Tropical grassy biomes: misunderstood, neglected, and under threat

Parr, Catherine L.; Lehmann, Caroline E. R.; Bond, William J.; Hoffmann, William A.; Andersen, Alan N.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.02.004

Cited by 479 publications

(525 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…The disequilibrium nature of tropical grassy biome vegetation dynamics, with varying levels of woody cover, has consistently posed problems for the categorization of these ecosystems [8]. This problem has been compounded by a focus on trees, rather than ground layer composition and function; for example, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment focuses on drylands and forests [47,48] [49], although this biome classification is problematic because it does not recognize some of the world's major savannahs and grasslands, including those in Asia (e.g.…”

Section: Defining Tropical Grassy Biomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These biomes were the cradle of human evolution [7], and in our contemporary world, they support the livelihoods and wellbeing of over one billion people [8]. With the population of Africa alone set to treble by 2050 [3], the continuing pace of climate change [9], increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations [9] and the increasing agricultural development of TGBs [3,10], there is an urgent need to understand the unique ecology of these systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation

Lehmann

Parr

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Tropical grassy biomes (TGBs) are changing rapidly the world over through a coalescence of high rates of land-use change, global change and altered disturbance regimes that maintain the ecosystem structure and function of these biomes. Our theme issue brings together the latest research examining the characterization, complex ecology, drivers of change, and human use and ecosystem services of TGBs. Recent advances in ecology and evolution have facilitated a new perspective on these biomes. However, there continues to be controversies over their classification and state dynamics that demonstrate critical data and knowledge gaps in our quantitative understanding of these geographically dispersed regions. We highlight an urgent need to improve ecological understanding in order to effectively predict the sensitivity and resilience of TGBs under future scenarios of global change. With human reliance on TGBs increasing and their propensity for change, ecological and evolutionary understanding of these biomes is central to the dual goals of sustaining their ecological integrity and the diverse services these landscapes provide to millions of people. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation’.

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Section: Defining Tropical Grassy Biomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation

Lehmann

Parr

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Changing definitions through time, they argued, explain the apparently alarming deforestation in several West African countries. The problem of defining forest is a general one in tropical landscapes [54][55][56]. Ratnam et al [57] provided a functional definition for distinguishing forest from 'savanna' based not on the trees but on the presence of a highly flammable, shade-intolerant C4 grassy understory in savannas and its absence in forests.…”

Section: The Antiquity Of Savannasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deforestation story: testing for anthropogenic origins of Africa's flammable grassy biomes

Bond

Zaloumis

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Africa has the most extensive C4 grassy biomes of any continent. They are highly flammable accounting for greater than 70% of the world's burnt area. Much of Africa's savannas and grasslands occur in climates warm enough and wet enough to support closed forests. The combination of open grassy systems and the frequent fires they support have long been interpreted as anthropogenic artefacts caused by humans igniting frequent fires. True grasslands, it was believed, would be restricted to climates too dry or too cold to support closed woody vegetation. The idea that higher-rainfall savannas are anthropogenic and that fires are of human origin has led to initiatives to 'reforest' Africa's open grassy systems paid for by carbon credits under the assumption that the net effect of converting these system to forests would sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gases and mitigate global warming. This paper reviews evidence for the antiquity of African grassy ecosystems and for the fires that they sustain. Africa's grassy biomes and the fires that maintain them are ancient and there is no support for the idea that humans caused large-scale deforestation. Indicators of old-growth grasslands are described. These can help distinguish secondary grasslands suitable for reforestation from ancient grasslands that should not be afforested.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

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“…These communities, referred to as Cu-Co clearings, represent old growth grasslands (Veldman et al 2015) that require centuries to assemble and are characterized by a diversity of herbaceous species and forbs, and are maintained by fire and edaphic factors that limit tree growth (Bond and Parr 2010;Lehmann et al 2011;Parr et al 2014;Veldman et al 2015). In Cu-Co ecosystems, plant communities and associated endemic species are distributed along a soil metal concentration gradient ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of translocation methods to conserve metallophyte communities in the Southeastern D.R. Congo

Stradic

Séleck

Lebrun

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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In Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, unique metallophyte communities supporting numerous endemic species occurred on the highly mineralized copper cobalt (Cu-Co) hills throughout the province. These hills are economically valuable mineral reserves, mining activities represent therefore a threat to the long-term persistence of these communities. Ex-situ conservation program was set up by a mining company to rescue and conserve the diversity of Cu-Co communities until restoration activities are initiated. Two kind of Cu-Co communities, the steppe and the steppic savanna were translocated using topsoil spreading and whole-turf translocation. In this study we assessed the effectiveness of these two techniques in conserving Cu-Co communities and their potential use in future restoration programs. More than two years after the translocation, whole-turf translocation appeared to be the better technique for ex-situ conservation of endemic Cu-Co species.Not only did whole-turf successfully translocate numerous target species that were not present in the topsoil areas, but it also resulted in fewer ruderal and non-target species compared to topsoil spreading. Topsoil spreading recorded low seedling emergence from seed bank due to large proportions of dormant seeds or the absence of a seed bank, especially for the steppic savanna. Restoration of the steppe, is currently more successful than for steppic savanna where the lack of dominant and structuring species likely contributed to divergence in species composition compared to reference ecosystem. Our study stress the fact that tropical old-growth grasslands, which require probably several centuries to assemble, are difficult to restore or translocate.

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Tropical grassy biomes: misunderstood, neglected, and under threat

Cited by 479 publications

References 58 publications

Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation

Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation

The deforestation story: testing for anthropogenic origins of Africa's flammable grassy biomes

Comparison of translocation methods to conserve metallophyte communities in the Southeastern D.R. Congo

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