The document discusses the ecological and social resilience of the Bourgou floodplain vegetation in the Inland Niger Delta of central Mali, focusing on its recovery since the 1980s drought and the impact of human land use on this recovery. It outlines the study's objectives, which include creating seasonal maps of vegetation and analyzing changes in the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). The research highlights the complexity of the ecosystem and the role of conservation efforts in promoting vegetation regeneration amidst varying land use practices.

1. Ecological and Social Resilience to Climate Variability
The case of the bourgou floodplain vegetation (Echinochloa stagnina) of the
Inland Niger Delta in Central Mali
Hannah Friedrich
Advisor: Matthew Turner
June 22, 2016
Hannah Friedrich
Advisor: Dr. Matthew Turner

2. People to Pixel

3. Inland Niger Delta in Central Mali
Photo Credit: MODIS Rapid Response Team

5. Source: NOAA NCDC

8. Photo Credit: Matthew Turner

9. Photo Credit: Matthew Turner

10. Conservation Actors
Fulani Pastoralists
Bozo FishermanNGOs
Bourgou
Regeneration

11. Research Questions
1) To what extent has the bourgou floodplain recovered since the extreme
drought events in the 1980’s?
2.) What impact do human land uses have on this recovery?

12. Objectives
> Create seasonal change maps of vegetation and water
> Analyze EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) of yearly imagery
> Identify significant bourgou regeneration
> Link vegetation regeneration to human land use decisions

13. Significance
> Hydrologically complex ecosystem home to many species
> Bourgou is a “commons” - shared amongst communities
> Conservation has potential played a role, but to what extent?
> Future conservation efforts

14. Study Area

15. Seasonal Change Detection Maps
Dry Season Image
Wet
Season
Image
Acca Hydrology Station

17. Support Vector Machine
Change Detection
Class Scheme
Stable Bare Ground
Stable Water
Stable Vegetation
Vegetated to Bare
Ground
Floodplain to Flooded
Water to Vegetated

18. Stable Bare Ground
Stable Vegetation
Stable Water
Water to Vegetated
Vegetated to Bare Ground
Floodplain to Flooded
Dry to Wet Season Change Map

19. Stable Water
Stable Bare
Ground
Stable
Vegetation
Vegetated to
Bare Ground
Water to
Vegetation
Floodplain to
Flooded
Total
Stable
Water
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stable
Bare
Ground
0 80.36% (45) 0 0 0
33.33%
(7)
65.82%
(52)
Stable
Vegetat
ion
0 0
100%
(1) 0 0 0
1.27%
(1)
Vegetat
ed to
Bare
Ground
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Water
to
Vegetat
ion
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Floodpl
ain to
Flooded
0 19.64% (11) 0
100%
(1)
0
66.67%
(14)
32.91%
(26)
Total 0
100%
(56)
100%
(1)
100%
(1)
0
100%
(21)
100%
(79)
Overall Accuracy
=
75.9494%

20. EVI Analysis

21. Analyze yearly EVI imagery

22. Google Earth Engine

24. 1984

25. 2015

26. Significant EVI Increase

27. Increase in EVI

28. Ongoing Research - Dense time stack EVI analysis
Scenario 1:
EVI < Z in Year X-1 and EVI > Z in Year X
Scenario 2:
EVI < Z in Year X-1 and Year X-2 and EVI > Z in
Year X
Scenario 3:
EVI < Z in Year X-1 and Year X-2 followed by
EVI > Y in Year X

29. Limitations
> Missing data in the 1990’s
> Vegetation diversity - bourgou as an individual species is difficult to pin-point

30. Ongoing Research - Multi-sited village surveys, individual interviews,
bourgou site regeneration interviews
Where has bourgou re-established?
> Technique used
> Over what time period?
> Who is involved?
> Resources available to those involved?
Describe NGO involvement.

31. Ongoing Research - In situ ground surveys

32. Youvarou - Case Study

33. Conservation in Youvarou
> Managed by herder cooperatives
> Transplanting most effective method of regeneration
> Mixed responses of development organization involvement
> On the ground, regeneration seen as successful

34. Conclusion - People to Pixel
> Synthesize interview data with regeneration trends - multivariate statistics
> Link EVI data with history of land use change - track conservation using RS

35. Thank you! Questions?
hannahfriedrich14@gmail.com