanding of land use systems in the region. The model will be used to develop scenarios for the immediate future given population and socio-economic projections.

The causes of land cover conversion have often been attributed to such things as population growth, road building, and a host of other similar monotonically varying. Although population and infrastructure are important long term determinants of general trends over decades, interannual variability is not tightly linked to such parameters. Econometric variables such as variations in price structures and local market demands are likely to be better predictors of deforestation and abandonment rates over short time cycles. It is possible to couple satellite-based LUCC datasets to socio-economic data to build diagnostic models of the LUCC process. 
Such models could provide: (a) an improved understanding of the factors which control variations in LUCC rates annually; (b) an improved understanding of the factors which determine the rate of secondary fallow forest clearing; and (c) an improved understanding of the factors which control the balance between deforestation (the bringing of land into production) and abandonment (the taking of land out of production).

It is possible to develop models at two levels. The first are models based at Case Study sites and focused on establishing the critical village-level variables, dynamics and proximate determinants. The second level of model analysis could be developed at the scale of countries or the region. The Case Studies can be used to calibrate the regional model and provide a basis and location for validation of regional results. 

Task 1	Develop Multiscale Model of Land-Use Dynamics
Task 2	Develop Scenarios of Land Use and Land Cover for Next 30 years 

Core Experiment 2: Land Cover Dynamics

Activity 1	Land Cover Change Mapping and Analysis 

Recent developments through the NASA Landsat Pathfinder Program have shown that large regions of tropical forest can be mapped using high resolution satellite data to provide the basis for carbon balance studies and natural resource management (Skole and Tucker 1993). Time series satellite data over the last twenty years are used to derive the location, extent and rates of deforestation. Similar base maps are now needed for the miombo region. Due to the strong seasonality and inter-annual variability of vegetation of the miombo system there is the need to augment the Pathfinder approach to ensure selection of the optimum period for discrimination of the desired land cover types and to enable interannual comparisons. This proposed activity would provide a pilot study to evaluate the synergistic use of time-series coarse resolution and temporal samples of high resolution data. The activity would also need to match the components of the miombo system that can be mapped using these complimentary data types with the vegetation classes required by the miombo scientists. During this pilot study period it will be important to ascertain the current status of land cover mapping within the miombo region and identify any recent developments using satellite data to map vegetation and vegetation change. For example, the current status and plans of the United Nations/Food and Agricultural Organization (UN/FAO) Africover Project, World Bank REIMP project, the FAO 2000 Tropical Forest Assessment, the Zimap/SPOT national image mapping project are complementary projects already identified which will involve various national forestry and mapping agencies within the region. Close coordination is desirable with such on-going land cover mapping projects.

Research and development is underway to develop new and improved techniques for surface parameterisation using existing and planned satellite remote sensing systems e.g., Running et al. (1995). There will be a considerable advantage to having the IGBP Transects provide a test bed for developing and testing these algorithms. For example, involvement of miombo scientists in the evaluation of these resulting data sets would help ensure the applicability of the methods to the miombo environment and an early access to improved data sets. It is quite feasible that a series of satellite product validation campaigns could be organized within the region underpinned by a strong ground measurement program. Within NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) there is currently discussion of a potential regional miombo validation campaign following the launch of the EOS AM platform.

Task 1	High Resolution Satellite Mapping of the Miombo Region

Following the pilot studies an implementation plan will be developed for a comprehensive mapping of the entire Miombo region using up-to-date high resolution imagery. Emphasis will be given to having in-country expertise closely involved in the image interpretation. The interpreted image data planes could be entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS), mosaiced, registered and mapped to a coordinate system appropriate for the region, following the Landsat Pathfinder approach (Skole and Tucker 1993). The main product will be a spatially explicit data base for mid 1990’s.

Task 2	Determination of Optimum Procedure for Mapping the Rates of Land Cover Change in Miombo

Since the availability of high resolution satellite data in the early 1970’s, demonstration studies have been undertaken using Landsat data for monitoring land cover change in the miombo environment. These studies have focused on individual study sites and intensive image analysis techniques. With the increasing availability of high resolution data for global change research and the extension of the time-series to a twenty year record, there is an interest to provide a comprehensive quantification of the rates of land use change within the region. Techniques that have been developed for humid tropical forests now need to be refined for monitoring seasonal vegetation. A pilot study will be developed to determine the optimum procedure for quantifying and mapping the rates of land cover change between the 1970’s, 1980’s and the recent baseline data. The results will be used to develop a spatially explicit data base of the rates of change over the twenty year Landsat record.

Task 3	Evaluation of the IGBP DIS 1 km Land Cover Product

The IGBP-DIS 1km Land Cover product for the region will be evaluated and refined to meet the coarse resolution data needs of the regional science community. The IGBP 1km Land Cover Product is currently being developed by the Eros Data Center (Sioux Falls, USA) and the ECE ?? Joint Research Center (Ispra , Italy) preliminary classifications of the region will be available in 1996. The classification scheme is based on an unsupervised classification approach applied to the IGBP Global 1km Product (Townsend et al. 1995). Ancillary data are used to group the clustered classes according to the functional vegetation categories identified by the Land Cover Working Group (Belward and Loveland 1995; and Running et al. 1994). Local expertise will provide an important first order validation of this segment of the global product and to suggest improvements to the interpreted data base.

Task 4	Evaluation of Satellite Methods for Direct Parameterization of Tree Density

Various methods are currently being developed to derive information concerning the mixture of trees and grass on Land Remote-Sensing Satellite (Landsat) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery. For example a regional database depicting tree cover amounts derived from 1km AVHRR data is currently being generated at the Geography Department of the University of Maryland (USA) using mixture Modelling techniques. Involvement of miombo scientists in evaluating such remote land surface parameterizations is highly desirable.

Activity 2	The Timing, Distribution and Area Extent of Fire in Miombo

Fire is an important indicator of ecosystem disturbance. Recent studies using AVHRR 1km and DMSP satellite data for southern Africa have shown extensive burning in the Miombo Region (Figure 3). The contribution of fire in the region in terms of continental trace gas and particulate emissions are starting to be quantified (Scholes et al. 1996, Kendall et al. 1996). The Miombo Initiative would benefit from the availability of a regional data base of fire timing and distribution as an input to the regional ecosystem process Modelling. An activity currently being developed by the IGBP-DIS Fire Algorithm Working Group is to make available the existing regional fire data sets to the IGBP science community. A close relationship between the IGBP-DIS Fire group and the Miombo scientists would provide an enhanced validation of these regional fire data sets. The IGBP-DIS Fire Group will be generating a global fire product within the next 18 months. 

