PeopleStudentsNatasha Ribeiro, Graduate Student

Natasha Ribeiro, Graduate Student

Hometown:
Maputo, Mozambique

Region of Interest:
Niassa Reserve, Northern Mozambique

Project:
Influence of fires and elephants on the net primary production of miombo woodlands

REPORT: Fall, 2005 NIASSA Reserve Field Trip

Miombo woodlands cover about 72% of the Mozambican territory and it is one of the most important ecosystems in the country both in ecological and social terms. Miombo is widely used by local people for construction materials, energy, food, shifting cultivation and medicine, among others. Fires are widely used by local people as a management tool, to clear the lands for cultivation. The wide and secular use of fires influence the ecology not only in terms of species composition and forest structure, but also in terms of ecosystem processes such as the Net Primary Production. Elephants play also an important ecological role as they are at the same time grazers and uproot trees in their moving routes. In this study I intend to study the influence of fires and elephants on the aboveground net primary production (ANPP) of miombo woodlands. The study will be carried out in the north of Mozambique in the Niassa Game Reserve, where there is a well-defined disturbance gradient from the southeast to the north. The project will consist of three main phases. The first one is the analysis of land cover and ANPP trends for the last 10 years, through remote sensing techniques. In the second phase a fieldwork will be conducted (during the dry and wet seasons) with the aim to collect information on the aboveground biomass production through the disturbance gradient. The data from the remote sensing techniques and fieldwork will be coupled in an ecological model in order to predict different scenarios of disturbances.

Awards and Publications:
CAGIOTTI, M.R.; RIBEIRO, Natasha; SITOE, Tomás. 1990. Apontamentos de Morfologia Externa das Plantas Superiores, Departamento de Produção e Protecção Vegetal, Faculdade de Agronomia e Engenharia Florestal, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Moçambique. 25pp.

RIBEIRO, Natasha. 1995. Selecção de árvores superiores de E.camaldulensis Dehn., na área de produção de sementes de Ricatla, província de Maputo. (tese de lecenciatura). UEM. Maputo. 56p.

SITOE, A. & RIBEIRO, Natasha. 1995. Miombo book project. Country repport to the book “Miombo: woodlands and welfare in Africa.

RIBEIRO, Natasha. 1995. Proposta de uma metodologia de selecção de árvores superiores de E. camaldulensis. CEF. Maputo. 12p.

FERNANDES, A.; MONJANE, M.; BRITO, L.; FALCÃO, M. & RIBEIRO, Natasha. 1995. Resultados do inventário florestal de Inhaminga, província de Sofala. DEF, Faculdade de Agronomia e Engenharia Florestal, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. Maputo.

RIBEIRO, NATASHA & TAQUIDIR, m. 1996. Relatório sobre o maneio florestal de bacias hidrográficas em Moçambique. (document presented in the international course on forest management in watersheds, Brasil).

RIBEIRO, NATASHA. 1996. Management of mopane woodlands in Mozambique. (Presented at the workshop on mopane woodlands management).

FERNANDES, A; RIBEIRO, NATASHA & GEGE, F. 1997. Resultados do inventário florestal de Muanza. DEF/FAEF/UEM. Maputo.

MACUCULE, A & RIBEIRO, NATASHA. 1997. Agroforestry potential for better land use in Mozambique. In: Regional land cover changes, sustainable agriculture and their interactions with global change. Veena Ravichandran (Proceedings of an international workshop). Maputo. 28-30 July 1997. Pp: 155-162.

SOTO,S.J.;RIBEIRO,NATASHA;BROUWER,R & LUTZE,M. 1997. Importância do maneio integrado de bacias hidrográficas. In: proceedings do III SISLUBA. AMCT/APRH/ABRH. Maputo

RIBEIRO, Natasha. 1999. Fenología y éxito reproductivo de algunas especies vegetales del sotobosque en dos bosques primarios intervenidos del Noreste de Costa Rica. CATIE. Turrialba. Costa Rica.

RIBEIRO, Natasha. 2000. Éxito reproductivo de algunas espécies vegetales del sotobosque en el noreste de Costa Rica. In: Revista Forestal Centroamericana. Número 30:18-22p.

FARIA, T; DUARTE, C; RIBEIRO, Natasha; REGO, F. 2000. Ordenamento e classificação da vegetação do Sul de Maputo, através do Programa CANOCO. ( in prep.).

BANDEIRA, R.; RIBEIRO, Natasha; SITOE, A. and EZEQUIAS, A. 2001. A long term study of changes in forest ecosystems caused by fires in central Mozambique: prelimminary results. (poster presented at “First data workshop of SAFARI 2000” ).

RIBEIRO, Natasha and BROUWER, R. 2001. Nursery techniques of Millettia stuhlmannii, Afzelia quanzensis and Pterocarpus angolensis. (presented at the miombo regional workshop, Manica, Moçambique).

RIBEIRO, N.; MUSHOVE, P.; AWASSE, A. and SIMANGO, S. 2002. Caracterizacao Ecologica da Floresta de Galeria do Rio Mecuburi na Reserva Florestal de Mecuburi, Provincia de Nampula (Ecological characterization of the riverine forest along the Mecuburi River in the Mecuburi Forest Reserve, Nampula Province). IUCN/UEM/DNFFB. Maputo. 56p.

Awards within the past 3 years:

2002/2003 – IUCN funds to conduct an ecological research in Mozambique