Fire Plant Derived Smoke And Grazing Effects On Regeneration Productivity And Diversity Of The Sudanian Savanna Woodland Ecosystem

Insights on current research and recent developments in understanding global savanna systems Increasingly recognized as synonymous with tropical grassy biomes, savannas are found in tropical and sub-tropical climates as well as warm, temperate regions of North America. Savanna Woody Plants and Large Herbivores examines the interactions between woody plants and browsing mammals in global savannas—focusing primarily on the C4 grassy ecosystems with woody components that constitute the majority of global savannas—and discusses contemporary savanna management models and applications. This much-needed addition to current research examines topics including the varying behavior of browsing mammals, the response to browsing by woody species, and the factors that inhibit forage intake. Contributions from an international team of active researchers and experts compare and contrast different savanna ecosystems, offering a global perspective on savanna functioning, the roles of soil and climate in resource availability and organism interaction, and the possible impacts of climate change across global savannas. Fills a gap in literature on savanna management issues, including biodiversity conservation and animal production Applies concepts developed in other biomes to future savanna research Complements contemporary books on savanna or large herbivore ecology Focuses on the woody component of savanna ecosystems and large herbivore interactions in savannas Compares tree-mammal systems of savannas and other eco-systems of temperate and boreal regions Provides numerous case studies of plant-mammal interactions from various savanna ecosystems Savanna Woody Plants and Large Herbivores is a valuable addition to those in fields such as ecology, wildlife and conservation biology, natural resource management, and environmental science.

Amidst the pressing challenges of global climate change, the last decade has seen a wave of forest carbon projects across the world, designed to conserve and enhance forest carbon stocks in order to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and offset emissions elsewhere. Exploring a set of new empirical case studies, Carbon Conflicts and Forest Landscapes in Africa examines how these projects are unfolding, their effects, and who is gaining and losing. Situating forest carbon approaches as part of more general moves to address environmental problems by attaching market values to nature and ecosystems, it examines how new projects interact with forest landscapes and their longer histories of intervention. The book asks: what difference does carbon make? What political and ecological dynamics are unleashed by these new commodified, marketized approaches, and how are local forest users experiencing and responding to them? The book’s case studies cover a wide range of African ecologies, project types and national political-economic contexts. By examining these cases in a comparative framework and within an understanding of the national, regional and global institutional arrangements shaping forest carbon commoditisation, the book provides a rich and compelling account of how and why carbon conflicts are emerging, and how they might be avoided in future. This book will be of interest to students of development studies, environmental sciences, geography, economics, development studies and anthropology, as well as practitioners and policy makers.

Demonstrates how Africa's physical features, savannas and abundant grazers enabled frugivorous apes to become savanna-living hunters.

Africa is a fire continent. Since the early evolution of humanity, fire has been harnessed as a land-use tool. Many ecosystems of Sub-Sahara Africa that have been shaped by fire over millennia provide a high carrying capacity for human populations.

This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on flora and fuels can assist land managers in planning for ecosystem management and fire management, and in their efforts to inform others about the ecological role of fire. Chapter 1 presents an overview and a classification of fire regimes that is used throughout the report. Chapter 2 summarizes knowledge of fire effects on individual plants, including susceptibility to mortality of aerial crowns, stems, and roots; vegetative regeneration; seedling establishment from on-site and off-site seed sources; seasonal influences such as carbohydrates and phenological stage; and factors affecting burn severity. Five chapters describe fire regime characteristics such as fire severity, fire frequency, and fire intensity, and postfire plant community responses for ecosystems throughout the United States and Canada. Typical fuel compositions, fuel loadings, and fire behavior are described for many vegetation types. Vegetation types including Forest-Range Environmental Study (FRES), Kuchler, and Society of American Foresters (SAF) types are classified as belonging to understory, mixed, or stand replacement fire severity regime types. The severity and frequency of fire are described for the pre-Euro-American settlement period and contrasted with current fire regimes. Historic fire frequencies ranged from a fire every 1 to 3 years in some grassland and pine types to a fire every 500 to 1,000 years in some coastal forest and northern hardwood types. In many vegetation types characterized by understory fire regimes, a considerable shift in fire frequency and fire severity occurred during the past century. Successional patterns and vegetation dynamics following disturbance by fire, and in some cases related grazing and silvicultural treatments, are described for major vegetation types. Management considerations are discussed, especially for the application of prescribed fire. A chapter on global climate change describes the complexity of a changing climate and possible influences on vegetation, fuels, and fire. The uncertainty of global climate change and its interactions with vegetation means expectations for fire management are general and tentative. Nonetheless, manipulation of wildlands and disturbance regimes may be necessary to ensure continual presence of some species. The last chapter takes a broader, more fundamental view of the ecological principles and shifting fire regimes described in the other chapters. The influences of fire regimes on biodiversity and fuel accumulation are discussed. Strategies and approaches for managing fire in an ecosystem context and sources of technical knowledge that can assist in the process are described. Research needs are broadly summarized.

This book has been published a decade after Fires Effects on Ecosystems by DeBano, Neary, and Folliott (1998), and builds on their foundation to update knowledge on natural post-fire processes and describe the use and effectiveness of various restoration strategies that may be applied when human intervention is warranted. The chapters in this book,