Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.1086/650368
Titel (primär) The independent and interactive effects of tree-tree establishment competition and fire on savanna structure and dynamics
Autor Calabrese, J.M.; Vazquez, F.; López, C.; Miguel, M.S.; Grimm, V.
Quelle American Naturalist
Erscheinungsjahr 2010
Department OESA
Band/Volume 175
Heft 3
Seite von E44
Seite bis E65
Sprache englisch
Keywords establishment; grass-dependent fire; mean-field approximation; nonlinear interaction; pair approximation; spatially explicit model
Abstract Savanna ecosystems are widespread and economically important and harbor considerable biodiversity. Despite extensive study, the mechanisms regulating savanna tree populations are not well understood. Recent empirical work suggests that both tree-tree competition and fire are key factors in semiarid to mesic savannas, but the potential for competition to structure savannas, particularly in interaction with fire, has received little theoretical attention. We develop a minimalistic and analytically tractable stochastic cellular automaton to study the individual and combined effects of these two factors on savannas. We find that while competition often substantially depresses tree density, fire generally has little effect but can drive tree extinction in extreme scenarios. When combined, competition and fire interact nonlinearly with strong negative consequences for tree density. This novel result may help explain observed variability among apparently similar savannas in their response to fire. Paradoxically, this interaction could also render the presence of competition more difficult to detect in empirical studies because fire can override the characteristic regular spacing driven by competition and lead instead to clustering.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=9851
Calabrese, J.M., Vazquez, F., López, C., Miguel, M.S., Grimm, V. (2010):
The independent and interactive effects of tree-tree establishment competition and fire on savanna structure and dynamics
Am. Nat. 175 (3), E44 - E65 10.1086/650368