CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 89Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesEcology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesConservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation

Open access
Lehmann, Caroline E. R., Parr, Catherine L.·2016·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2016.0329PMC PMC4978878
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

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'.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1098/rstb.2016.0329

Cites

4 of 4 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Key human drivers of grassland and savannah degradation include expansion of cropped areas or conversion to intensive pasture systems, reduced livestock mobility and overgrazing, and fuelwood extraction in savannahs.

    “The key human drivers of grassland and savannah degradation include expansion of cropped areas or conversion to intensive pasture systems (Section 2.3) (27), reduced livestock mobility and overgrazing, and-in savannahs-fuelwood extraction (4,31).”

    From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [31]

    The paper’s “Drivers of Change” section says land-use change and intensification disrupt tropical grassy biomes, and that roads and fences prohibit large-scale animal movements. Its “Human use and value” discussion identifies fuelwood harvesting as significant, but says its sustainability varies; the copy does not identify reduced livestock mobility, overgrazing, and fuelwood extraction together as key drivers of degradation, or specifically describe conversion to intensive pasture systems. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 57

  1. Mitchard ETA, Flintrop CM. Woody encroachment and forest degradation in sub-Saharan Africa's woodlands and savannas 1982-2006. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B2013 2013-09-05 00:00:00.
  2. Lambin EF, Geist HJ, Lepers E. Dynamics of land-use and land-cover change in tropical regions. Annual review of environment and resources. 2003;28(1):205-41.
  3. Searchinger TD, Estes L, Thornton PK, Beringer T, Notenbaert A, Rubenstein D, et al. High carbon and biodiversity costs from converting Africa/'s wet savannahs to cropland. Nature Clim Change. 2015;5(5):481-6.
  4. Stevens N, Lehmann CER, Murphy BP, Durigan G. Savanna woody encroachment is widespread across three continents. Global Change Biology. In press; XXX(XXX):XXX.
  5. Archibald S. Managing the human component of fire regimes: lessons from Africa. Phil Trans R Soc B. 2016;371(1696):20150346.
  6. Archibald S, Lehmann CER, Gomez-Dans J, Bradstock RA. Defining pyromes and global syndromes of fire. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2013;10(16):6442 -7.
  7. Cerling TE, Wynn JG, Andanje SA, Bird MI, Korir DK, Levin NE, et al. Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6[thinsp]million years. Nature. 2011;476(7358):51-6.
  8. Climate change 2013: the physical science basis: Working Group I contribution to the Fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Cambridge University Press; 2014.
  9. Grace J, José JS, Meir P, Miranda HS, Montes RA. Productivity and carbon fluxes of tropical savannas. J Biogeog. 2006;33(3):387-400.
  10. Lehmann CER, Anderson TM, Sankaran M, Higgins SI, Archibald S, Hoffmann WA, et al. Savanna Vegetation-Fire-Climate Relationships Differ Among Continents. Science. 2014;343(6170):548-52.
  11. Tredennick AT, Hanan NP. Effects of Tree Harvest on the Stable-State Dynamics of Savanna and Forest. The American Naturalist. 2015;185(5):E153-E65.
  12. Edwards EJ, Osborne CP, Stromberg CAE, Smith SA, C4 Grasses Consortium. The Origins of C4 Grasslands: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecosystem Science. Science. 2010;328(5978):587-91.
  13. Bird MI, Taylor D, Hunt C. Palaeoenvironments of insular Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Period: a savanna corridor in Sundaland? Quaternary Science Reviews. 2005;24(20):2228-42.
  14. Harrison SP, Prentice CI. Climate and CO2 controls on global vegetation distribution at the last glacial maximum: analysis based on palaeovegetation data, biome modelling and palaeoclimate simulations doi:10.1046/j.1365-2486.2003.00640.x. Global Change Biology. 2003;9(7):983-1004. · DOI
