Rangeland Ecology & Management
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- Library Collection RecordOverseas Development Institute/International Institute for Environment and Development/Commonwealth Secretariat, London (1993) xi + 248 pp. ISBN 0-85003-195-8Publication Date 1995
- rangelands
- ecology
- pastoralism
- savanna
- Africa
- Library Collection Record
2 Savanna
Savannas are characterized by the coexistence of trees and grasses and occur largely in the seasonal tropics between the equatorial rainforests and mid-latitude desert ecosystems. This article…Publication Date 2008- climate change
- Deciduous
- Evergreen
- fire
- grazing
- herbivory
- phenology
- Seasonal tropics
- soils
- Tree and grass competition
- savanna
- ecology
- animal impact
- grasslands
- rainfall
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary The savanna biome is diverse, including formations ranging from almost treeless grasslands to more or less closed-canopy woodlands with considerable variation in plant composition, biomass,…Publication Date 2001
- savanna
- animal production
- plant production
- plant community ecology
- land use
- degradation
- agriculture
- ecology
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordVegetation dominated by grasses, which is among the largest ecosystems in the world, has great environmental significance as well as providing feed for livestock and wildlife. Grassland types vary…Publication Date 2001
- savannah
- steppe
- grasses
- herbivory
- grazing
- fire
- savanna
- grasslands
- disturbance
- livestock
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe use of fire in the management of grassland is a common rangeland practice in South Africa. This portends ecological implication for the sustainability of the savannah rangelands as a system. A…Publication Date 2008
- fire ecology
- management
- savanna
- grasslands
- rangelands
- Soil Condition
- plant production
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe introduce the five rangeland types found in the arid and semiarid regions of South Africa, namely Arid Savanna, Arid Grassland, Nama-karoo, Succulent Karoo, and Thicket, and describe the important…Publication Date 2006
- rangelands
- savanna
- livestock
- grazing
- management
- commercial agriculture
- subsistence agriculture
- Sustainable development
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract availablePublication Date 2007
- seed banks
- savanna
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary * 1Grasses using the C4 photosynthetic pathway dominate today's savanna ecosystems and account for ~20% of terrestrial carbon fixation. However, this dominant status was reached only…Publication Date 2008
- atmospheric CO2
- C4 plants
- climate change
- fire
- grasslands
- grazing
- Poaceae
- rainfall
- savanna
- seasonality
- carbon dioxide
- palaeoclimate
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAbstract Aim Grasslands and savannas, which make up >75% of Madagascar's land area, have long been viewed as anthropogenically derived after people settled on the island c. 2 ka. We…Publication Date 2008
- Africa
- biome origin
- C4 grasses
- deforestation
- fire ecology
- grassland
- Madagascar
- savanna
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary * 1Fire is important for the maintenance and conservation of African savanna ecosystems. Despite the importance of fire intensity as a key element of the fire regime, it is seldom measured or…Publication Date 2006
- fire management
- fuel loads
- Kruger National Park
- long-term ecological experiment
- fire
- fire ecology
- management
- savanna
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract availablePublication Date 2007
- savanna
- ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordResidues of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may be important for agroecosystem functioning due to their ability to promote soil aggregation, especially in coarse textured soils with little biomass…Publication Date 2007
- soil organic matter
- Glomalin
- arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
- Biomarker
- Arable land use
- savanna
- soils
- ecosystem ecology
- plant production
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper reviews the results of recent research on riparian vegetation recovery following the clearance of invasive alien plants. In Fynbos, Grassland and Savanna Biomes, riparian ecosystems were…Publication Date 2008
- Alien vegetation control
- fire
- Fynbos
- grassland
- biological invasions
- restoration
- riparian ecosystems
- savanna
- seed banks
- Alien invasive species
- management
- restoration ecology
- ecosystem ecology
- ecosystem services
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSolanum mauritianum Scopoli (Solanaceae; 'bugweed') is a major weed of natural vegetation and plantations in the eastern higher rainfall regions of South Africa. This study assessed the…Publication Date 2008
- Ecosystem repair
- integrated control
- non-native species
- restoration ecology
- weed management
- Working for Water
- Alien invasive species
- ecosystem ecology
- hydrology
- grasslands
- savanna
- herbicides
- seed banks
- germination
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract availablePublication Date 2007
- carbon dioxide
- savanna
- climate change
