Future ECosystems for Africa
Part of the FEFA delegation that met at Telperion Nature Reserve (10-13 April) leading up to the launch in Johannesburg
FEFA is a flagship program funded by Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation to implement projects that are beneficial to the planet, and to the people and biodiversity of Africa. The program aims to do this by: Firstly, enabling strong voices coming from within Africa promoting diverse African-led futures that are just and sustainable. For these voices to be credible and contribute legitimate new perspectives they need to be supported by cutting edge multidisciplinary science that taps the wealth of knowledge and data existing on the continent. Finally, FEFA aims to empower African citizens to drive and respond to global change by providing useful tools and mechanisms for decision making and action at all levels. The program officially launches on April 13th, visit their website to learn more https://futureecosystemsafrica.org/
Fire-grazer interactions
There is evidence that for a wide range of environmental conditions in Africa the dominant consumer is not set, and that over time ecosystems with high herbivore numbers can be replaced by landscapes with frequent fire and vice versa.
In collaboration with SANParks we are testing whether we can create herbivore-dominated ecosystems in a tall, fire-prone grassland in the Satara region of the Kruger National Park. We have been running a landscape-level experiment since 2013 assessing the ability of small, concentrating fires to attract herbivores, alter vegetation structure, and create short-grass hot spots in fire-dominated landscapes.
First papers on this project have just come out, and we are currently running projects testing how shifts to herbivore-controlled grasslands affect biodiversity and decomposition rates, as well as drought responses.
Funded by Andrew Mellon Foundation, NSF Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Science.
Students: Jason Donaldson, Happy Mangena, Felix Skosana, Maggie Parrish, Michael Voysey
In collaboration with SANParks we are testing whether we can create herbivore-dominated ecosystems in a tall, fire-prone grassland in the Satara region of the Kruger National Park. We have been running a landscape-level experiment since 2013 assessing the ability of small, concentrating fires to attract herbivores, alter vegetation structure, and create short-grass hot spots in fire-dominated landscapes.
First papers on this project have just come out, and we are currently running projects testing how shifts to herbivore-controlled grasslands affect biodiversity and decomposition rates, as well as drought responses.
Funded by Andrew Mellon Foundation, NSF Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Science.
Students: Jason Donaldson, Happy Mangena, Felix Skosana, Maggie Parrish, Michael Voysey
Ecological and evolutionary drivers of grassland resilience
In a collaborative research grant with Caroline Lehmann at the University of Edinburgh we have initiated a project on the biogeography of herbaceous communities in southern Africa and Madagascar savanna ecosystems. Our goal is to enhance theoretical and quantitative understanding of how drought, fire and grazing interact to shape both the limits of grass species and determine community assembly. This knowledge will help inform regional stakeholders about the best approaches for sustainable rangeland production in a changing climate, via manipulation of fire and grazing regimes.
This project involves a range of partners in Zambia, Angola, the DRC, Mozambique, Madagascar and South Africa, and is associated with the Miombo-network and the SEOSAW project.
Funded by NESCENT Royal Society Advanced Fellowship
Collaborators: Caroline Lehmann, Gareth Hempson, Maria Vorontsova
Students: Jess Rickenberg, Caroline Mashau, Dylan Beukes
This project involves a range of partners in Zambia, Angola, the DRC, Mozambique, Madagascar and South Africa, and is associated with the Miombo-network and the SEOSAW project.
Funded by NESCENT Royal Society Advanced Fellowship
Collaborators: Caroline Lehmann, Gareth Hempson, Maria Vorontsova
Students: Jess Rickenberg, Caroline Mashau, Dylan Beukes
Tree seedling demographics
Trees in savanna environments face various hurdles before they can recruit into the adult canopy. The relative importance of these hurdles is likely to change across resource gradients – with root competition and fire replacing drought and herbivory as the major constraints as rainfall increases. Seedling establishment is essential for successful savanna tree life-history, and newly germinated seedlings face particular challenges in environments with frequent fire and herbivory.
This research aims to experimentally test the relative ability of trees from across the range of savanna to establish under fire, herbivory, water, and temperature constraints. We have set up phylogenetically constrained experiments at the Wits Rural Facility which quantify ability to survive various defoliation treatments, and the traits associated with successful survival and establishment under different conditions.
Funded by SASSCAL and ACCESS.
Collaborators: Nikki Stevens, Wayne Twine
Students: Tilly Randle
This research aims to experimentally test the relative ability of trees from across the range of savanna to establish under fire, herbivory, water, and temperature constraints. We have set up phylogenetically constrained experiments at the Wits Rural Facility which quantify ability to survive various defoliation treatments, and the traits associated with successful survival and establishment under different conditions.
Funded by SASSCAL and ACCESS.
Collaborators: Nikki Stevens, Wayne Twine
Students: Tilly Randle
Scaling fire size from local process to continental pattern
Fire is an important component of the earth system and controls vegetation distributions in the tropics and elsewhere. Accurately representing fire in global models is a priority, but fire spread is an intrinsically local process and it has proved challenging to represent its dynamics realistically in global-scale fire models. We are exploring a range of different modelling approaches for generating large-scale patterns of fire size and geometry, and testing these with site-specific field work across a range of ecosystems, linked with various scales of remotely sensed data. In collaboration with members the Fire Model Intercomparison Project to test various model parameterisations.
Funded by an NSF Macrosystems grant
Collaborators: Carla Staver, Niels Andela, Stijn Hantson
Funded by an NSF Macrosystems grant
Collaborators: Carla Staver, Niels Andela, Stijn Hantson
Environmental Cues for savanna tree phenology
Tropical savanna environments are synonymous with seasonally-arid ecosystems currently, and there is increasing evidence for the role of seasonality in the evolution of these ecosystems during the Miocene. Savanna trees in particular have evolved a range of phenological strategies linked with seasonal water availability which are key to explaining the variety in life history strategies associated with seasonally-arid ecosystems, and their responses to global change. This research involves experimental work in plant growth chambers at Wits University to determine what cues seasonal patterns of leaf display. Aligned projects aim to develop a phenological network for southern Africa and to feed results into coupled land-surface-climate models run at the CSIR parameterised for African ecosystems.
Funded by the National Research Foundation
Collaborators: Bob Scholes, Tony Swemmer, Melissa Whitecross, Gregor Feig
Funded by the National Research Foundation
Collaborators: Bob Scholes, Tony Swemmer, Melissa Whitecross, Gregor Feig