Task 1	Validation of IGBP-DIS Fire Product for the Region

Planned controlled burns within the Miombo Region as part of experiments on miombo will be used for satellite fire algorithm validation. Such burns could be organised where appropriate in conjunction with fire process studies, similar to the approach developed in the Biomass Burning Experiment (BIBEX) SAFARI Campaign (Andreae 1995). Such validation activities also give Miombo scientists a better perspective on the accuracy and utility of the IGBP-DIS Fire product for the region.

Task 2	Direct Measurement of Annual Area Burned Using Satellite Data

This task will be developed around the IGBP-DIS 1km AVHRR data base to generate a direct measure of annual area burned for the Miombo Region from satellite data. The approach being developed by the remote sensing research community uses the 1km AVHRR daily time series to track the evolution of burn scars within the miombo landscape. An important component of this activity will be validation.

Activity 3	Landscape Patterns and Processes

The aim is to understand and predict the consequences of land cover changes for the flow of ecosystem goods and services (such as plant products, water yield, bio-
diversity) from miombo landscapes. Deforestation is widely perceived to be a priority issue throughout the miombo region. The most widely ascribed effects of deforestation are depletion or outright loss of potentially valuable resources (wood, fodder, fruits and other non-timber forest products); increased run-off, erosion and siltation; disruption of hydrological regimes; fragmentation of habitats; and loss of biodiversity. More subtle effects include reductions in carbon storage, a potentially significant factor in global climate change; redistribution of water, soil and nutrients within watersheds; spatial reorganisation and homogenisation of vegetation mosaics; changes in albedo, surface energy budgets and local microclimates; and changes in biogeochemical cycling and the flux of energy and nutrients among ecosystem compartments (Lambin 1994).

Although it is often implied that deforestation constitutes environmental degradation, this is not necessarily the case. At least initially, people usually derive a net benefit in terms of opening up new land for agriculture and increased access to, and extraction of, resources. Nevertheless, diversity, productivity and environmental quality often eventually decline, posing a number of questions. Under what circumstances do these contrasting outcomes arise? To what extent are the outcomes determined by the environment of a site (e.g. climate, soils, topography, vegetation) as opposed to socio-economic features (e.g. management, tenure, technology, information)? Do small initial changes become self-amplified, destabilizing the soils and vegetation to a point of irreversible change, or are there processes which function to stabilize the changes? If so, in either case, what are the processes and circumstances leading to these outcomes?

Figure 3
Distribution of Fires by night - DMSP product 

The following tasks will attempt to understand the consequences of land cover changes on ecosystem processes at the landscape level. This will be accomplished by quantifying the spatial organization of vegetation and soil surface features in deforested and intact landscapes; by relating the spatial organization of the landscape elements and the processes determining them to variations in climate, soil types, topography, and land management. Models will be developed to study the temporal changes in deforestation and the effects on landscape patterns, and ecosystem processes and function.

Task 1	Spatial Analysis of Miombo Landscape Units and Processes
Task 2	Development of Models of Deforestation
Task 3	Modelling Effects of Deforestation on Landscape Patterns

Box 2: 

Satellite Data Availability for the Region

Remotely sensed satellite data will play a major role in the regional project. The data can be used to parameterize or validate models as well as providing a twenty year record of land cover change in the region. The miombo region is within the coverage of the South African Receiving Station at Hartesbeesthoek. From the early 1980’s, coverage of the region by Landsat, Système pour l´Observation de la Terre (SPOT) and AVHRR data has been extensive and a systematic archive has been developed. An IGBP‑DIS data rescue activity is currently underway to secure the South African Landsat Multispectral Scanner System (MSS) archive for the region which is in danger of being lost. Additional Landsat data from the early 1970’s are available from the US National Landsat Archive at the Eros Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In addition IGBP‑DIS has been securing and archiving daily 1km data for the region since April 1992 (Townshend et al. 1994; Eidenshink and Faundeen 1994). The high cost of high resolution satellite data has long been an obstacle for the use of the data for regional studies by the science community. The IGBP‑DIS High Resolution Project is aimed at reducing this obstacle by arranging with the data providers such as NASA and CNES (?), for the provision of low cost high resolution satellite data for the IGBP research community (IGBP Report 30). The Miombo Network could benefit from participation in this project and the early identification of the satellite data needs for the project.

Core Experiment 3: Ecosystem Dynamics and Disturbance

The aim is to understand the controls on species composition and structure of miombo woodlands subject to disturbances such as harvesting, cultivation and fire. This requires an understanding of the disturbance regimes generated by different biophysical and socioeconomic drivers, alone and interactively, and a focus on the regeneration and growth rates of key miombo woodland species, as well as on more basic physiology of miombo species. This experiment will work closely with other core experiments to best capture the influence of human activity on ecosystem dynamics as well as role of nutrients and climate..

Activity 1	Tree and Ecosystem Processes Across Moisture Gradients

The aim is to synthesize and extend the current fragmentary knowledge of the ecology and physiology of the dominant miombo trees to the point where it can be used in modelling. This activity will be based on analyses of existing forestry trials in the region, primarily by the scientists responsible for these trials, and will facilitate the synthesis, interpretation and extrapolation of these data and their incorporation into models. New measurements are planned to fill gaps, and for new studies.

Task 1	Basic Measurements of Growth and Ecophysiology 

Permanent sample plots will be established to monitor growth rates, litter fall, mortality and other basic parameters. Special field campaigns will measure gas exchange properties, light conditions, and other intensive measurements for use in development of process models. This task will build upon existing networks of sample plots, and will involve many regional institutions and scientists. An important analysis in future will involve quantifying the temporal and spatial patterns of various ecological indicators (growth rates, productivity, etc.), results of which will guide field methods in miombo ecosystems.

Task 2	Experiments on Effects of Fire and Herbivory on Tree Growth and Related Ecosystem Processes

There are several ongoing studies in the region on effects of controlled fire and herbivory on development of miombo stands. This task will continue these efforts and initiate new studies to provide adequate information for definition of response surfaces for model development. A priority will be the continuation of support for field studies that have been going on for many years but are in danger of abandonment due to funding constraints.

Task 3	Observations and Modeling of Phenology

High temporal resolution satellite data (AVHRR) provide a useful record of phenological changes in miombo systems. What is needed is a wide network of field observations of phenology across the extent of miombo woodlands to provide data to calibrate and validate the AVHRR products. Field observations are particularly important as leaf fall and leaf development is very variable in miombo species (see review in Frost 1996). 

