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Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes
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Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Earth Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2020) | Viewed by 22507

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Jane Southworth

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Interests: savanna systems; remote sensing; climate dynamics; time-series analysis; parks and protected areas
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hannah Herrero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Interests: remote sensing; human-environment interactions; conservation; savanna science; Africa; land change science

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Savanna and grassland biomes cover more of the earth's surface than any other biome type, and yet they are still largely understudied. In recent decades, global savanna and grassland ecosystems have become more prominent in the literature focused on global change dynamics. Savanna and grasslands represent unique biomes with their own challenges, both in terms of their study and in terms of their complexity, leading to many contradictory and often controversial findings. The global threats to these systems are potentially significant- from climate change impacts to human management challenges, from possible degradation to complete desertification, and looking across varied disturbance regime shifts.

This Special Issue of Applied Sciences, “Dynamics of Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes”, is intended for a wide and interdisciplinary audience, and covers recent advances in:

- drivers of vegetation dynamics

- further understanding carbon interactions in these critical landscapes

- advances in modeling both current and future system states

- tipping points in savanna systems

- human-environment interactions and challenges for management

- biodiversity and ecosystem services

Prof. Jane Southworth
Dr. Hannah Herrero
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • savanna science
  • climate variability and change
  • vegetation dynamics
  • carbon
  • ecosystem services
  • modeling
  • human dimensions
  • tipping points
  • disturbance and degradation

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 145 KiB  
Editorial
Special Issue on Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grasslands Biomes
by Hannah Victoria Herrero and Jane Southworth
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(22), 8043; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10228043 - 13 Nov 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1530
Abstract
Savanna and grassland biomes cover more of the earth’s surface than any other biome type, and yet they are still largely understudied [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes)

