Emerging ecological trends in West Africa: implications on soil organic matter and other soil quality indicators

In West Africa, savannas are changing to either forest islands or arable lands arising from anthropogenic interference with the natural ecosystem. This study aimed at quantifying the trade-offs of this land use conversion on major soil quality indicators. We evaluated soil organic matter (SOM) and other soil quality indicators such as macro- and micronutrients (including the absence of some hazardous trace metals) using standard methodologies across 11 settlements in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Nigeria. The degree of soil quality improvement/degradation and soil quality were assessed using empirical models. The effects of savanna conversion were manifold and varied depending on the type of land use change, soil depth, and soil quality indicator. In savanna-forests, there was a substantial rise in SOM (37