  15. Werneck FP, Nogueira C, Colli GR, Sites JW, Costa GC. Climatic stability in the Brazilian Cerrado: implications for biogeographical connections of South American savannas, species richness and conservation in a biodiversity hotspot. J Biogeog. 2012;39(9):1695-706.
  16. Daniau A-L, Goñi MFS, Martinez P, Urrego DH, Bout-Roumazeilles V, Desprat S, et al. Orbital-scale climate forcing of grassland burning in southern Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2013;110(13):5069-73.
  17. Buitenwerf R, Bond WJ, Stevens N, Trollope WSW. Increased tree densities in South African savannas: >50 years of data suggests CO2 as a driver. Global Change Biology. 2012;18(2):675-84.
  18. Scheiter S, Higgins SI, Osborne CP, Bradshaw C, Lunt D, Ripley BS, et al. Fire and fire-adapted vegetation promoted C4 expansion in the late Miocene. New Phytologist. 2012;195(3):653-66.
  19. Simon MF, Grether R, de Queiroz LP, Skema C, Pennington RT, Hughes CE. Recent assembly of the Cerrado, a neotropical plant diversity hotspot, by in situ evolution of adaptations to fire. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2009;106(48):20359-64.
  20. Pennington RT, Hughes CE. The remarkable congruence of New and Old World savanna origins. New Phytologist. 2014;204(1):4-6.
  21. Maurin O, Davies TJ, Burrows JE, Daru BH, Yessoufou K, Muasya AM, et al. Savanna fire and the origins of the 'underground forests' of Africa. New Phytologist. 2014;204(1):201-14.
  22. Staver AC, Archibald S, Levin SA. The Global Extent and Determinants of Savanna and Forest as Alternative Biome States. Science. 2011;334(6053):230-2.
  23. Lehmann CER, Archibald SA, Hoffmann WA, Bond WJ. Deciphering the distribution of the savanna biome. New Phytologist. 2011;191(1):197-209.
  24. Bond WJ. What Limits Trees in C4 Grasslands and Savannas? Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 2008;39(1):641-59.
  25. Poulter B, Frank D, Ciais P, Myneni RB, Andela N, Bi J, et al. Contribution of semi-arid ecosystems to interannual variability of the global carbon cycle. Nature. 2014;509(7502):600-3.
  26. Veldman JW, Overbeck GE, Negreiros D, Mahy G, Le Stradic S, Fernandes GW, et al. Tyranny of trees in grassy biomes. Science (New York, NY). 2015;347(6221):484.
  27. Bond WJ. Ancient grasslands at risk. Science. 2016;351(6269):120-2.
  28. Hirota M, Holmgren M, Van Nes EH, Scheffer M. Global Resilience of Tropical Forest and Savanna to Critical Transitions. Science. 2011;334(6053):232-5.
  29. Ratajczak Z, Nippert JB. Comment on "Global Resilience of Tropical Forest and Savanna to Critical Transitions". Science. 2012;336(6081):541.
  30. Ratnam J, Bond WJ, Fensham RJ, Hoffmann WA, Archibald S, Lehmann CER, et al. When is a 'forest' a savanna, and why does it matter? Global Ecology and Biogeography. 2011;20(5):653-60.
  31. Oliveira PS, Marquis RJ. The cerrados of Brazil: ecology and natural history of a neotropical savanna: Columbia University Press; 2002.
  32. Assessment ME. Drylands Systems. Chapter 22. Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing: Current State and Trends. 2005;1.
  33. Olson DM, Dinerstein E, Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND, Powell GV, Underwood EC, et al. Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth A new global map of terrestrial ecoregions provides an innovative tool for conserving biodiversity. BioScience. 2001;51(11):933-8.
  34. Dinerstein E, Baccini A, Anderson M, Fiske G, Wikramanayake E, McLaughlin D, et al. Guiding agricultural expansion to spare tropical forests. Conservation Letters. 2015;8(4):262-71.
  35. Woinarski JC, Legge S, Fitzsimons JA, Traill BJ, Burbidge AA, Fisher A, et al. The disappearing mammal fauna of northern Australia: context, cause, and response. Conservation Letters. 2011;4(3):192-201.
  36. Sankaran M, Ratnam J, Hanan NP. Tree-grass coexistence in savannas revisited-insights from an examination of assumptions and mechanisms invoked in existing models. Ecology Letters. 2004;7:480-90.
  37. Moncrieff GR, Scheiter S, Bond WJ, Higgins SI. Increasing atmospheric CO2 overrides the historical legacy of multiple stable biome states in Africa. New Phytologist. 2014;201(3):908-15.
  38. Ryan CM, Williams M. How does fire intensity and frequency affect miombo woodland tree populations and biomass? Ecological Applications. 2010;21(1):48-60.