Research

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18 pages, 3056 KiB  
Article
A Tale of Grass and Trees: Characterizing Vegetation Change in Payne’s Creek National Park, Belize from 1975 to 2019
by Luke Blentlinger and Hannah V. Herrero
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(12), 4356; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10124356 - 25 Jun 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2453
Abstract
The lowland savannas of Belize are important areas to conserve for their biodiversity. This study takes place in Payne’s Creek National Park (PCNP) in the southern coastal plain of Belize. PCNP protects diverse terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, unique physical features, and wildlife. A [...] Read more.
The lowland savannas of Belize are important areas to conserve for their biodiversity. This study takes place in Payne’s Creek National Park (PCNP) in the southern coastal plain of Belize. PCNP protects diverse terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, unique physical features, and wildlife. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification technique was used to classify the heterogeneous landscape of PCNP to characterize woody and non-woody conversion in a time-series of remotely sensed data from 1975, 1993, 2011 and 2019. Results indicate that the SVM classifier performs well in this small savanna landscape (average overall accuracy of 91.9%) with input variables of raw Landsat imagery, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), elevation, and soil type. Our change trajectory analysis shows that PCNP is a relatively stable landscape, but with certain areas that are prone to multiple conversions in the time-series. Woody vegetation mostly occurs in areas with variable slopes and riparian zones with increased nutrient availability. This study does not show extensive woody conversion in PCNP, contrary to widespread woody encroachment that is occurring in savannas on other continents. These high-performing SVM classification maps and future studies will be an important resource of information on Central American savanna vegetation dynamics for savanna scientists and land managers that use adaptive management for ecosystem preservation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes)
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16 pages, 2542 KiB  
Article
Effects of Fence Enclosure on Vegetation Community Characteristics and Productivity of a Degraded Temperate Meadow Steppe in Northern China
by Lijun Xu, Yingying Nie, Baorui Chen, Xiaoping Xin, Guixia Yang, Dawei Xu and Liming Ye
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(8), 2952; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10082952 - 24 Apr 2020
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 3631
Abstract
Species composition and biomass are two important indicators in assessing the effects of restoration measures of degraded grasslands. In this paper, we present a field study on the temporal changes in plant community characteristics, species diversity and biomass production in a degraded temperate [...] Read more.
Species composition and biomass are two important indicators in assessing the effects of restoration measures of degraded grasslands. In this paper, we present a field study on the temporal changes in plant community characteristics, species diversity and biomass production in a degraded temperate meadow steppe in response to an enclosure measure in Hulunbuir in Northern China. Our results showed that the plant community responded positively to the fence enclosure in terms of vegetation coverage, height, above- and belowground biomass. A year-to-year increase in aboveground biomass was observed, and this increase plateaued at the ninth year of the enclosure. Our results also showed that the existing dominant and foundation species gained predominance against other species. The sum of the biomass of these two species was more than doubled after the ninth year of the enclosure. However, belowground biomass only briefly increased until the fifth year of the enclosure and then decreased until the end of the experimental period. Plant diversity, evenness, and richness indices showed similar trends to that of belowground biomass. Overall, we found that the degraded temperate meadow steppe responded significantly positively to the enclosure treatment, but an optimal condition was only reached after approximately 5–7 years of continuous protection, providing a solid use case for grassland conservation and management at regional scales. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes)
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18 pages, 5481 KiB  
Article
An Evaluation of Vegetation Health in and around Southern African National Parks during the 21st Century (2000–2016)
by Hannah Herrero, Jane Southworth, Carly Muir, Reza Khatami, Erin Bunting and Brian Child
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(7), 2366; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10072366 - 30 Mar 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3672
Abstract
Roughly 65% of the African continent is classified as savanna. Such regions are of critical importance given their high levels of biological productivity, role in the carbon cycle, structural differences, and support of large human populations. Across southern Africa there are 79 national [...] Read more.
Roughly 65% of the African continent is classified as savanna. Such regions are of critical importance given their high levels of biological productivity, role in the carbon cycle, structural differences, and support of large human populations. Across southern Africa there are 79 national parks within savanna landscapes. Understanding trends and factors of vegetation health in these parks is critical for proper management and sustainability. This research strives to understand factors and trends in vegetation health from 2000 to 2016 in and around the 79 national parks across southern Africa. A backward stepwise regression was used to understand the factors (e.g., precipitation, population density, and presence of transfrontier conservation areas) affecting the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) during the 21st century. There was a statistically significant positive (p < 0.05) relationship between mean annual precipitation and NDVI, and a significant negative relationship between population density and NDVI. To monitor vegetation trends in and around the parks, directional persistence, a seasonal NDVI time series-based trend analysis, was used. Directional persistence is the net accumulation of directional change in NDVI over time in a given period relative to a fixed benchmarked period. Parks and buffer zones across size classes were compared to examine differences in vegetation health. There was an overwhelmingly positive trend throughout. Additionally, national parks, overall, had higher amounts of positive persistence and lower amounts of negative persistence than the surrounding buffer zones. Having higher positive persistence inside of parks indicates that they are functioning favorably relative to the buffer zones in terms of vegetation resilience. This is an important finding for park managers and conservation overall in Southern Africa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes)
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21 pages, 8935 KiB  
Article
Modeling Climate Change Impacts on Rangeland Productivity and Livestock Population Dynamics in Nkayi District, Zimbabwe
by Trinity S. Senda, Gregory A. Kiker, Patricia Masikati, Albert Chirima and Johan van Niekerk
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(7), 2330; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10072330 - 28 Mar 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5246
Abstract
Smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas depend on both cropping and livestock as the main sources of livelihoods. Rangeland productivity varies on both spatial and temporal scales and provides the major source of feed for livestock. Rangeland productivity is expected to decline with climate [...] Read more.
Smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas depend on both cropping and livestock as the main sources of livelihoods. Rangeland productivity varies on both spatial and temporal scales and provides the major source of feed for livestock. Rangeland productivity is expected to decline with climate change thereby reducing livestock feed availability and consequently livelihoods that depend on livestock. This study was carried out to assess the impacts of climate change on rangeland productivity and consequently livestock population dynamics using a 30-year simulation modeling approach. The climate scenarios used in the simulations are built from the localized predictions by General Circulation Models (GCMs). The primary climate variables under consideration are rainfall (+/−7% change), carbon dioxide (CO2 up to 650 ppm) and temperature (+4 °C change). This was done by applying the SAVANNA ecosystem model which simulates rangeland processes and demographic responses of herbivores on a temporal and spatial scale using a weekly internal time step and monthly spatial and temporal outputs. The results show that rainfall levels of less than 600 mm/year have the largest negative effect on herbaceous biomass production. The amount of biomass from the woody layer does not change much during the year. The carbon dioxide (CO2) effects are more influential on the tree and shrub layers (C3 plants) than the herbaceous layer (C4 grasses). The CO2 effect was more dominant than the effects of rainfall and temperature. In the baseline simulations, the shrub plant layer increased significantly over 30 years while there is a three-fold increase in the woody plant layer (trees and shrubs) where biomass increased from a 1980 production to that of 2010. The biomass of the herbaceous layer was stable over the historical period (1980 to 2010) with values fluctuating between 200 and 400 g/m2. Grass green biomass has a variable distribution where most production occurred in the fields and cleared areas while lower levels of production were found in the forested areas. The spatial distribution of shrub green biomass was less directly linked to yearly rainfall. Shrub biomass was mostly found in forested areas, and it showed a steady increase in production. Cattle, donkey, and goat populations rose slowly from 1980 but the rise was disrupted by a dry period during the late 1980s to the early 1990s causing a decline in all populations primarily due to grass unavailability. The populations of cattle goats and donkeys started to rise again from 1995 onwards due to improvements in rainfall. Cattle and donkey populations were rising faster than that of goats while sheep population was not changing much for most of the simulation period, otherwise they declined significantly during the drought of 2002. Similar changes in simulated grass biomass (g/m2) were observed in almost all climate scenarios, except for the peak and low years. The livestock population simulation showed few variations in livestock population under all scenarios. The main conclusion from the study is that CO2 effects on rangeland productivity are much more dominant than the localized effects of rainfall and temperature. This has implications of favoring the growth of the tree and shrub layers over herbaceous layer, which meant that in the long run, the species that are able to use tree and shrub layers may be kept as a livelihood source as they will have a feed source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes)
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Other

