Rangeland Ecology & Management
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- Library Collection RecordThis article is a world-wide overview of plant domestication and the origins of agriculture. It focuses on the archaeological record: the what, where, and when of these processes, with a brief…Publication Date 2008
- agriculture
- China
- crops
- domestication
- eastern North America
- Formative
- Maize (corn)
- Mesoamerica
- Near East
- Neolithic
- New Guinea
- Rice
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- South America
- Southeast Asia
- wheat
- palaeobotany
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe Late Pleistocene vertebrate record of Africa contributes to our understanding of human evolution and the development of modern biotic environments. This article explores this record, paying…Publication Date 2007
- Africa
- Ancient DNA
- Body size changes
- Bovids
- carnivores
- climate change
- Equids
- Extinctions
- Fossils
- Late Pleistocene
- Madagascar
- mammals
- Mid-Pleistocene
- Modern human origins
- Paleontology
- palaeobotany
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordCurrent knowledge of the vegetation response to climate changes in tropical Africa and particularly the reconstitution of stand dynamics is severely limited by the scarcity of long and complete, well…Publication Date 2007
- African Humid Period
- freshwater algae
- paleobiodiversity
- plant Migration
- palynology
- pollen
- tropical Africa
- palaeobotany
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordMixed farming (the ‘Iron Age’) was introduced to the summer rainfall areas of southern Africa early in the first millennium AD and did not evolve from the local Later Stone Age. In southern…Publication Date 2008
- Bantu-speakers
- Hunter-gatherers
- Indian Ocean trade
- [`]Iron Age'
- Mapungubwe
- mixed farming
- summer rainfall
- Zimbabwe culture
- palaeobotany
- southern Africa
- Library Collection Record
5 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 10.1002/9780470698716.ch20.abs This chapter contains section titled: * Early Grassland Soils * How did Grasslands Arise? * Evolutionary ProcessesPublication Date 2008
- dry continental interiors
- advent of grasses
- urine-impregnated middens
- plant fossils
- ancient aridland ecosystems
- grasslands
- palaeobotany
- ecosystem ecology
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary 10.1002/9780470609880.ch8.abs This chapter contains sections titled: * Introduction * Hominid Exploitation of Wetlands Environments and Resources * Early Hominins: Colonization of New…Publication Date 2010
- exploitation of wetlands environments and foods by pre-sapiens hominins
- early hominins - colonization of new environments
- preconditions for encephalization - physiological considerations
- palaeobotany
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary Grasslands are located in areas with precipitation ranging between 150 and 1200 mm yr-1 and temperature between 0 and 25 C (Lieth and Whittaker, 1975). Along a precipitation gradient, in…Publication Date 2001
- grasslands
- rainfall
- ecosystem ecology
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary In this chapter, we discuss climatic fluctuations in northern and eastern Africa during the Holocene and in particular the middle Holocene. The major emphasis is on the Sahara and the…Publication Date 2007
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe pollen record of the late Pleistocene in Africa is poorly resolved due to the paucity of sites combined with the fragmented nature of most sequences. A vegetation history of the continent can,…Publication Date 2007
- palynology
- Vegetation history
- Last Glacial Maximum
- Biomes
- Tropical rain forest
- savannas
- Arid and semiarid biomes
- Afromontane region
- Mediterranean climate regions
- climate change
- Refugium hypothesis
- palaeoecology
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- palaeoenvironmental data
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn the Sahel and the Kalahari, the growth in groundwater extraction via simple wells and boreholes is contributing to an increased use of dryland natural resources, to competition for resources, and…Publication Date 2003
- rangeland condition
- rainfall
- groundwater
- animal production
- vegetation dynamics
- biodiversity
- bush thickening
- indigenous encroaching species
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordSusan Kent had been working on a project excavating an open-air archaeological site in the eastern Free State, South Africa, at the time of her death. She had commissioned geological studies, which…Publication Date 2006
- paleoenvironments
- Middle Stone Age
- pollen
- phytoliths
- optically stimulated luminescence dating
- palaeobotany
- 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 Record[1] Land use/cover change has been recognized as a key component in global change. Various land cover data sets, including historically reconstructed, recently observed, and future projected, have…Publication Date 2007
- land use
- climate change
- management
- classification
- data analysis
- remote sensing
- modelling
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIt has been well established that drought frequently emerges in several tropical regions following the onset of El Niño. An important characteristic of such droughts is their spatial extent, which…Publication Date 2006
- drought
- climate change
- El Nino
