Tropical ecosystems can transition between forest and savanna
but how these transitions are affected by changing rainfall patterns remains uncertain
Climate changes interact with local grazing and wildfires to determine the growth of tropical trees and grasses
A new study looks at how feedback between wildfires, herbivore grazing, and rainfall variability impacts the amount of tree cover in the tropics
Researchers found that fires stabilize savannas under intermediate rainfall values
while increasing rainfall variability boosted the potential for sudden transition between forest and savanna
A similar phenomenon was found under drier rainfall conditions, but in this case herbivores kept grasslands open
Forest-savanna transitions have important implications for ecosystem services and people
How tropical forests and savannas will function in the future depends on interactions between rainfall, fires and herbivores
Staal A., et al. Resilience of tropical tree cover: The roles of climate, fire, and herbivory. (2018) Global Change Biology. 24: 5096-5109