Elmugheira Mockarram Ibrahim Mohammed

The Gum Arabic Belt (GAB) in Sudan play a key role in sustaining rural livelihoods, supporting biodiversity, and delivering essential ecosystem services. However, this fragile dryland ecosystem is increasingly threatened by armed conflict, large-scale displacement, land use changes, and environmental degradation. Therefore, this study assessed the status of GAB and gum production under conflict-induced stressors using an integrated methodology that combines meteorological, remote sensing, and participatory field survey data. Multi-temporal MODIS NDVI data (2000–2023) were analyzed to detect spatiotemporal changes in vegetation cover, particularly during peak growing seasons. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) trends were evaluated using five-year intervals, except for the last period (2020–2023) to accommodate the eco-anthropogenic signs of the current war. The results reveal that vegetation recovery across large portions of the GAB is correlated with land abandonment due to ongoing conflict and locals’ displacement. Across all assessed years, moderate vegetation class consistently dominated the landscape, particularly in 2020 and 2023, indicating a notable improvement in vegetation cover in recent years. A significant variation was observed in Gum yield, with higher production in 2005. The study underscores the urgent need for target restoration strategies and sustainable management policies. It also demonstrates the value of integrating earth observation data with local knowledge systems for conflict-sensitive environmental monitoring and policy formation in dryland regions.

Global efforts to end hunger are about more than producing enough food; they are also about producing food that is nutritious enough. Micronutrient deficiencies—the “hidden hunger” affecting billions—persist in part because the domestication bottleneck quietly eroded mineral and lipid diversity from the very crops the world relies on most. Wild relatives of domesticated legumes still carry much of that diversity, and genetic biofortification offers a sustainable route to put it back to work. Wild Vigna germplasm remains poorly characterized for traits that could support nutritional biofortification and neo-domestication. With that in mind, we characterized the seed mineral and fatty acid composition of 86 accessions from four wild Vigna species (V. vexillata, V. ambacensis, V. reticulata and V. racemosa), benchmarked against three domesticated (cultivars) and semi-domesticated checks (V. unguiculata, V. umbellata and V. vexillata landrace). Copper, manganese, zinc and iron were quantified by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry after dry-ash digestion, and fatty acids were profiled as methyl esters by GC-MS. The species differed systematically in their mineral profiles. V. reticulata stood out as the most promising donor for copper-focused breeding, V. vexillata carried the highest median Zn, Mn and Fe values and is attractive for multi-micronutrient improvement, V. ambacensis showed a more stable but less extreme profile, and V. racemosa combined a relatively high Fe concentration with the most nutritionally favorable lipid profile of all—dominated by the essential polyunsaturated linoleic (C18:2n 6) and α-linolenic (C18:3n 3) acids. The other three wild species, by contrast, were dominated by saturated palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) acids, which gives their oils greater oxidative stability and different food-industry applications. Principal component analysis supported these patterns for both datasets—minerals (PC1 = 60.39%, PC2 = 20.21%; cumulative 80.61%) and fatty acids (PC1 = 81.6%, PC2 = 14.0%; cumulative 95.6%)—and cleanly separated V. racemosa and the checks from the remaining wild species on lipid composition. Together, these results identify concrete targets for marker-assisted biofortification and de novo domestication of four African Vigna taxa.

Understanding seed population dynamics is essential for recognizing shifts in species composition during ecosystem restoration. Albizia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr. is a tropical fast‐growing tree species, widely cultivated in community forests and plantations, and is well adapted to a low fertility soil. This study aimed at estimating seed production, dispersal, and fate of the seed population (disappearance and germination at varying distance from the mother tree) and related early seedlings growth performance to microclimate variables. The findings revealed that seed production of A. chinensis varied significantly ( p < 0.001) among individual trees and showed a positive correlation between number of branches, inflorescences, crown height, and crown diameter with seed production. However, seed dispersal exhibited a strong negative correlation with dispersal distance from the mother tree ( r = −92) with significant differences among individual trees ( p < 0.05). We found that most seeds fell directly beneath the mother tree and seed disappearance declined as distance from the mother tree increased. Seedling height showed strong positive correlations with soil temperature, moisture, and humidity, and these variables also exhibited positive correlations with seedling diameter. We found that seedling growth (height and diameter) increments significantly varied between months ( p < 0.05). The findings of this study could help in restoration, management and conservation of A. chinensis in tropical areas. Importantly, this research represents the first comprehensive study on seed production dynamics and microclimate seedling interaction of A. chinensis in Northeast India, thereby filling a critical knowledge gap. Future research should focus on understanding the alternative seed production strategies in the species and their relation to biotic and abiotic factors.