Pastoralist grazing management practices play a vital role in maintaining rangeland productivity and biodiversity. However, the degradation of rangelands and loss of ecosystem services have raised concerns about the future of pastoralism as a form of land use. Despite their importance, we have limited knowledge about the effect of traditional grazing management practices on vegetation attributes, such as species composition, richness, diversity, herbage biomass, and density, and canopy cover. To address this knowledge gap, we studied the changes in vegetation attributes under three traditional grazing management practices in the Somali pastoral ecosystem of Ethiopia. We found a significant difference in herbaceous and woody vegetation attributes among the grazing management practices (p < 0.001). Enclosures supported higher herbaceous species diversity and abundance of desirable species, such as Chloris gayana, Chrysopogon aucheri, Cynodon dactylon, and Themeda triandera, compared to open grazing and browsing management sites. The herbage biomass was three times higher in enclosures than in open grazing and twice higher than in browsing management practices. However, browsing management practices supported significantly higher levels of wood biomass, density, and canopy cover than the other management practices. Our results suggest that transitioning from open grazing to the enclosure and browsing management practices can lead to higher plant productivity, which supports the local pastoral economy in the Somali rangeland of Ethiopia. Thus, dryland restoration programs should consider traditional indigenous knowledge for ensuring the sustainability of future rangeland productivity and biodiversity conservation.

Climate change is thought to facilitate the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. The present study aimed at examining the present and future invasive potential of S. didymobotrya under the changing climatic conditions using the Species Distribution Model. Two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5, and RCP8.5), and seven bioclimatic including one topographic variable were used to simulate the current and future (2050s and 2070s) distribution of S. didymobotrya invasion in Africa. The model performance evaluation is done based on, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and true skills statistics (TSS). The results of the study showed that under current climatic conditions 18% of the continent of Africa is suitable for S. didymobotrya establishment and invasion. Eastern Africa is seen as the most suitable habitats for S. didymobotrya invasion followed by southern Africa. The predicted model shows that in the 2050s under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, 3.4% and 3.17% of the continent will be highly suitable for S. didymobotrya invasion, respectively. In the 2070s, the highly suitable area for the species is predicted to be 3.18 % and 2.73% in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The low to moderate suitability under RCP 4.5 and RCP8.5 in the 2050s is projected as 17.4 % and 20.5 % and this area is increased in the 2070s to19.11% and 22.82 for the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, respectively. The results of this study indicate a significant increase in the vulnerability of habitat for S. didymobotrya invasion under the future climatic conditions. Our current finding suggests the future biodiversity conservation strategy and policy direction should focus on the means and strategy of limiting the rate of expansion of invasion and distribution.

Senna didymobotrya is invasive native flowering shrubs mainly grow in Africa. Climate change thought to facilitates the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. The present study aimed at examining the present and future invasion of S. didymobotrya under the changing climatic using species distribution modeling. The mean AUC and TSS value of the model was (95%) and (81%), respectively, which put the model under an excellent category. Our result showed under the current climatic conditions 18.11% of the continent is suitable for S. didymobotrya invasion. Eastern African countries are found the most suitable habitat for S. didymobotrya invasion followed by southern African countries. The total highly suitable area for the species is 3.4% and 3.17% in 2050s under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. In the 2070s, the highly suitable area is predicted as 3.18 % and 2.73% in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. An area with the category of low to moderate suitability under RCP 4.5 and RCP8.5 in the 2050s is projected as 17.4 % and 20.5 % and this area is increased in the 2070s to19.11% and 22.82 for the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, respectively. The results of this study showed a substantial contraction in the high suitability areas, but a large increase in the low and moderately suitable habitat. Despite the contraction in highly suitable areas, countries which are found suitable in the present climatic condition remains suitable for S. didymobotrya establishment. Our ensemble predicted a significant increase in the vulnerability of habitat for invasion under the future climatic scenarios. Our study suggests the future biodiversity conservation strategy and policy direction should focus on the means and strategy of limiting the rate of expansion of invasion and distribution in different ecosystem types, hence reduce the expected harm in the ecosystem services.