The inadequacies of the steppic savanna classification system to describe the vegetation of the semi-arid Caatinga of Brazil

Abstract

The steppic savanna term was originally employed to classify a single type of tropical vegetation in Africa, but it has been expanded by the pioneering RADAMBRASIL authors and it is currently used to classify the vegetation of the Caatinga in northeastern Brazil, and in other vegetation types with similar characteristics in the Amazon and Chaco/Pantanal areas. Here, we propose that the use of the name steppic savanna to describe the vegetation of the Caatinga is semantically and structurally incorrect since its definitions conflict between the main type (steppic savanna) and its subclasses (e.g., forested steppic savanna), rendering them nonsensical. This classification system is insufficient to account for the vegetation types observable through current remote sensing technology and neither does it correspond to what has been described by diverse field ecologists working at the Caatinga since the early 20th century. Therefore, we suggest that its use should be abandoned by the Brazilian governmental agencies and by the scientific community at large in favor of more realistic systems to inform local representatives and scientists interested in studying this important and often neglected region.