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper evaluated the capacity of SPOT VEGETATION time-series to monitor herbaceous fuel moisture content (FMC) in order to improve fire risk assessment in the savanna ecosystem of Kruger National…Publication Date 2007
- Fuel moisture content
- Live and dead fuel
- Improved Vegetation Dryness Index (IVDI)
- fire risk
- SPOT VEGETATION
- monitoring
- savanna
- fire
- ecosystem dynamics
- remote sensing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper evaluated the capacity of SPOT VEGETATION time-series to monitor the vegetation biomass and water content in order to improve fire risk assessment in the savanna ecosystem of Kruger…Publication Date 2006
- biomass
- Fire risk assessment
- SPOT VEGETATION
- time-series
- Vegetation water content
- fire ecology
- savanna
- vegetation dynamics
- monitoring
- plant production
- national parks
- remote sensing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordCoexistence of trees and grasses in savannas should be possible if competition between the woody and the grassy components is less intense than the competition within each component. Although several…Publication Date 2008
- Acacia mellifera
- Competitor removal experiment
- Nearest-neighbour distance
- quantile regression
- spatial autocorrelation
- Spatial point pattern analysis
- savanna
- ecosystem ecology
- vegetation dynamics
- ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe tree-grass interactions of African savannas are mainly determined by varying rainfall patterns and soil fertility. Large savanna trees are known to modify soil nutrient conditions, but whether…Publication Date 2007
- canopy
- Fibre content
- Grass structure
- grazing
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- savanna
- rainfall
- soil fertility
- plant production
- nutrition
- soil organic carbon
- biomass
- forage quality
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe coexistence of woody and grassy plants in savannas has often been attributed to a rooting-niche separation (two-layer hypothesis). Water was assumed to be the limiting resource for both growth…Publication Date 2006
- fire
- grazing
- Honeycomb rippling model
- Inter-tree competition
- Spatio-temporal rainfall variation
- Tree-grass coexistence
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- grasslands
- soil moisture
- rainfall
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordLake Urema is one of the most important ecological features of Gorongosa National Park, located in central Mozambique, in the East African Rift System. Understanding hydrology and ecology of the lake…Publication Date 2006
- floodplain
- remote sensing
- Reservoir lake
- Sediment composition
- savanna
- water quality
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSavannah (C4) grasses are first recorded at low latitudes in the mid-Miocene prior to their expansion towards mid-latitudes by approximately the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. In an attempt to determine…Publication Date 2006
- isotopes
- carbon
- Microwear
- Rodent
- South Africa
- Pliocene
- savanna
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSemi-arid climatic conditions were responsible for the evolution of the vast savanna that stretches across central Africa and for the evolution of placers in this area that carry gemstones, rare…Publication Date 2008
- Placer deposit
- savanna
- Gemstones
- Titanium
- Rare earth element minerals
- Zircon landform types
- Malawi
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordReconstructing Plio-Pleistocene African paleoenvironments is important for models of early hominin evolution, but is often hampered by low-resolution or discontinuous climatic data. Here, we present…Publication Date 2007
- savanna
- Monsoon
- Walker Circulation
- Precession
- Hominin
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- palaeoenvironmental data
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper reports an assessment of the current and potential impacts of invasive alien plants on selected ecosystem services in South Africa. We used data on the current and potential future…Publication Date 2008
- biodiversity
- Fynbos
- grassland
- grazing
- groundwater
- hydrology
- Karoo
- savanna
- water yield
- Alien invasive species
- ecosystem services
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe importance of wild edible herbaceous species to resource poor households in most rural economies within savannas has been little studied. This is because most of the herbs grow in impoverished…Publication Date 2007
- biodiversity
- cultivation
- food security
- Impoverished lands
- NTFPs
- savanna
- Poverty
- household income studies
- rural areas
- socio-economic aspects
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNamibian rangelands are encroached with Acacia mellifera, partially resulting from a poor understanding of vegetation dynamics. A conceptual state-and-transition model of vegetation dynamics in the…Publication Date 2008
- fire
- hazards
- management
- opportunities
- state-and-transition
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- bush thickening
- rainfall
- seed banks
- vegetation dynamics
