Fascinating and diverse, savanna ecosystems support a combination of pastoral and agropastoral communities alongside wild and domestic herbivores that can be found nowhere else. This diversity has made the study of these areas problematic. Ecosystem Function in SavannasMeasurement and Modeling at Landscape to Global Scales addresses some of the discontinuities in the treatment of savannas by the scientific community and documents a range of measurements, methods, technologies, applications, and modeling approaches.
Based on contributions from leading authorities and experts on savanna systems worldwide, Ecosystem Function in Savannas describes the global savanna biome in terms of its broad ecological properties, temporal dynamics, disturbance levels, and human dimensions. The text examines carbon, water, energy, and trace gas fluxes for major global savanna regions. It looks at quantitative surface properties of savannas that can be retrieved using remote sensing and numerical approaches used to explore savanna dynamics. The authors also discuss how savanna modeling and measurement approaches might be unified.
By presenting this confluence of information in a single resource, Ecosystem Function in Savannas provides a platform for examining synergies, connections, integrative opportunities, and complementarities among approaches and data sources. This information can then be used to harmonize measurement and modeling methods among scales and across disciplinary boundaries. Ecosystem Function in Savannas builds a bridge across the markedly different perspectives on savannas by which ecologists, biogeochemists, remote sensors, geographers, anthropologists, and modelers approach their science.
Savannas: Biogeographical and Ecological Perspectives
- Biogeography and Dynamics of Global Tropical and Subtropical Savannas: A Spatiotemporal View, M.J. Hill, M.O. Román, and C.B. Schaaf
- Tree–Grass Interactions in Savannas: Paradigms, Contradictions, and Conceptual Models, N.P. Hanan and C.E.R. Lehmann
Carbon, Water and Trace Gas Fluxes in Global Savannas
- Disturbance and Climatic Drivers of Carbon Dynamics of a North Australian Tropical Savanna, L.B. Hutley and J. Beringer
- Functional Convergence in Ecosystem Carbon Exchange in Adjacent Savanna Vegetation Types of the Kruger National Park, South Africa, N.P. Hanan, N. Boulain, C.A. Williams, R.J. Scholes, and S. Archibald
- Flux Dynamics in the Cerrado and Cerrado–Forest Transition of Brazil, G.L. Vourlitis and H. Ribeiro da Rocha
- Woody Plant Rooting Depth and Ecosystem Function of Savannas: A Case Study from the Edwards Plateau Karst, Texas, M.E. Litvak, S. Schwinning, and J.L. Heilman
- The Dynamics of Energy, Water, and Carbon Fluxes in a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii) Savanna in California, D. Baldocchi, Q. Chen, X. Chen, S. Ma, G. Miller, Y. Ryu, J. Xiao, R. Wenk, and J. Battles
Remote Sensing of Biophysical and Biochemical Characteristics in Savannas
- Quantifying Carbon in Savannas: The Role of Active Sensors in Measurements of Tree Structure and Biomass, R.M. Lucas, A.C. Lee, J. Armston, J.M.B. Carreiras, K.M. Viergever, P. Bunting, D. Clewley, M. Moghaddam, P. Siqueira, and I. Woodhouse
- Remote Sensing of Tree–Grass Systems: The Eastern Australian Woodlands, T. Danaher, P. Scarth, J. Armston, L. Collett, J. Kitchen, and S. Gillingham
- Remote Sensing of Fractional Cover and Biochemistry in Savannas, G.P. Asner, S.R. Levick, and I.P.J. Smit
- Woody Fractional Cover in Kruger National Park, South Africa: Remote-Sensing-Based Maps and Ecological Insights, G. Bucini, N.P. Hanan, R.B. Boone, I.P.J. Smit, S. Saatchi, M.A. Lefsky, and G.P. Asner
- Remote Sensing of Global Savanna Fire Occurrence, Extent, and Properties, D.P. Roy, L. Boschetti, and L. Giglio
Perspectives on Patch to Landscape Scale Savanna Processes and Modeling
- Understanding Tree–Grass Coexistence and Impacts of Disturbance and Resource Variability in Savannas, F. van Langevelde, K. Tomlinson, E.R.M. Barbosa, S. de Bie, H.H.T. Prins, and S.I. Higgins
- Spatially Explicit Modeling of Savanna Processes, K.M. Meyer, K. Wiegand, and D. Ward
- The Interaction of Fire and Rainfall Variability on Tree Structure and Carbon Fluxes in Savannas: Application of the Flames Model, A. Liedloff and G.D. Cook
- Population and Ecosystem Modeling of Land Use and Climate Change Impacts on Arid and Semiarid Savanna Dynamics, F. Jeltsch, B. Tietjen, N. Blaum, and E. Rossmanith
Regional Carbon Dynamics in Savanna Systems: Remote Sensing and Modeling Applications
- Integration of Remote Sensing and Modeling to Understand Carbon Fluxes and Climate Interactions in Africa, C.A. Williams
- Timescales and Dynamics of Carbon in Australia’s Savannas, D.J. Barrett
- Land Use Change and the Carbon Budget in the Brazilian Cerrado, M.M.C. Bustamante and L.G. Ferreira
- Land Use Changes (1970–2020) and the Carbon Emissions in the Colombian Llanos, A. Etter, A. Sarmiento, and M.H. Romero
- Modeling Vegetation, Carbon, and Nutrient Dynamics in the Savanna Woodlands of Australia with the AussieGRASS Model, J.O. Carter, D. Bruget, B. Henry, R. Hassett, G. Stone, K. Day, N. Flood, and G. McKeon
Continental and Global Scale Modeling of Savannas
- Carbon Cycles and Vegetation Dynamics of Savannas Based on Global Satellite Products, C. Potter
- CENTURY-SAVANNA Model for Tree–Grass Ecosystems, W.J. Parton, R.J. Scholes, K. Day, John O. Carter, and R. Kelly
- Climate–Fire Interactions and Savanna Ecosystems: A Dynamic Vegetation Modeling Study for the African Continent, A. Arneth, V. Lehsten, K. Thonicke, and A. Spessa
Understanding Savannas as Coupled Human-Natural Systems
- People in Savanna Ecosystems: Land Use, Change, and Sustainability, K.A. Galvin and R.S. Reid
- Social and Environmental Change in Global Savannas: Linking Social Variables to Biophysical Dynamics, M.D. Turner
Synthesis
- Current Approaches to Measurement, Remote Sensing, and Modeling in Savannas: A Synthesis, M.J. Hill and N.P. Hanan
Index
Michael J. Hill is with the Department of Earth System Science and Policy at the University of North Dakota. Niall P. Hanan is with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University.