This study documents rates of encroachment into grassland, clonal stand structure, and tree architecture.
A combination of field sampling (109 transects), a dendrochronological assessment (1361 trees), and a time series analysis of remotely sensed images from five different time periods (1950 2002) were used to determine the extent and rate of tree encroachment and forest development.
Woody plant encroachment is widespread throughout drylands of the world, but rates and patterns of encroachment at the regional scale can be mediated by soil and climate.
The increases in shrubland and concurrent loss of herbaceous vegetation seem to show high rates of woody plant encroachment during the period of investigation.
If land-tenure policies do not affect land management practices, particularly during periods of climatic stress, we would expect to see similar rates of woody plant encroachment across similar biophysical regimes throughout the rangelands of the study region and across the different land-tenure regimes of each county.
The woody plants (and aboveground C) derived from 2006 DOQQ located in these 1937 woody plant free areas were summarized to represent the amount and rate of C accumulated due to PJ encroachment within the 25 ha study area.
Landscape changes occurred at an unprecedented rate with the encroachment of urbanized terrain on cropland, cropland exploitation, and the reclamation of forest and water as the dominant types.
Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, deforestation, overgrazing, and repeated episodes of drought served to greatly speed the rate of naturally occurring desertification, resulting in the encroachment of the desert on the Sahel.
Sceptics reply that evidence of encroachment abounds.