Activity 2.	Development of Patch Dynamics Models

A patch dynamics model will be developed based on field measurements taken along gradients of moisture and intensities of land use. Permanent sample plots will be established (building upon existing studies where possible) and basic measurements will be taken and used to develop growth and dynamics models. Use of functional attributes instead of species will be explored as an alternative model of vegetation dynamics, to overcome data needs for all component species of the miombo. The patch model will be based on individual trees and will build upon past efforts in this area (Desanker and Prentice 1994; Desanker 1996).  Emphasis will be on a model based on extensive field measurements, along the lines of the development of the SORTIE model (Pacala et al. 1996). Several hypotheses on the dynamics of savannah and miombo vegetation have been advanced in the past. These will be critically evaluated with any new data collected, as well as the bigger pool of data from studies from the many countries within the miombo network. In particular, the following hypotheses will be evaluated.

Hypothesis 1

There are multiple quasi-stable states in miombo vegetation structure and composition, the transitions among which are driven by the separate and combined impacts of land-use practices, wildlife (especially elephant) damage, fire, and, to a lesser extent, drought (Starfield et al., 1991).

Hypothesis 2

Closed-canopy miombo woodlands can degrade to open miombo woodland and secondary grasslands with repeated disturbances, but the process is reversible; that is, grasslands can revert to miombo (and, in the wetter regions, to semi-evergreen forest) when fire is excluded and other disturbances are minimized (Freson and Goffinet-Malaisse 1974 ???; Lawton 1978; Stromgaard 1988).

Reduced models using functional attribute approaches will be developed as well.

Task 1	Development of Patch-Scale Model of Vegetation Dynamics Based on Field Measurements

Task 2	Development of Miombo Dynamics Using Functional Attribute Approaches

Activity 3	Development of Ecosystem Process Models for Miombo

An ecosystem process model will be developed to study carbon, hydrological and nutrient dynamics of miombo ecosystems. There are several terrestrial ecosystem models that will be used as starting points, including the BGC genre of models by Running and co-workers (e.g., Running and Coughlan 1988; Running and Gower 1991; Milner, Running and Coble 1996); HYBRID (Friend et al. 1996), and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) (Melillo et al. 1993). Emphasis will be on defining a minimum model that can be parameterized with current (or newly collected) data sets, but one that will capture the main processes in miombo ecosystems. The ACRU hydrological model (Schulze 1995) will be used as the basis for the water cycle components. The new model for miombo will be used to analyze effects of land cover changes on ecosystem processes, in particular, on carbon budgeting in miombo, and the nature and extent of influences of land use/land cover changes on catchment hydrology.

Task 1	Development of a Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) of C, N and P pools and Fluxes for the Miombo Region

Task 2	Case Studies of Effects of Land-Use and Land Cover Changes on Ecosystem Processes such as Catchment Hydrology and Carbon Budgets

Core Experiment 4: Nutrient Limitation in Miombo

The aim is to understand how nitrogen, phosphorus and water interact to control the primary production of miombo woodlands. These woodlands mostly occur on nutrient-poor, well drained, acid soils that have formed from long-term weathering of ancient erosional surfaces on the central plateau of Africa. Low leaf nitrogen contents and potentially high potential for the soils to immobilise P suggest that miombo productivity is limited by N and P availability. 

Losses of N through biogenic emissions, and N and P through pyrogenic emissions, may lower the stock of these nutrients unless balanced by wet and dry deposition and nitrogen-fixation. Heating of soil during slash fires can affect P transformations, making more P available to plants. Increases in pH due to the input of cations in ash can have a similar, though often transient, effect. These processes need to be studied and understood in the context of land use, associated disturbances of land cover, and the effects on fire regime. The key questions are:

•	To what extent is primary production in miombo woodland controlled by levels of soil nitrogen, phosphorus, or both?
•	What are the current patterns of N and P storage and availability in miombo soils and leaf tissues?
•	How do miombo soils and plants respond to additions of N and P?
•	Does increased N and P supply result in increased gaseous and leaching losses?
•	Are losses of N and P in miombo in steady‑state with reassimilation during the period between fires? 

The working hypothesis is that both nitrogen and phosphorus control miombo productivity with N being most limiting in dry, sandy soils and P being most limiting in moist, clayey soils. This is because oxidic conditions in clay-rich soils reduce P availability, while the long‑term effects of low N inputs, coupled with high biogenic emissions, reduce N availability in more sandy soils.
The research needed to test this hypothesis requires a combination of field surveys, field experiments, laboratory analyses and modelling. Field survey transects would allow the pattern of miombo N and P limitation to be demonstrated a-priori. Comparing the quantities of nutrients in leaf tissues collected across a range of miombo sites during the early growing season and at leaf abscission would provide a measure of internal recycling of nutrients; an index of nutrient availability; and an assessment of nutrient-use efficiency.

Activity 1	N and P in Miombo

The activity would be based on an incomplete N x P fertilization factorial experiment (possibly with additional micro‑nutrient or complete nutrient treatments), aimed at showing the extent, if any, of N and P limitation, and of the interactions between the two. This experiment should be implemented at two or more sites, with block replication at each site. Treatment plots of 20 m x 20 m would ensure a sufficient area and number of trees on which to assess surface soil properties and plant responses. A minimum set of annual site measurements would include: soil N and P (total and available), leaf N and P, leaf litter fall estimation, leaf litter fall N and P, stem increment, soil microbial C, N and P and soil gaseous and leachate losses. The field experiments should last at least 5 years, preferably in conjunction with other miombo core research so that meteorological data and control sites can be shared. The experiments would be complemented by modeling.

Task 1	N x P Factorial Experiment
Task 2	Trace-Gas Fluxes from Miombo Landscapes
Task 3	Modeling of Nutrient Dynamics 

Activity 2	Effects of Disturbance and Fire

Not all disturbances in miombo involve fire, nor is fire necessarily always a disturbance in the strict ecological sense. Nevertheless, the two are so often linked in miombo ecosystems that they are considered here jointly. The aim of this activity is to examine the linkages among land use, modifications and transformations of land cover, and changes in fire regime, and to investigate their impacts on soil properties, nutrient availability, and trace-gas fluxes. Other than fire, the main disturbances to be considered are partial and complete clearance of woodland, conversion of woodland to cropland, and heavy grazing (confined to drier areas).

Task 1	Effects of Fire on N and P Dynamics and on Trace-Gas Fluxes
Task 2	Impacts of Disturbance on N and P Dynamics and Trace-Gas Fluxes

Core Experiment 5: Biogeography and Distribution of Miombo

The quantitative environmental limits for miombo are not well known. Better knowledge of the environmental envelope would help predict shifts in distribution under an altered climate. It could also be used to develop a structural‑functional classification of miombo and to enable more refined hypotheses about miombo functioning to be conceived. The current most commonly used classification scheme for miombo (White 1983) is based largely on floristics and so is unsuitable for predictive purposes. A new classification would need to take into account climate (moisture and temperature regimes); geomorphology (landform, relief, slope); vegetation (plant functional types, stand attributes); land use (semi‑natural, coppice, cyclical clearance, permanent cultivation, grazed, degraded); and fire regime (frequency and timing of burning). An initial assessment of the utility of any functional classification would be to compare it with the results of existing static models of vegetation distribution (e.g. biome models such as DOLY (Woodward and Smith 1994; Woodward et al. 1995) and BIOME 3.0 (Hazeltine and Prentice 1996)). Simulations of palaeoclimate and vegetation by 17 Climate Modelling Groups (PMIP) predict rather different outcomes in the nature and the magnitude of vegetation change, implying that miombo could be replaced either by montane forests or by xerophytic associations (Jolly et al. 1995), so there is some scope for improvement. The key questions:

•	What determines the biophysical boundaries of modern miombo distribution?
•	How has the distribution of miombo changed over the past 20K years?
•	What can be inferred about past climates from these changes?
•	What are the implications for predicting future changes using existing DGVMs?

Activity 1	Biophysical Definition of Miombo and Biogeographical Modelling

The aim is to develop the theoretical basis for developing and testing models of miombo distribution and its limits, and to generate appropriate databases. A major product will be a classification of miombo landscapes that can be used for prediction and extrapolation.

Task 1	Analyze Biophysical Limits and Develop a Classification System for Miombo
Task 2	Evaluate Global Vegetation Distribution Model Simulations in the Miombo Region

Activity 2	Palaeo Distribution of Miombo

The aim is to improve the understanding of the palaeoecology of the miombo region. The principal palaeoecological data consist of pollen data (fossil and modern), that can be collected in the 10‑20 S latitudinal zone, focused particularly on the Holocene period (10 kyr BP ‑ modern) with a high resolution (~ 50 yr) pollen analysis. Fossil and modern pollen data would be incorporated in the IGBP Global Analysis and Integrative Modelling (GAIM) BIOME 6000 Global Biome database (modern, 6 and 18 kyr), and the African Pollen Database (closely connected with the EPD, NAPD, and NGDC databases). A schema for the proposed palaeoecological studies in miombo is shown in Figure 3. 

Task 1	Identify Climatic and Human Forcing Factors on Distribution of Miombo
Task 2	Reconstruct Paleoclimate
Task 3	Compare Pollen Diagram with Simulated Biomass Using a Patch Dynamics Model
Task 4	Compare Spatial Pollen Reconstructions with Biome Simulations at Key Periods

Figure 4
Palaeo experiment

Core Experiment 6: Regional Primary Production and Carbon Balance of Miombo

This research is designed to assess the impacts of changes in land cover at landscape and larger scales, and to test the validity of current models developed for other ecosystems to see if they can be used to represent vegetation‑climate interactions in seasonally dry tropical ecosystems such as miombo. Primary production can be modelled with a reasonable degree of accuracy using models driven by climate, soil nutrient data and remotely sensed measurements of absorbed radiation. The primary production is then allocated to various constituents of the vegetation, determining wood, herbaceous, crop and other components of production. Each of these components provides different resources for people, livestock and wildlife. Such allocation models have been developed for a wide range of global vegetation types but have not yet been applied to miombo. 

A range of models are also available that describe the transfer of water between the soil, vegetation, and atmosphere at a patch scale (so-called SVAT models). These can be linked to models of the movement of water through the soil at the landscape scale and, through them, to regional-scale climate models that represent the behaviour of the atmosphere over a mosaic of vegetation types. These models in turn are being integrated into general circulation models (GCMs) of climate processes that function at continental and global scales, with the result that the complete land surface‑atmosphere system can be modelled for the first time. Initial experiments with such models indicate that land surface properties are much more important than is commonly appreciated. For instance, degradation of primary woodland to bare ground can reduce transpiration sufficiently to increase the probability of drought in adjacent regions. Increased atmospheric levels of CO2 may cause stomatal closure, with similar consequences.
Integrated process‑based models that combine the carbon, nutrient and hydrological cycles within an ecosystem can be used therefore to predict the consequences of changes in driving variables both on vegetation properties, such as composition, biomass and leaf area, and on regional hydrological and climate processes. A schema for such a model is shown in Figure 5. 

A combined study involving experiments and modeling would provide the ideal opportunity to test the applicability of such models to tropical sub-humid seasonal ecosystems such as miombo. Moreover, the integration of production and allocation models, scaled-up and validated at a landscape scale, would extend measurements of carbon assimilation and storage both spatially, from local research sites to the region, and in time. Accurately parameterizing and testing such models for miombo is the essential first step of the process. The key questions:

•	How well do the existing land surface models predict the exchange of energy, water and gases between miombo landscapes and the atmosphere? 
•	How much change to miombo land cover can be tolerated before negative regional or global effects become apparent?

Activity 1	Regional Primary Production Modeling 

Two modeling approaches will be used: those based on remote sensing, and those based on climatic and soil drivers. The models will be implemented at least two study sites (wet and dry) miombo. The aim will be to predict regional primary production at 1 km2 scale resolution.

Task 1	Parameterize and Validate Remote Sensing of NPP
Task 2	Development of a Model of Production and Biomass Allocation among Different Plant Lifeforms at an Aggregated Scale (1 x 1 km)

Activity 2	Soil‑Vegetation‑Atmosphere Interactions Under Different Land-Uses

This activity requires that at least two sites be equipped with sophisticated boundary layer micrometeorology equipment, and that indices of net primary production (NPP) are collected by traditional mensural methods at several other sites. The initial aim of the activity is to acquire the knowledge needed to model regional fluxes of energy, water and trace gases using measurement of fluxes made at the patch scale, under different land uses and land cover types. The eventual aim is to assess the likely impact on regional climate of changes in land uses and land cover.

Task 1	SVAT Model Parameterisation and Basic Measurements
Task 2	Simulation of Land‑Use Effects on Regional Climate through Linked SVAT Models and GCMs.

Figure 6
Flow of data, experiments and modelling

Core Experiment 7:  Sustainable Natural Resource Management

A considerable amount of research is already being undertaken in the region on the economics of rural households; the use of land and natural products; the value of these products; indigenous technical knowledge, beliefs, and practices; and local-level management of natural resources (see Bradley and McNamara 1993; Dewees 1994; Carter and Murwira 1995; Hot Springs Working Group 1995; Campbell (in press)). Most of this research is participatory and development-orientated; almost all of it recognises the depth of indigenous technical knowledge and beliefs about natural processes and their products. Much of this kind of research is central to the programmes of national and regional institutions. 

The Miombo Network does not intend to duplicate, divert or compete with these initiatives in any way. Instead, Network activities aim to provide a forum in which the wider, global-change aspects of various land- and resource-use practices can be considered. The aim of this ‘experiment’ therefore is to link the outputs of the biophysical studies and socioeconomic research at household and community levels, the levels at which most operative decisions on land- and natural resource-use are being made. This linkage operates in both directions: household- and community-level decisions drive changes in land use and land cover; resource availability at the landscape level is one of the main determinants of such decisions. The goal is to understand sufficiently well the processes governing the demand for, and the supply and regenerative capacity of, miombo resources to be able to predict the limits of sustainable use for any given case.

Activity 1	Natural Resource Use at the Household Level

The aim of this activity is to quantify the extent of dependence of households on the miombo landscape, in terms of food, water, fuel, timber and other natural resources, and how that dependency changes where substitutable resources are available. Much work has already been done, and continues, on this issue in the region. Some of the work has been synthesised but more needs to be done to determine the nature and scope of any generalisations that can be made. The Miombo Network will seek to promote further synthesis to search for such generalisations; to identify the issues requiring more research; and to explore the integration of biophysical and socioeconomic research outputs. 

Task 1	Synthesis of Existing Information on the Nature and Extent of, and Trends in, the Uses of Miombo Resources.

Activity 2	Development of Rule‑based Models for Natural Resource Management

The aim of this activity is examine ways in which knowledge gained by the Miombo Network can best be transferred to the management arena. Rule-based modelling may be a relatively transparent and robust way to do this. The key areas of concern for management in this regard are the system-wide consequences of changing land cover, associated with different land uses, and sustainable options for using miombo landscapes and resources. This activity will be undertaken in conjunction with Integrating Activity 3.

Task 1	Workshops to Design Models and Construct Rule Databases.
Task 2	Validation of Models.

Activity 3	Decision Support for Options to Reduce Trace-Gas Emissions and Minimize Forest-Cover Conversion

The aim of this activity is to support policy-making with respect to greenhouse gas mitigation. Although the countries of the miombo region are not presently required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Framework Convention on Climate Change (since they are not Annex 1 countries), they will have to ultimately. They may wish to explore the possibilities of ‘Actions Implemented Jointly’ with Annex 1 countries before that time. This activity should facilitate that process.

Task 1	Develop Sector Models for Forestry, Agriculture and Community Land Use of Natural Resources.
Task 2	Integrate Components into Decision Support System Models.
Task 3	Test Decision Support Models in at least Two Countries.

Core Experiment 8:  Integrating Activities

In addition to the previous outlined experiments and associated activities and tasks there are a number of integrating activities which combine the experimental products and results in synthetic analyses. The following activities will lead towards an integrated assessment for the region providing input for policy and management.

Activity 1	Development and Dissemination of Regional Databases

The aim is to provide scientists and decision-makers in the region and elsewhere with regional-scale data on physical features (topography, climate, soils, vegetation, geology, hydrology), biological characteristics (vegetation maps, NDVI statistics, livestock and wildlife numbers, animal diseases), and socio-economic attributes (demography, agricultural and economic indicators, land tenure regimes, land use and other measures of natural resource use) in an easily accessible format. There is a relative wealth of data available but much of it is fragmented, not easily accessible, in incompatible formats, and often only available outside the region or too expensive for individual scientists to afford. The main proposed medium for dissemination is CD-ROM, allowing large amounts of data to be stored relatively cheaply, and made accessible to those with a reasonable computer and a CD-ROM drive. The IGBP LUCC/DIS Miombo CD is a pilot project of this activity. 

The production of a CD-ROM set will mean that all participants have access to standardised data, ensuring some consistency in the inputs to models and arguments, at least until it can be shown that the currently available data are inadequate. Access to, and discussion about, common data sets could also stimulate new questions, encourage collaboration, and enhance the rigor of analyses. Data quality is still uncertain and probably patchy. The compiled data sets, with appropriate caveats, could serve to test and, where necessary, refine both the data and the procedures by which they are collected. 

Given the tight linkage between miombo ecology and human land-use, it is important that the Miombo Network undertake a fully integrated study. The incorporation of both physical and socio-economic data sets in the database would encourage Network scientists to think hard about : (1) the value of, and potential for, integration; (2) the kinds of data required and their scales of resolution; and (3) the problem of the often different scales at which biophysical and social scientists work, and experiments with integrated analyses across these scales. 

Activity 2	Multi-Model Analysis of the Effects of Land Use and Land-Cover Changes

This activity is designed to link the various models developed at different spatial and temporal scales in the Miombo Network. The aim is to produce an integrated framework with which to assess the likely impacts of changes in land use and land cover on local and regional climate, natural resources, hydrological processes, and carbon and trace gas emissions. The types of models that will need to be linked include process based vegetation dynamics models; SVATs and NPP models; basin-wide hydrological models; models of trace gas emissions; macroeconomic diagnostic models; and household-level micro-economic models. (See Box 3 for a list of potential models, their capabilities, and examples drawn from existing models).

Box 3 

Summary of Potential Models and Modelling Activities

Model Capability			Example(s)		Reference

Land Use and Land Cover		GEOMOD		Pontius 1995
	IMAGE 2.0		Alcamo 1994
CLUE			Veldkamp and Fresco 1996

Succession Models			MIOMBO		Desanker and Prentice 1994
	ZELIG			Smith and Urban 1988
	SORTIE		Pacala et al. 1996
	FATE			Noble and Slatyer 1980

Ecosystem Biogeochemistry		CENTURY		Parton et al. 1993
	TEM			Melillo et al. 1993

Ecosystem Production and Allocation	HYBRID		Friend, et al. 1997
	TCX			Bonan 1995
	GLO-NEP		Prince and Goward 1995	BIOMASS		McMutrie et al. 1990

Water and Energy Exchange Across	SVATs (such as		Xue et al. 1991;
		SiB and BATS)		Dickinson et al. 1992

 Land/Atmosphere Interface		BIOME-BGC		Running and Hunt 1993

Dynamic Global Vegetation Distribution	DOLY			Woodward et al. 1995
	PLAI			Plochl and Cramer 1995
	BIOME 3.0		Haxeltine and Prentice 1996

Fire Emissions Model			FIRE			Scholes et al. 1996b

Land Use and Catchment Hydrology	ACRU			Schulze 1995

Integrated Analysis		GRASSMAN		Howden et al. 1994	MEXES		Fedra et al. 1987

Forest Sector Analysis
and Econometric Modelling		IIASA			Sedjo 

Socio-economic Models			GXM			Meyer and Turner 1994; also
		Liverman 1989

Activity 3	Analysis of Sustainable Management Options for Miombo

The aim of this activity is to analyse the models developed by the Miombo Network for outputs relevant to the issue of sustainable management of miombo. Those findings that are considered to be sufficiently robust will form inputs to Activity 2 of Core Experiment 7 where the actual rule-based management models will be developed. Figure 6 shows the flow of data, experiments and Modelling activities from the various core experiments, culminating in an integrated analysis of sustainable management options for miombo. 

