Regime Shifts in African Floodplains

Modeling Regime Shifts in the Logone floodplain (MORSL)

This interdisciplinary research project focused on the impact of human activities and climate change on African floodplains. African floodplains are an excellent example of coupled human-natural systems because they exhibit strong interactions among multiple social, ecological, and hydrological systems. The intra-annual and inter-annual variations in the area, depth, and duration of seasonal flooding have direct and indirect impacts on ecosystems and human lives and livelihoods. The goal was to develop an integrated computer model that simulates the dynamic couplings among social, ecological and hydrological systems of the Logone floodplain in Cameroon. The model will allow us to simulate the impacts of climate change scenarios and human modifications of the landscape on the social, ecological, and hydrological systems. Fishermen in the Logone floodplain have been modifying the floodplain's hydrology by constructing thousands of individually owned fish canals. The cumulative effect of these canals may equal the impact of large-scale dams.

The devastating impact of large-scale dams on African floodplains has been well documented, but what is less clear is how smaller, slower changes like the fish canals may result in regime shifts that have equally disastrous consequences. If the floodplain is characterized by critical transitions, the gradual increase in fish canals may result in a sudden and catastrophic transition equivalent to the impact of large-scale dams. The integrated computer model will enable researchers to examine the nature of the regime shift. The project brought together a team of researchers from a broad range of disciplines and used a transdisciplinary approach to investigate coupled human and natural systems using a combination of field research, remote sensing analysis, and modeling.

The project will hopefully contribute to the sustainable management of African floodplains, which are of enormous ecological and economic importance, by developing an integrated computer model that will permit stakeholders to evaluate the impact of different human activities and climate change scenarios. The project trained graduate and undergraduate students at the Ohio State University and at Maroua University in Cameroon in quantitative and qualitative, transdisciplinary approaches to the study and management of coupled human and natural systems. This project was supported by the NSF Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program and the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (BCS-1211986). 
 

Publications

Shastry, Apoorva Michael Durand; Jeffrey Neal; Alfonso Fernández; Sui Chian Phang; Brandon Mohr; Hahn Chul Jung; Saïdou Kari; Mark Moritz; Bryan Mark; Sarah Laborde; Asmita Murumkar; Ian Hamilton. Small-scale anthropogenic changes impact floodplain hydraulics: simulating the effects of fish canals on the Logone Floodplain. Journal of Hydrology, 588(2020):125035. 125035.10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125035. 
 
Murumkar, Asmita, Michael Durand, Alfonso Fernández, Mark Moritz, Bryan Mark, Ian Hamilton, Sui C Phang, Sarah Laborde, Apoorva Shastry, Paul Scholte. 2020. Trends and Spatial Patterns of 20th century Temperature, Rainfall and PET in the semi-arid Logone River Basin, Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 178(x):xx-xxx. 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104168
 
Laborde, Sarah, Aboukar Mahamat, and Mark Moritz. 2019. Entre auto-organisation et planification dans la plaine d’inondation du Logone (Cameroun). In Le Tchad des lacs: Les zones humides sahéliennes au défi du changement global, edited by C. Raimond, F. Sylvestre, D. Zakinet and A. Moussa. Paris: IRD.
 
Laborde, Sarah, Sui Chian Phang, and Mark Moritz. 2019. Adapting to the Challenges of International and Interdisciplinary Research of Coupled Human and Natural Systems. In Collaboration Across Boundaries for Interdisciplinary Environmental Systems Science: Experiences Around the World, edited by S. G. Perz: Palgrave. 79-114
 
Laborde, Sarah, Sui Chian Phang, Mouadjamou Ahmadou, Nathaniel Henry, Alfonso Fernández, Michael Durand, Ian M. Hamilton, Saïdou Kari, Aboukar Mahamat, Bryan Mark, Paul Scholte, Apoorva Shastry, Roland Ziebe, and Mark Moritz. 2018. Co‐producing research in the “Red Zone”: Adaptation to fieldwork constraints with a transdisciplinary approach. The Geographical Journal. 184(4): 369-383. 10.1111/geoj.12264
 
Laborde, Sarah, Aboukar Mahamat, Mark Moritz. 2018. The Interplay of top-down planning and adaptive self-organization in an African Floodplain. Human Ecology. 46(2):171-182. doi:10.1007/s10745-018-9977-y. 
 
Laborde, Sarah, Alfonso Fernandez, Sui Chian Phang, Ian M. Hamilton, Nathaniel Henry, Hahn Chul Jung, Aboukar Mahamat, Mouazamou Ahmadou, Bruno Labara, Saidou Kari, Michael Durand, Bryan Mark, Ningchuan Xiao, Roland Ziebe and Mark Moritz. 2016. Social-ecological feedbacks lead to unsustainable lock-in in an inland fishery. Global Environmental Change, 41 (November 2016):13-25. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016301364
 
Alfonso Fernández, Mohammad Reza Najafi, Michael Durand, Bryan G. Mark, Mark Moritz, Jeffrey Neal, Apoorva Shastry, Sarah Laborde, Sui Chang Phang, Ian M. Hamilton, and Ningchuan Xiao, 2016. Testing the skill of numerical hydraulic modeling to simulate spatiotemporal flooding patterns in the Logone floodplain, Cameroon. Journal of Hydrology, 539(2016):265-280. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.05.026.
 
Mark Moritz, Sarah Laborde, Sui Chian Phang, Mouazamou Ahmadou, Michael Durand, Alfonso Fernandez, Ian M. Hamilton, Saïdou Kari, Bryan Mark, Paul Scholte, Ningchuan Xiao, Roland Ziebe. 2016. Studying the Logone floodplain, Cameroon as a Coupled Human and Natural System. African Journal of Aquatic Sciences, 41(1):99-108. 10.2989/16085914.2016.1143799. 
 

Jung, Hahn Chul, Doug Alsdorf, Mark Moritz, Hyongki Lee, and Sara Vassolo. 2011. Analysis of the relationship between flooding area and water height in the Logone floodplain. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 36(7-8):232-240. PDF

Film

Ahmadou, Mouadjamou and Sarah Laborde 2017 Fishing canals of the Logone Floodplain in Cameroon. Voices. 2017 (3): http://voices.uni-koeln.de/2017-3/fishingcanals