Human impacts in African savannas are mediated by plant functional traits.

Autor: Osborne CP; Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK.; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK., Charles-Dominique T; Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, 666303, Yunnan, China., Stevens N; Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa., Bond WJ; South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Private Bag X7, Claremont, 7735, South Africa.; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa., Midgley G; Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa., Lehmann CER; School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The New phytologist [New Phytol] 2018 Oct; Vol. 220 (1), pp. 10-24. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 May 28.
DOI: 10.1111/nph.15236
Abstrakt: Tropical savannas have a ground cover dominated by C 4 grasses, with fire and herbivory constraining woody cover below a rainfall-based potential. The savanna biome covers 50% of the African continent, encompassing diverse ecosystems that include densely wooded Miombo woodlands and Serengeti grasslands with scattered trees. African savannas provide water, grazing and browsing, food and fuel for tens of millions of people, and have a unique biodiversity that supports wildlife tourism. However, human impacts are causing widespread and accelerating degradation of savannas. The primary threats are land cover-change and transformation, landscape fragmentation that disrupts herbivore communities and fire regimes, climate change and rising atmospheric CO 2 . The interactions among these threats are poorly understood, with unknown consequences for ecosystem health and human livelihoods. We argue that the unique combinations of plant functional traits characterizing the major floristic assemblages of African savannas make them differentially susceptible and resilient to anthropogenic drivers of ecosystem change. Research must address how this functional diversity among African savannas differentially influences their vulnerability to global change and elucidate the mechanisms responsible. This knowledge will permit appropriate management strategies to be developed to maintain ecosystem integrity, biodiversity and livelihoods.
(© 2018 The Authors New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: