Grazing lands in sub-Saharan Africa are under real strain: overgrazing, expanding agriculture, and the pressure of smallholder farmers working ever-smaller plots have left much of the soil degraded, and we still don't fully understand how that degradation plays out on the ground or what can be done to reverse it. 

This project tries to answer both questions, working through three stages that build on one another. We start by getting a clear picture of the problem itself: how degradation has changed soil properties and vegetation, and which indicators of soil physical quality actually matter for how these systems function. From there, we move indoors, running mesocosm experiments to test native plant species from different functional groups under controlled conditions and to see, mechanistically, how they help rebuild soil structure and nutrient cycling.

The final stage takes what works in the mesocosm out into the field, applying the most promising species and practices in an outdoor trial to restore degraded grazing land and see how it performs under real-world conditions. The idea is to move from understanding the problem, to testing solutions carefully, to putting them into practice, and along the way, to build a better picture of the biogeochemical processes that keep tropical grassland ecosystems running.

Additional information can be found here: Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils

Project Leader: Habtamu Sibilu & Mohsen Zare 

Team: Habtamu Sibilu  

Duration: October 2023 - September 2027

Research Partners: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya