Global ecosystem typology

Alternative site for the Global ecosystem typology with additional information for ecosystem profiles and indicative maps.

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T4.1 Trophic savannas

Biome: T4. Savannas and grasslands biome

Contributors:
(texts)

An unparalleled abundance and diversity of large herbivores maintain an open structure of these tree-grass ecosystems in the seasonal tropics of Africa and south Asia. Large herbivores are pivotal in maintaining short rhizomatous and tussock grasses, limiting recruitment of trees, cycling nutrients, sustaining complex food webs of invertebrate detritivores and diverse assemblages of mammalian and avian predators and scavengers. Seasonally high productivity coincides with the summer rainy season. Fires occur in some years, but are less influential than herbivores on ecosystem function. Trees and grasses have adaptations to seasonal drought and heavy browsing, such as rhizomes and stolons that allow grasses to spread under grazing pressure.

Key Features

Grassy woodlands and grasslands dominated by C4 grasses in seasonal climates with lower rainfall and higher soil fertility..

Overview of distribution

African and Asian wet/dry tropics & subtropics.

Profile versions

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

  • Hempson GP, Archibald S, Bond WJ, Ellis RP, Grant CC, Kruger FJ, et al. (2015) Ecology of grazing lawns in Africa Biological Reviews 90: 979–994

  • Archibald S, Hempson GP (2016) Competing consumers: contrasting the patterns and impacts of fire and mammalian herbivory in Africa Phil Trans R Soc B 371: 20150309

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of T4.1 Trophic savannas. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

T4.1.IM.mix_v1.0

Datasets

  • Resolve-Ecoregions-2017
  • EarthEnv-LandCover-v1.0

Map references

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

  • Tuanmu, M.-N. and W. Jetz (2014) A global 1-km consensus land-cover product for biodiversity and ecosystem modeling Global Ecology and Biogeography 23(9):1031–1045 DOI:10.1111/geb.12182

T4.1.web.mix_v1.0

Major and minor occurrences were initially identified using consensus land-cover maps (Tuanmu et al. 2014) and then cropped to selected terrestrial ecoregions (Dinerstein et al. 2017) at 30 arc seconds spatial resolution. Ecoregions were selected if: i) their descriptions mentioned features consistent with those identified in the profile of the Ecosystem Functional Group; and ii) if their location was consistent with the ecological drivers described in the profile. Open image full size.

Datasets

  • EarthEnv-LandCover-v1.0
  • Resolve-Ecoregions-2017

Map references

  • Tuanmu, M.-N. and W. Jetz (2014) A global 1-km consensus land-cover product for biodiversity and ecosystem modeling Global Ecology and Biogeography 23(9):1031–1045 DOI:10.1111/geb.12182

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

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