  39. Bond WJ, Midgley GF. A proposed CO2-controlled mechanism of woody plant invasion in grasslands and savannas. Global Change Biology. 2000;6(8):865-9.
  40. Higgins SI, Scheiter S. Atmospheric CO2 forces abrupt vegetation shifts locally, but not globally. Nature. 2012;488(7410):209-12.
  41. Bowman DMJS, Prior LD. TURNER REVIEW No. 10 Why do evergreen trees dominate the Australian seasonal tropics? doi:10.1071/BT05022. Australian Journal of Botany. 2005;53(5):379-99 · DOI
  42. Donoghue MJ. A phylogenetic perspective on the distribution of plant diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2008;105(Supplement 1):11549-55.
  43. Seth A, Rauscher SA, Biasutti M, Giannini A, Camargo SJ, Rojas M. CMIP5 projected changes in the annual cycle of precipitation in monsoon regions. Journal of Climate. 2013;26(19):7328-51.
  44. Eamus D. The interaction of rising CO2 and temperatures with water use efficiency. Plant, Cell & Environment. 1991;14(8):843-52.
  45. Stevens N, Seal CE, Archibald S, Bond W. Increasing temperatures can improve seedling establishment in arid-adapted savanna trees. Oecologia. 2014;175(3):1029-40.
  46. Faria AP, Fernandes GW, França MGC. Predicting the impact of increasing carbon dioxide concentration and temperature on seed germination and seedling establishment of African grasses in Brazilian Cerrado. Austral Ecology. 2015;40(8):962-73.
  47. Wakeling JL, Cramer MD, Bond WJ. The savanna-grassland 'treeline': why don't savanna trees occur in upland grasslands? Journal of Ecology. 2012;100(2):381- 91.
  48. Prior LD, Eamus D, Duff GA. Seasonal and diurnal patterns of carbon assimilation, stomatal conductance and leaf water potential in Eucalyptus tetrodonta saplings in a wet-dry savanna in northern Australia. Aust J Bot. 1997;45:241-58.
  49. Tilman D, Balzer C, Hill J, Befort BL. Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2011;108(50):20260-4.
  50. Andela N, van der Werf GR. Recent trends in African fires driven by cropland expansion and El Nino to La Nina transition. Nature Clim Change. 2014;4(9):791-5.
  51. Brannstrom C, Jepson W, Filippi AM, Redo D, Xu Z, Ganesh S. Land change in the Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado), 1986-2002: comparative analysis and implications for land-use policy. Land Use Policy. 2008;25(4):579-95.
  52. Durigan G, Ratter JA. The need for a consistent fire policy for Cerrado conservation. Journal of Applied Ecology. 2016;53(1):11-5.
  53. Djoudi H, Vergles E, Blackie R, Koame CK, Gautier D. Dry forests, livelihoods and poverty alleviation: understanding current trends. International Forestry Review. 2015;17(S2):54-69.
  54. Twine WC, Holdo RM. Fuelwood sustainability revisited: integrating size structure and resprouting into a spatially realistic fuelshed model. Journal of Applied Ecology. 2016.
  55. Wigley BJ, Bond WJ, Hoffman MT. Thicket expansion in a South African savanna under divergent land use: local vs. global drivers? Global Change Biology. 2010;16(3):964-76.
  56. Zaloumis NP, Bond WJ. Grassland restoration after afforestation: No direction home? Austral Ecology. 2011;36(4):357-66.
  57. Hanan NP, Lehmann CER. Tree-grass interactions in savannas : paradigms, contradictions and conceptual models. In: Hill M, J., Hanan NP, editors. Ecosystem Function in Savannas: Measurement and Modeling at Landscape to Global Scales CRC Press; 2011. p. 39 -56.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lehmann, C. E. R., & Parr, C. L.
Affiliations
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
  • University of Liverpool (GB)
Corresponding author
Lehmann, Caroline E. R.
ORCID
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2016-09-19
Volume
371
Issue
1703
Pages
20160329
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2016.0329
PMC
PMC4978878
OpenAlex
W2504728491
Cited by
89
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 5
FWCI
6.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
Keywords
grassland ecology, land use change, global change, disturbance regimes, ecosystem services, grassland classification, grassland resilience, grassland conservation, eco-evolutionary dynamics
MeSH terms
Conservation of Natural Resources, Humans, Tropical Climate, Grassland

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review