Savanna woody encroachment is widespread across three continents

Tropical savannas are a globally extensive biome prone to rapid vegetation change in response to changing environmental conditions. Via a meta‐analysis, we quantified savanna woody vegetation change spanning the last century. We found a global trend of woody encroachment that was established prior t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGlobal change biology Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 235 - 244
Main Authors Stevens, Nicola, Lehmann, Caroline E. R., Murphy, Brett P., Durigan, Giselda
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2017
Subjects
Africa
allometry
Australia
Climate change
CO 2
Conservation of Natural Resources
deciduousness
Ecosystem
fire suppression
forest expansion
Global warming
Grassland
Grasslands
land‐use change
N‐fixation
South America
Trees
Vegetation
woody encroachment
woody vegetation change
ASW, South America
Australia
Africa
deciduousness
CO 2
allometry
woody encroachment
forest expansion
land-use change
woody vegetation change
fire suppression
N-fixation
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Summary:Tropical savannas are a globally extensive biome prone to rapid vegetation change in response to changing environmental conditions. Via a meta‐analysis, we quantified savanna woody vegetation change spanning the last century. We found a global trend of woody encroachment that was established prior the 1980s. However, there is critical regional variation in the magnitude of encroachment. Woody cover is increasing most rapidly in the remaining uncleared savannas of South America, most likely due to fire suppression and land fragmentation. In contrast, Australia has experienced low rates of encroachment. When accounting for land use, African savannas have a mean rate annual woody cover increase two and a half times that of Australian savannas. In Africa, encroachment occurs across multiple land uses and is accelerating over time. In Africa and Australia, rising atmospheric CO2, changing land management and rainfall are likely causes. We argue that the functional traits of each woody flora, specifically the N‐fixing ability and architecture of woody plants, are critical to predicting encroachment over the next century and that African savannas are at high risk of widespread vegetation change.
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ISSN:1354-1013
1365-2486
DOI:10.1111/gcb.13409