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn Kenya, lands surrounding wildlife protected areas (PAs), referred to as dispersal areas, have undergone widespread land use changes, but these have been little studied. This study investigated…Publication Date 2008
- conservation
- agriculture
- national parks
- land use
- grazing
- biodiversity
- disturbance
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper documents a continuous ~ 44,000-yr pollen record derived from the Mfabeni Peatland on the Maputaland Coastal Plain. A detailed fossil pollen analysis indicates the existence of extensive…Publication Date 2008
- climate change
- Forest history
- Maputaland
- Africa
- pollen
- human impacts
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDegradation in arid and semi-arid regions can be ascribed primarily to environmental conditions such as extreme changes in temperature and erratic rainfall patterns. Seed germination and seedling…Publication Date 2006
- Drought Stress
- polyethylene glycol (PEG)
- restoration
- rangelands
- seeds
- germination
- grasslands
- rainfall
- climate
- drought
- plant autecology
- restoration ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe response of photosynthetic activity to interannual rainfall variations in Africa South of the Sahara is examined using 20 years (1981-2000) of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) AVHRR…Publication Date 2007
- NDVI
- vegetation
- rainfall
- Land cover
- soil properties
- Interannual variability
- Africa
- remote sensing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordEarly warning systems (EWS) tend to focus on the identification of slow onset disasters such famine and epidemic disease. Since hazardous environmental conditions often precede disastrous outcomes by…Publication Date 2006
- Early warning
- Africa
- food security
- NDVI
- precipitation
- rainfall
- Malaria
- Rift valley fever
- Pastoral livelihoods
- modelling
- drought
- management
- system ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe palynology of two overlapping Holocene cores from Lake Sibaya in KwaZulu-Natal elucidates the relationship between climate, vegetation and human impact in the region. By means of twenty-one AMS…Publication Date 2008
- palynology
- Vegetation history
- Holocene
- South Africa
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSavanna ecosystems of southern Africa are strongly influenced by water availability and fire intensity, and this study aimed to show whether these two specific environmental variables are reflected…Publication Date 2008
- calibration
- Kruger National Park
- fire history
- quantitative analysis
- Relevant Source Area of Charcoal
- fire ecology
- palaeobotany
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNew detailed biome reconstructions are proposed in East Africa from modern pollen data derived from 150 sites located in northern Kenya (40 sites), north-western Uganda (51 sites) and southern…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- biomisation
- East Africa
- modern pollen
- plant functional type
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordVegetation changes are documented from a well-dated pollen record from Lake Emakat, Empakaai Crater, northern Tanzania. This pollen record includes the time interval covering the Pleistocene/Holocene…Publication Date 2006
- East Africa
- pollen analysis
- Pleistocene/Holocene transition
- Vegetation Change
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe degree to which different lakes within a landscape respond coherently (in unison) to external drivers such as climate change and soil development is uncertain. Presentation of multi-proxy,…Publication Date 2007
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPollen analysis shed light on vegetation community structure over the last 23,000 year in the western Cape. The pollen from dated hyrax faecal accumulations (hyraceum) relates to the evolution of…Publication Date 2007
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn this paper, we develop an original statistical method to infer palaeoenvironmental conditions from fossil taxonomical assemblages based on the present-day observed environmental characteristics of…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe distribution of pollen in marine sediments is used to record vegetation change on the continent. Generally, a good latitudinal correspondence exists between the distribution patterns of pollen in…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- pollen distribution
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAlluvial and braided fluvial deposits of the 3.2 Ga Moodies Group in the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa, are analyzed petrographically and geochemically to identify their source rocks (…Publication Date 2006
- Archean sedimentary rocks
- Paleoweathering
- Paleoclimate
- provenance
- Barberton Greenstone Belt
- palaeobotany
- 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 RecordLong environmental proxy records are very scarce in semi-dry continental areas and often those available present conflicting interpretations. However, more in-depth investigation of apparent…Publication Date 2008
- pollen
- Lake sediments
- Stable isotope
- Speleothem
- climate change
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordEvidence suggests that C4 grasses, adapted to conditions of low CO2, high temperatures, and water-stressed environments, expanded relatively quickly, and in several geographically distinct regions,…Publication Date 2007
- Oligocene
- Climate modelling
- C4 grasses