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14 pages, 2485 KiB  
Commentary
Socio-Environmental Dynamics of Alpine Grasslands, Steppes and Meadows of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China: A Commentary
by Haiying Feng and Victor R. Squires
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(18), 6488; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186488 - 17 Sep 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4634
Abstract
Alpine grasslands are a common feature on the extensive (2.6 million km2) Qinghai–Tibet plateau in western and southwestern China. These grasslands are characterized by their ability to thrive at high altitudes and in areas with short growing seasons and low humidity. [...] Read more.
Alpine grasslands are a common feature on the extensive (2.6 million km2) Qinghai–Tibet plateau in western and southwestern China. These grasslands are characterized by their ability to thrive at high altitudes and in areas with short growing seasons and low humidity. Alpine steppe and alpine meadow are the principal plant Formations supporting a rich species mix of grass and forb species, many of them endemic. Alpine grasslands are the mainstay of pastoralism where yaks and hardy Tibetan sheep and Bactrian camels are the favored livestock in the cold arid region. It is not only their importance to local semi nomadic herders, but their role as headwaters of nine major rivers that provide water to more than one billion people in China and in neighboring countries in south and south-east Asia and beyond. Grasslands in this region were heavily utilized in recent decades and are facing accelerated land degradation. Government and herder responses, although quite different, are being implemented as climate change and the transition to the market economy proceeds apace. Problems and prospects for alpine grasslands and the management regimes being imposed (including sedentarization, resettlement and global warming are briefly discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of the Global Savanna and Grassland Biomes)
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