Reassessing the alternative ecosystem states proposition in the African savanna-forest domain

Title data

Higgins, Steven ; Banerjee, Swarnendu ; Baudena, Mara ; Bowman, David M. J. S. ; Conradi, Timo ; Couteron, Pierre ; Kruger, Laurence M. ; O'Hara, Robert B. ; Williamson, Grant J.:
Reassessing the alternative ecosystem states proposition in the African savanna-forest domain.
In: New Phytologist. Vol. 243 (2024) Issue 5 . - pp. 1660-1669.
ISSN 1469-8137
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19911

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Summary Ecologists are being challenged to predict how ecosystems will respond to climate changes. According to the Multi-Colored World (MCW) hypothesis, climate impacts may not manifest because consumers such as fire and herbivory can override the influence of climate on ecosystem state. One MCW interpretation is that climate determinism fails because alternative ecosystem states (AES) are possible at some locations in climate space. We evaluated theoretical and empirical evidence for the proposition that forest and savanna are AES in Africa. We found that maps which infer where AES zones are located were contradictory. Moreover, data from longitudinal and experimental studies provide inconclusive evidence for AES. That is, although the forest-savanna AES proposition is theoretically sound, the existing evidence is not yet convincing. We conclude by making the case that the AES proposition has such fundamental consequences for designing management actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the savanna-forest domain that it needs a more robust evidence base before it is used to prescribe management actions.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Keywords:	bistability; climate determinism; forecasting; forest; herbivory; savanna; uncertainty; wildfire
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Plant Ecology > Chair Plant Ecology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Steven Ian Higgins Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Plant Ecology
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	500 Science > 500 Natural sciences 500 Science > 570 Life sciences, biology 500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2024 21:00
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2024 05:40
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/90665