- Miocene
- C3 grasses
- palaeobotany
- modelling
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe lack of anoxic environments in arid lands makes well-preserved fossil pollen difficult to find. The scarcity of continental palaeobotanical data in tropical arid zones restricts the understanding…Publication Date 2007
- Namib Desert
- Holocene
- palynology
- Savanna dynamics
- Nama-Karoo
- Vegetation history
- Hyrax middens
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper reports new multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental data on the late Glacial-Holocene transition (c. 14.8-9.3 ka) in equatorial East Africa, in the form of microfossil assemblages (chironomids,…Publication Date 2007
- climate change
- Crater lake
- Chironomids
- Diatoms
- East Africa
- Empakaai
- Multi-proxy reconstruction
- Ostracods
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordMajor morphological and behavioral innovations in early human evolution have traditionally been viewed as responses to conditions associated with increasing aridity and the development of extensive…Publication Date 2007
- Laetoli
- paleoecology
- isotopes
- Hominin evolution
- Paleodiet
- herbivore
- Pliocene
- Tanzania
- Africa
- palaeobotany
- palaeoecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe report five Oligocene-early Miocene pollen assemblages from the Loperot-1 exploration well drilled in the semi-desert Lokichar Basin (latitude 02 ° 21' 46.15'' N, longitude 35 °…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- Kenya Rift
- Turkana depression
- Lokichar Basin
- Oligo-Miocene
- palynology
- Palaeovegetation
- palaeoclimate
- Palaeogeography
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn this study we employ the TRIFFID (Top-down Representation of Interactive Flora and Foliage Including Dynamics) Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) and the Hadley Centre Atmospheric General…Publication Date 2006
- Mid-Pliocene
- vegetation
- General Circulation Model
- Top-down Representation of Interactive Flora and Foliage Including Dynamics
- Hominid
- Bipedalism
- palaeobotany
- 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 RecordSummary Robust calibration of hydrological models, driven by gridded precipitation data derived from either Regional Climate Models or statistical downscaling of General Circulation Models, is…Publication Date 2008
- groundwater
- recharge
- precipitation
- distribution
- Africa
- rainfall
- hydrology
- climate change
- soil moisture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordEstablishing the habitat preferences of early hominin taxa is a necessary, though difficult, requirement for understanding the interaction between environmental change and hominin evolution. The…Publication Date 2008
- paleoecology
- Animal paleocommunity
- Correspondence analysis
- Swartkrans
- Sterkfontein
- Kromdraai
- Coopers
- Faunal analysis
- palaeobotany
- palaeoecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe are attempting to set up a new protocol for palaeoecological reconstruction in relation to the fossil hominin site Laetoli, Tanzania. This is based on the premise that habitat variability in the…Publication Date 2008
- Habitat variability
- rainfall
- climate
- topography
- soil
- Hominins
- ecology
- paleoecology
- 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 RecordGladysvale Cave is one of the few Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing cave sites in South Africa that contains a well-stratified cave fill with clastic sediments interspersed with flowstones. The…Publication Date 2007
- Cave sediments
- Chronostratigraphy
- Flowstone bounded units
- Uranium-thorium dating
- South African caves
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPlio-Pleistocene East African grassland expansion and faunal macroevolution, including that of our own lineage, are attributed to global climate change. To further understand environmental factors of…Publication Date 2007
- Paleogeography
- savannas
- East Africa
- carbon isotopes
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe emergence of C4 grass biomes is believed to have first taken place in the upper Miocene, when a series of events modified global climate with long-lasting impacts on continental biotas. Changes…Publication Date 2007
- Miocene
- Pliocene
- Paleosols
- Tooth enamel
- Ratite eggshell
- grasslands
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordGlobal climate change, linked to astronomical forcing factors, has been implicated in faunal evolutionary change in equatorial Africa, including the origin and diversification of hominin lineages.…Publication Date 2007
- Hominin evolution
- Pliocene
- East Africa
- Baringo
- Tugen Hills
- Precession
- Orbitally forced climate change
- Diatoms
- palaeobotany
- climate change
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe environmental contexts of the karstic hominin sites in South Africa have been established largely by means of faunal associations; taken together these data suggest a trend from relatively closed…Publication Date 2007
- Environmental change
- grasslands
- [delta]13C
- Fossil enamel
- Plio-Pleistocene
- South Africa
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSeveral stable carbon isotopic studies have shown that South African australopiths consumed significant quantities of C4 resources (tropical grasses, sedges, or animals that eat those foods), but…Publication Date 2006
- Carbon isotope
- Chimpanzee
- Baboon
- Hominin
- C4
- palaeobotany
- Africa