Climate Change Impact on Plant Species Composition in Six Semi-Arid Rangelands of Northeastern Nigeria

In spite of the considerable advances made in understanding and modeling climate change at the international level, awareness of, and concern for, the problem in Nigeria remain poor. There is yet a considerable dearth of regional studies on the likely impact of climate change on the nation's ecosystems.This paper examines climate change impact on six semi-arid rangelands in north-eastern Nigeria. The results revealed declining forage species composition, increased bare surfaces, and increased shrub encroachment, which are indicative of the combined effects of grazing, fire, drought, desertification and climatic variability, and which call for urgent management strategies that would improve the productivity of the semi-arid rangelands thereby guarantee food security for the region as well as the country at large.