- plant autecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordBush encroachment is a phenomenon that affects semi-arid savannas world-wide. To apply effective browsing to control trees, the browse-browser interaction must be well understood. An important aspect…Publication Date 2008
- Bush encroachment
- Delayed induced response
- Growth-defence tradeoff
- herbivory
- Plant defence
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- plant autecology
- fertilizer
- irrigation
- forage quality
- foraging ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDespite the ubiquity of sub-tropical savannas throughout the earth, limitations of savanna productivity are understudied relative to other terrestrial systems. The limitations of savanna productivity…Publication Date 2008
- grass
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- savanna
- rainfall
- soil nutrients
- plant production
- plant autecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordInvasion of ecosystems by woody alien plant species is a widespread phenomenon. Interspecific competition has often been suggested as a mechanism for replacement of one species by another, but this…Publication Date 2008
- biological invasions
- Coefficient of tree symmetry (TS)
- shade
- Symmetry technique
- Woodland structure
- savanna
- Alien invasive species
- ecosystem ecology
- ecosystem dynamics
- Phytosociology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordKey resource areas (KRAs), defined as dry season foraging zones for herbivores, were studied relative to the more extensive outlying rangeland areas (non-KRAs) in Kenya. Field surveys with…Publication Date 2008
- drought
- forage
- foraging
- herbivore
- Pastoralist
- rangeland
- Satellite
- topography
- rangelands
- foraging ecology
- mapping
- ecosystem ecology
- landscape ecology
- soils
- monitoring
- conservation
- decision support systems
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper provides values for nitrogen isotopic abundances of southern African soils and plants along land use gradients of varying aridity. The ?15N values of soils and plants were generally higher…Publication Date 2008
- grasses
- grazing
- mineralization
- nitrification
- savanna
- trees
- soils
- grazing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordRapid growth of the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) population in the Great Fish River Reserve (GFRR), South Africa, has potential to negatively impact the semi-arid thicket vegetation that occurs in…Publication Date 2007
- diet
- herbivory
- intake
- Plant defence
- savanna
- forage quality
- management
- conservation
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordResearchers and managers debate the relevance of non-equilibrium dynamics in rangelands, where ungulate populations are more closely associated with abiotic events than forage availability, and…Publication Date 2007
- Coefficient of variation
- Density dependence
- Ecosystem modeling
- non-equilibrium
- precipitation
- savanna
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe tested the theories on hierarchical foraging by large herbivores by studying selection of woody browse by goats in a semi-arid savanna. In the smallest scale, we compared characteristics of woody…Publication Date 2007
- Hierachical foraging
- intake rate
- Plant defences
- selective foraging
- foraging ecology
- savanna
- goats
- diet selection
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSatellite imagery derived fire history data for the southern Okavango Delta, Botswana from 1989 to 2003 were used to analyse the temporal and spatial distribution of fires and to assess changes in…Publication Date 2007
- savanna
- fire season
- fire regime
- fire frequency
- wetland
- southern Africa
- fire
- fire ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIndigenous forests and savannas, along with plantation forests, offer numerous benefits to rural communities and society at large. Yet, the role of forests and forestry in contributing to sustainable…Publication Date 2007
- ecotourism
- forestry
- Non-timber forest products
- Plantations
- Poverty
- Safety-net
- savannas
- South Africa
- sustainable livelihoods
- socio-economic aspects
- savanna
- sustainability
- subsistence agriculture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn the Miombo Woodlands Region of south-central Africa, the interaction between fires and elephants is one of the main drivers of vegetation, along with climate, soils and topography. Fire-elephant…Publication Date 2008
- fire
- Elephants
- multivariate statistics
- Miombo woodlands
- conservation
- savanna
- mammals
- Nature reserves
- vegetation dynamics
- ecology
- ecosystem ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordLand management in tropical woodlands is being used to sequester carbon (C), alleviate poverty and protect biodiversity, among other benefits. Our objective was to determine how slash-and-burn…Publication Date 2008
- savanna
- Tropical deciduous forest
- basal area
- Allometric equations
- Wood density
- soil bulk density
- Soil C stock
- biodiversity
- Shannon index
- Chronosequence
- land use
- carbon dioxide
- carbon sequestration
- socio-economic aspects
- management
- soil organic carbon
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIdentification of the factors that determine the variation in browse quality, as determined by their chemical composition, is an important step towards understanding herbivore distribution patterns.…Publication Date 2006
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- Condensed tannin
- Polyphenol
- Colophospermum mopane
- fire
- savanna
- foliage
- Ecosystem drivers
- forage quality
- diet selection
- soils
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe self-thinning line is a very robust pattern, which can be obtained in modeling studies by a variety of different mechanistic assumptions. Our opinion is that we can only advance in our…Publication Date 2008
- Size inequality
- Competitive asymmetry
- Zone of influence model
- Arid savanna
- Acacia reficiens
- Namibia
- Parsimony
- Pattern-oriented modeling
- savanna
- vegetation dynamics
- modelling
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordMany mechanisms have been suggested to explain the coexistence of woody species and grasses in savannas, yet, evidence from field studies and simulation models has been mixed. Shrub encroachment is…Publication Date 2007
- Patch-dynamics
- Cyclical succession
- shrub encroachment
- Spatially explicit root growth
- Computer simulation model
- Validation
- Latin Hypercube sensitivity analysis
- Acacia mellifera
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- vegetation dynamics
- ecosystem ecology
- modelling
- rainfall
- fire
- soil moisture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn arid and semi-arid savannas, species diversity is strongly influenced by structural diversity, which in these systems is characteristically formed by woody vegetation. Shrub encroachment,…Publication Date 2007
- Yellow mongoose
- rangelands
- Individual-based model
- shrub encroachment
- Spatial explicit
- structural diversity
- ecosystem ecology
- savanna
- biodiversity
- mammals
- indigenous encroaching species
- modelling
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn semiarid savannas of Southern Africa current land use practices and climate change may lead to substantial changes of vegetation structure in the near future, however uncertainty remains about the…Publication Date 2006
- Acacia erioloba
- Bush encroachment
- global change
- Grewia flava
- overgrazing
- seed dispersal
- shrub encroachment
- Southern Kalahari
- Spatial-explicit simulation model
- savanna
- land use
- grazing
- climate change
- vegetation dynamics
- cattle
- ecosystem ecology
- ecosystem dynamics
- rainfall
- fire ecology
- modelling
- conservation
- management
- carrying capacity
- biodiversity
- indigenous encroaching species
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordClassic rangeland theory advocates stocking rangelands at relatively low and constant levels. This theory has been labelled inappropriate for savanna rangelands, because savannas are strongly…Publication Date 2007
- Bush encroachment
- Disequilibrium theory
- Opportunistic strategies
- Grass-tree interactions
- fire
- livestock production
- savanna
- rangelands
- stocking rates
- management
- modelling
- sustainability
- animal production
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe impact of browsers on the structure of woody vegetation has been well documented in savanna landscapes but the spatial distribution of these impacts is poorly understood. Savannas are…Publication Date 2008
- Boundary
- elephant
- monitoring
- savanna
- scale
- spatial
- ecosystem dynamics
- animal impact
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIt has been argued that the wide-scale provision of artificial surface water in semi-arid savannas may result in homogenisation of foraging regimes, compromising biodiversity and ecosystem resilience…Publication Date 2007
- Artificial waterholes
- surface water
- Water-dependency
- Grazing heterogeneity
- piosphere
- Kruger National Park
- savanna
- national parks
- conservation
- management
- ecosystem ecology
- landscape ecology
- GIS
- policies
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWithin arid plant communities species vary considerably in the ability to germinate under water stress. Attempts to correlate this variation with environmental gradients have remained largely…Publication Date 2008
- dormancy
- drought tolerance
- facilitation
- Nurse plants
- PEG
- Predictive germination
- Seed mass
- soil moisture
- soil texture
- Southern Kalahari
- savanna
- germination
- seeds
- drought
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDry and mature tree fruits are a potential source of protein for goats in the semi-arid areas of southern Africa, but their chemical composition and feeding value is largely unknown. This study…Publication Date 2008
- Tree fruits
- protein supplements
- chemical composition
- in vitro gas production
- In vitro degradation
- Partition factors
- forage quality
- goats
- savanna
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPastoral communities in East Africa are facing considerable challenges arising from shifts in land tenure policy from communal to individual landholdings and high human population growth rates. Over…Publication Date 2006
- savanna
- Household model
- Kajiado District
- Subdivision
- policies
- communal farming
- pastoralism
- socio-economic aspects
- household income studies
- modelling
- ecosystem dynamics
- food security
- land use
- land reform
- Africa