Activity 4	Global Integration of Results with Other Dry Forest Transect Studies

The aim of this activity is to synthesize the findings of the Miombo Network with those of other, related, IGBP Transect studies, to enhance their value and generality. The Miombo Network bridges the humid tropical network studies (such as the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere study in the Amazon, and the Southeast Asia Network) and the subtropical savannah transects, such as the Kalahari Transect in southern Africa, Savannahs in the Long Term (SALT) in West Africa, and the Northern Australia Tropical Transect (NATT). The synthesis will be achieved by holding joint workshops, sharing models, and possibly conducting joint experiments.

Activity 5	Individual and Institutional Capacity-Building

This activity aims to promote the transfer of technical skills and knowledge from international collaborators to the region and, equally importantly, to promote the recognition of regional scientists, with their knowledge and understanding of ecological and social processes in miombo, through encouraging their participation in global change research. The Network will work with START to support existing relevant initiatives being undertaken by mid-career regional scientists, as well to create new opportunities for early-career and post-graduate scientists from the region. In the case of scientists already working for national and regional institutions, the commitment to support their activities necessarily also implies support for their institutions, where appropriate.
Three complementary levels of involvement are anticipated: sharing information; sharing resources; and joint research. Sharing information will be promoted by making the CD-ROM data sets readily available; by exchanging ideas through workshops, e-mail and newsletters; and by providing opportunities to link with international networks operating at the cutting edge of scientific and social research. Sharing resources will involve assistance with obtaining funds for research; upgrading of study sites, including net transfers of equipment to the region; and developing opportunities for advanced study by regional graduates. Joint research will be achieved by developing collaborative projects involving individuals and groups with different and complementary skills. A major commitment on the part of the Miombo Network is obviously to obtain the resources needed to facilitate this activity.

Figure 6 
Flow of data, experiments and modelling

Data Management and Communication

At the Zomba meeting a breakout session was held to discuss data management and communication. The following section outlines the salient recommendations from that group. Further discussion will be needed to refine the data management aspects of the network.
The research undertaken within the network will be supported from a variety of sources, both national and international, and as such, individuals will need to follow the policies of their respective funding agencies with respect to third-party access to data. As part of the IGBP, however, the Miombo Network is committed to promoting a policy of data sharing among its members in accordance with the principles adopted by ICSU and IGBP and endorsed for the network at the Zomba workshop. In principle, data sets collected under the auspices of IGBP will be made available to the global change community within a reasonable time period. To have an effective network, it is important that participants in the network agree to a spirit of scientific collaboration and data and information exchange.

The primary data and results produced from research carried out within the Miombo Network will remain the property of the individual researcher or responsible institution. Existing data sets are treated likewise. Agreement must be reached beforehand on second-party access to, and use of, such data. Such agreements should preferably be in writing.

The Miombo Network is a cooperative initiative and so will aim to establish and maintain a network database of information about the study sites and associated ecological and socioeconomic processes. The Network Coordinator (NC) or some other person or institution approved by the SSC will be responsible for maintaining the database. Submission of data to the database will be voluntary, though strongly encouraged. Data submitted to the database will be evaluated before incorporation, to ensure consistency and quality. The voluntary submission of data to the database will be taken as a tacit agreement that the data can be made available for use by others, though a written agreement to this effect would be preferred. Nevertheless, full acknowledgement of the source of the data will be made. In some instances, co-authorship of a publication may be appropriate and will be encouraged. Where there is an interest or need to make a particular data set, not present in the database, more widely available (e.g. for modelling purposes), this will be negotiated in advance and the conditions for use established. In most cases, the person supplying the data should expect to be one of the authors on any publications resulting from the research.

Where there are separate activities at the same site requiring common data sets, a protocol for the collection of the data will be agreed among the researchers concerned. This protocol will specify the persons or group responsible, the methods to be used, details of the frequency and timing of data collection. Again, proper recognition will be given to individuals’ contributions.

Information about ongoing and planned research activities will be circulated among network members by newsletter and e-mail. Where a planned or up-coming activity is likely to overlap with, contribute to, or need to depend on, an existing activity, the parties concerned will be notified and arrangements made to coordinate their efforts. This will be a primary responsibility of the NC. The NC will obviously need to be kept informed of planned, up-coming and on-going activities, and must establish effective lines of communication with Network researchers.

Finally, researchers from outside the region will need to obtain research clearance from the various national scientific research councils concerned, even for research carried out jointly with a national researcher. Responsibility for this rests with the individual researchers, though the means will be explored, through the offices on the national IGBP committees, where these exist, of facilitating this process. It is a normal requirement that where appropriate copies of all publications and reports arising from such research be deposited with the research council, the host institution, and the national archive. National IGBP committees in the region, as well as the relevant CPOs, will be kept informed of the research being carried out as part of the Miombo Network and will be asked to facilitate coordination.

Linkages

Relationship to National Needs and Priorities

National and regional natural resource managers are particularly interested in:

•	Data on the actual and potential productivity of miombo ecosystems including data on non‑wood forest products.
•	Information on the longer-term environmental and socioeconomic consequences of changes in both the intensity and kind of land use.
•	Country‑wide data sets of land cover for analysis of food security, water and economic development.
•	Knowledge of miombo dynamics to assist in planning sustainable utilization and improvement of miombo
•	the development of methods for integrating biophysical data with socioeconomic information in management and policy formulations.
•	Techniques that will facilitate the incorporation of scientific information into policy and management.

Information relevant to these topics should be generated by the proposed core experiments. The core experiments have been designed to ensure compatibility with ongoing research in miombo at national and regional levels. Where possible, and where invited, the proposed research will take place on study sites that are already part of national networks of sites. This should help catalyze and add value to these existing initiatives.

Core Experiment 7 on sustainable natural resource management is intended to be a major mechanism for integrating results of the various experiments with sustainable management of the miombo ecosystem by national institutions. Integrated models will be developed to provide an interface to the tools and methods developed in the miombo studies to policy makers and natural resources managers.

Linkages To IGBP Programmes

The following thematic areas of the main IGBP Programme Elements and Framework Activities are relevant to the Miombo Network. Coordination will be achieved by ensuring that each of the relevant core projects are represented on the Network Steering Committee (SC).
IGBP Programme Elements

Land‑Use and Land Cover Change (LUCC)

•	Human-induced changes in land cover over the last 300 years.
•	Major human causes of land‑use change in different geographical and historical contexts.
•	Effects of changes in land use on land cover over the next 50 years.
•	Effects of current human and biophysical dynamics on the sustainability of specific types of land uses.
•	Potential effects of changes in climate and global biogeochemistry on both land use and land cover.
•	Integrated modelling and assessment of both regional and global models.

Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle (BAHC)

•	Biospheric processes associated with the hydrological cycle.
•	Riverine transport modelling.
•	Plant functional types with respect to water and energy exchange.
•	Hydrological pathways and quantities of element fluxes associated with land cover change.

Global Change Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE)

•	Biogeochemical cycles and vegetation dynamics.
•	Effects of global change on soil organic matter.
•	Sequestration and emissions of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems.
•	Landscape scale models of land cover and composition change.
•	Improved methods for predicting the distribution of terrestrial vegetation.
•	Development of dynamic vegetation models that can be linked to GCMs.

International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC)

BIBEX: characterise production of gases and aerosols from biomass burning to determine the consequences of burning for regional and global atmospheric chemistry and climate

•	BATGE: characterise the production and consumption of radiatively-active and ozone forming trace gases from soils and vegetation (primarily NO, N2O and CH4).

Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ)

•	Determine the influence of land‑use change, particularly the conversion from forest to agriculture, on the delivery of sediments from land via river systems to coastal seas.

Past Global Changes (PAGES)

•	Link with “BIOME 6000” (in collaboration with GAIM, DIS, GCTE), a global database of biomes based on macro-fossil evidence and fossil pollen data for key periods‑ 6 and 18 ka

•	IDEAL and ALLDB (African Lake level database), as well as PAGES World Database (in Colorado).

IGBP Framework Activities

Data and Information Systems (DIS) 

•	Focus 1 - Data set production and validation.
•	Focus 2 - Data management aspects, data harmonization and standardization.

Global Analysis, Integration and Modelling (GAIM)

•	Collaboration on modelling and synthesis.

System for Training and Research (START)

•	Network building among collaborating partners
•	Capacity building aspects.

The linkages between the IGBP Programme Elements and Framework Activities and IGBP/IHDP Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Core Project/ Research Programme, and the Miombo Network, and their potential involvement in the core experiments, are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1

Linkages and involvement of Programme Elements/Research Programmes and Framework Activities in the Miombo Network

External Linkages

As a regionally-based initiative, the Miombo Network will intersect a range of other national and regional programmes. These programmes have their own priorities and it is not the intention of the Network to attempt to supersede or divert their activities. But there are broader issues of global and regional environmental and socio-economic change that are not currently being addressed to the extent that they deserve. An understanding of the causes and consequences of these changes at national and regional levels is necessary if countries are to negotiate effectively in the framework of international conventions and agreements such as the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Biodiversity Convention. The Miombo Network aims to catalyze and contribute to the development of that understanding in the region. 

The operating principle of the Miombo Network is to collaborate with existing and proposed activities, to avoid duplication of effort, and to complement these activities both by facilitating existing research, where requested, and by promoting new research, where necessary, in order to understand the regional and global implications of land use and cover change in miombo. In collaborating with local and regional initiatives, the Miombo Network would bring data, models, techniques and insights obtained through its own and other IGBP/IHDP activities at larger scales that could enhance the value of national and regional initiatives.

The Miombo Network will also need to work closely with non-IGBP/IHDP activities. In particular it will need to take cognisance of related activities by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn (ASB) Project coordinated by the International Center for Research on Agroforestry (ICRAF), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and regional forestry research initiatives launched by Southern African Development Community (SADC).

List of Acronyms

ACRU		Agricultural Catchments Research Unit, Model
ASB		Alternatives to Slash and Burn
AVHRR	Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
BAHC		Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle (IGBP)
BGC		Global Biogeochemical Cycle Model
BIBEX		Biomass Burning Experiment (IGAC)
BIOME		Global Vegetation Distribution Model
CACGP	Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution  (IAMAS)
CIFOR		Center for International Forestry Research
CNES		Centre National d´Etudes Spatiales (France)
CPO		Core Project Office
DGVM		Dynamic Global Vegetation Model
DIS		Data and Information System (IGBP-DIS)
DMSP		Defence Mapping and Satellite Photographs
DOLY		Global Vegetation Distribution Model
ECM		ectomycorrhizae
EOS		Earth Observing System (NASA)
FAO		Food and Agriculture Organization (UN)
GAIM		Global Analysis, Interpretation and Modelling (IGBP)
GCM		General Circulation Model
GCTE		Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (IGBP)
GIS		Geographic Information System
GTOS		Global Terrestrial Observing System
HYBRID	Terrestrial Ecosystem Model
IAMAS		International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
ICRAF		International Center for Research on Agroforestry
ICSU		International Council of Scientific Unions
IGAC		International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project (IGBP/CACGP)
IGBP		International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (ICSU)
IHDP		International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
ILRI		International Livestock Research Institute
LANDSAT	Land Remote Sensing Satellite
LUCC		Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (IGBP/IHDP)
MSS		Multispectral Scanner System
NASA		National Aeronautics and Space Administration (USA)
NATT		Northern Australian Tropical Transect
NC		Network Coordinator
NDVI		Normalized Difference Vetetaion Index
NPP		Net Primary Production
NTFP		non-timber forest products
PAGES		Past Global Changes (IGBP)
PMIP		Palaeoclimate Model Inter-comparison Project (PAGES)
REIMP		Resource Inventory Mapping Project
SADC		Southern African Development Community
SAF		Southern Africa Region of START
SALT		Southern African Savannah in the Long Term
SC		Standing Committee
SORTIE	Tree Model
SPOT		Système pour l´Observation de la Terre (France)
SSC		Scientific Steering Committee
START		Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (IGBP)
SVAT		Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer
TEM		Terrestrial Ecosystem Model
UN		United Nations
VAM		vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae

Appendix I Meeting Participants and Other Contributors to the Report

Ms. Rachel Bone, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. Charles Bonongwe * , Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Dr. Jiquan Chen, School of Forestry and Wood Products, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton MI 49931, USA. Tel: (906) 487 3432, Fax: (1-906) 487 2915, Email: jiq@mtu.edu
Dr. Paul V. Desanker, School of Forestry and Wood Products, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton MI 49931, USA. Tel: (906) 487 3416, Fax: (906) 487 2915, Email: desanker@mtu.edu
Dr. Michael B. Dolozi, Depart of Geography and Earth Sciences, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, PO Box 280, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 222, Fax: (265) 522 046
Ms. Pauline Dube, Department of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, AUSTRALIA. Tel: (61-7) 365 6455, Fax: (61-7) 365 6899, Email: gn073811@student.uq.edu.au
Mr. Ed C. February, Museum of Cape Town, PO Box 61, Cape Town 8000, SOUTH AFRICA. Tel: (21) 243 330
Dr. Andrew D. Friend, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Edinburg Research Station, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QB, Scotland, UK. Tel: (31) 445 4343, Fax: (31) 445 3943, Email: a.friend@ite.ac.uk
Prof. Peter G.H. Frost, Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Zimbabwe, PO Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, ZIMBABWE. Tel: (263-4) 303 211 ext. 1937, Fax: (263-4) 333 407 or (263-4) 335249, Email: pfrost@zimbiz.uz.zw, pfrost@esanet.zw
Dr. Doug Fuller, Centre de Suivi Ecologique, SENEGAL. Tel: (221) 25 80 66/67, Fax: (221) 25 81 68, Email: dfuller@cse.cse.sn
Dr. Andy Gillison, CIFOR, Jalan Gunung Batu 5, Bogor 16001, INDONESIA. Tel: (62-251) 343 652, Fax: (62-251) 326 433, Email: a.gillison@cgnet.com
Dr. Martha Geores, University of Maryland, Room 2181, Le Frak Hall, College Park, MD 20742-8225, USA
Dr. Muhashy K. Habiyaremye, Avenue Paul Heger 28, C.P. 169, 1050 Bruxelle, BELGIUM. Tel: (32-2) 650 2121, Fax: (32-2) 650 2135
Dr. Dominique Jolly, Global Systems Group, Department of Ecology, University of Lund, Solvegatan 37, S-223 62 Lund, SWEDEN. Tel: (46-46) 222 3131, Fax: (46-46) 222 3742, Email: jolly@planteco.lu.se
Dr. Chris Justice, Code 923, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt MD 20771, USA. Tel: (301) 286 7372, Fax: (301) 286 1775, Email: justice@kratmos.gsfc.nasa.gov
Dr. Zefe M. Kaufulu, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, PO Box 280, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 222, Fax: (265) 522 046
Mr. Charles Khofi, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. Greg Kiker, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag X01, 3209 Scottsville, SOUTH AFRICA. Tel: (27-331) 260 5488, Fax: (27-331) 260 5818, Email: kiker@aqua.ccwr.ac.za
Prof. C.H.D. Magadza, University Lake Kariba Research Station, PO Box 48, Kariba, ZIMBABWE. Tel: (263-6) 122 312, Fax: (263-6) 12707
Mr. Zacharia L.K. Magombo, National Herbarium and Botanical Gardens of Malawi, PO Box 528, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 523 145, Fax: (265) 522 108
Mr. Cathbert Majiga, UNESCO Malawi, PO Box 30278, Capital City, Lilongwe 3, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 784 000/285, Fax: (265) 782 417
Mr. Steven Makungwa, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. Luke N. Malembo, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. John Malunga, Ministry of Research and Environmental Affairs, PO Box 30745, Lilongwe 3, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 781 111, Fax: (265) 781 487
Mr. Pedro Mangue, Forestry and Wildlife National Directorate, Forest Research Institute, PO Box 1406, Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE. Tel: (258-1) 460 097, Fax: (258-1) 460 060
Mr. Isaac Mapaure, Depart of Biological Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, PO Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, ZIMBABWE. Tel: (263-4) 303 211 ext. 1446, Fax: (263-4) 732 828
Mr. Gerald Meke, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Dr. Henry R. Mloza-Banda, Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi, PO Box 219, Lilongwe, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 277 222, Fax: (265) 364 251
Prof. João M.F. Morais, Deputy Directory for Social Sciences, IGBP, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Box 50005, Lilla, Stockholm, SWEDEN. Tel: (46-8) 16 64 48, Fax: (46-8) 16 64 05, Email: morais@igbp.kva.se
Mr. Chumuleke Munthali, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. Patrick Mushove, Forest Research Center, Zimbabwe Forest Commission, PO Box HG 595, Highlands, Harare, ZIMBABWE. Tel: (263-4) 496 878, Fax: (263-4) 497 070
Mr. Lusayo Mwabumba, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Prof. Eric O. Odada, START/ENRICH African Liaison, University of Nairobi, PO Box 30197, Nairobi, KENYA. Tel: (254) 244  9121/9233, Fax: (254-2) 449 539, Email: odada@uongeol.rio.org
Dr. Stephen D. Prince, Geography Dept, University of Maryland, Room 2181 Le Frak Hall, College Park, MD 20742-8225, USA. Tel: (1-301) 405 4062, Fax: (1-301) 314 9299, Email: sp43@umail.umd.edu
Ms. Janet Probyn, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. Antonio Ribeiro, Director of Forest Research Institute, Forestry and Wildlife National Directorate, Forest Research Institute, PO Box 1406, Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE. Tel: (258-1) 460 097, Fax: (258-1) 460 060, Email: antonio@ribeiro.uem.mz
Dr. Ernst Y. Sambo, Biological Sciences Department, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, PO Box 280, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 222, Fax: (265) 522 046, Email: Esambo@unima.apc.org
Dr. Robert L. Sanford, Jr. (Buck), Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA. Tel: (1-303) 871 3534, Fax: (1-303) 871 3471, Email: rsanford@du.edu
Dr. Robert J. Scholes, CSIR/Forestek, PO Box 395, 0001 Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA. Tel: (27-12) 841 2045, Fax: (27-12) 841 26 89, Email: bscholes@forestek.csir.co.za
Prof. Roland Schulze, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag X01, 3209, Scottsville, SOUTH AFRICA. Tel: (27-331) 260 5488, Fax: (27-331) 260 5818, Email: schulze@aqua.ccwr.ac.za
Dr. Louis Scott, Department of Botany and Genetics, University of the Orange Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, SOUTH AFRICA 
Mr. Langes Sitaubi, Chief Forest Research Officer, FRIM, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Mr. Almeida Sitoe, Eduardo Mondlane University, Depart of Forestry, PO Box 257, Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE. Tel: (258-1) 490 009, Fax: (258-1) 492 176, Email: sitoe@engflo.uem.mz
Mr. Martin Stewart, Forest Research Institute of Malawi, PO Box 270, Zomba, MALAWI. Tel: (265) 522 866, Fax: (265) 522 782
Dr. Ivan Thrash, Department of Botany, University of the North, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, SOUTH AFRICA. Tel/Fax: (27-152) 268 2933
Prof. Dirk Wessels, Department of Botany, University of the North, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, SOUTH AFRICA. Tel/Fax: (27-152) 268 2933
Dr. John M. Were, Department of Geography, Makerere University, PO Box 7062, Kampala, UGANDA. Tel: (256-41) 531 261, Fax: (256-41) 530 412
Dr. Paul Woomer, TSFB Programme, PO Box 30592, Nairobi, KENYA. Tel: (254-2) 622 342, Fax: (254-2) 521 159, Email: tsfb@cgnet.com

 * Deceased, 1996.