scholarly journals Dispersal limitation and fire feedbacks maintain mesic savannas in Madagascar

Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikunj Goel ◽  
Erik S. Van Vleck ◽  
Julie C. Aleman ◽  
A. Carla Staver
Keyword(s):  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Fire Feedbacks

scholarly journals Dispersal limitation and fire feedbacks maintain mesic savannas in Madagascar

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikunj Goel ◽  
Erik Van Vleck ◽  
Julie C. Aleman ◽  
A. Carla Staver
Keyword(s):  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Central Plateau ◽  
Forest Expansion ◽  
Phylogeographic Analysis ◽  
Vegetation Feedbacks ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Limited Dispersal ◽  
Lowland Forests ◽  
Forest Boundary ◽  
Fire Feedbacks

AbstractMadagascar is regarded by some as one of the most degraded landscapes on Earth, with estimates suggesting that 90% of forests have been lost to indigenous Tavy farming. However, the extent of this degradation has been challenged: paleoecological data, phylogeographic analysis, and species diversity maps indicate that pyrogenic savannas in Central Madagascar pre-date human arrival, even though rainfall is sufficient to allow forest expansion into Central Madagascar. These observations raise a question—if savannas in Madagascar are not anthropogenic, how then are they maintained in regions where the climate can support forest? Observation reveals that the savanna-forest boundary coincides with a dispersal barrier—the escarpment of the Central Plateau. Using a stepping-stone model, we show that in a limited dispersal landscape, a stable savanna-forest boundary can form due to fire-vegetation feedbacks. This novel phenomenon, referred to as range pinning, could explain why eastern lowland forests have not expanded into the mesic savannas of the Central Highlands. This work challenges the view that highland savannas in Madagascar are derived by human-lit fires and, more importantly, suggests that partial dispersal barriers and strong non-linear feedbacks can pin biogeographical boundaries over a wide range of environmental conditions, providing a temporary buffer against climate change.

Fire Feedbacks with Vegetation and Alternative Stable States

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Beckage ◽  
Chris Ellingwood ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Stable States ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Fire Feedbacks

Estimating the exposure of carnivorous plants to rapid climatic change

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Fitzpatrick ◽  
Aaron M. Ellison
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Change ◽  
Habitat Suitability ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Carnivorous Plant ◽  
Carnivorous Plants ◽  
Habitat Specialization ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Suitable Habitats

Climatic change likely will exacerbate current threats to carnivorous plants. However, estimating the severity of climatic change is challenged by the unique ecology of carnivorous plants, including habitat specialization, dispersal limitation, small ranges, and small population sizes. We discuss and apply methods for modeling species distributions to overcome these challenges and quantify the vulnerability of carnivorous plants to rapid climatic change. Results suggest that climatic change will reduce habitat suitability for most carnivorous plants. Models also project increases in habitat suitability for many species, but the extent to which these increases may offset habitat losses will depend on whether individuals can disperse to and establish in newly suitable habitats outside of their current distribution. Reducing existing stressors and protecting habitats where numerous carnivorous plant species occur may ameliorate impacts of climatic change on this unique group of plants.

scholarly journals Impacts of Land-Use Changes on Vegetation and Ecosystem Functioning: Old-Field Secondary Succession

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 990
Author(s):  
Javier Pérez-Hernández ◽  
Rosario G. Gavilán
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Secondary Succession ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Old Field

The study of ecological succession to determine how plant communities re-assemble after a natural or anthropogenic disturbance has always been an important topic in ecology. The understanding of these processes forms part of the new theories of community assembly and species coexistence, and is attracting attention in a context of expanding human impacts. Specifically, new successional studies provide answers to different mechanisms of community assemblage, and aim to define the importance of deterministic or stochastic processes in the succession dynamic. Biotic limits, which depend directly on biodiversity (i.e., species competition), and abiotic filtering, which depends on the environment, become particularly important when they are exceeded, making the succession process more complicated to reach the previous disturbance stage. Plant functional traits (PFTs) are used in secondary succession studies to establish differences between abandonment stages or to compare types of vegetation or flora, and are more closely related to the functioning of plant communities. Dispersal limitation is a PFT considered an important process from a stochastic point of view because it is related to the establishing of plants. Related to it the soil seed bank plays an important role in secondary succession because it is essential for ecosystem functioning. Soil compounds and microbial community are important variables to take into account when studying any succession stage. Chronosequence is the best way to study the whole process at different time scales. Finally, our objective in this review is to show how past studies and new insights are being incorporated into the basis of classic succession. To further explore this subject we have chosen old-field recovery as an example of how a number of different plant communities, including annual and perennial grasslands and shrublands, play an important role in secondary succession.

scholarly journals Changes in tree community structure in defaunated forests are not driven only by dispersal limitation

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 3392-3401
Author(s):  
Kirstie Hazelwood ◽  
C. E. Timothy Paine ◽  
Fernando H. Cornejo Valverde ◽  
Elizabeth G. Pringle ◽  
Harald Beck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Tree Community
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