Savanna–forest hysteresis in the tropics

@article{Sternberg2001SavannaforestHI,
  title={Savanna–forest hysteresis in the tropics},
  author={Leonel Da Silveira Sternberg},
  journal={Global Ecology and Biogeography},
  year={2001},
  volume={10},
  pages={369-378}
}
  • L. Sternberg
  • Published 1 July 2001
  • Environmental Science
  • Global Ecology and Biogeography
A simple dynamic model relating forest area in a region, its contribution to dry season precipitation and the effect on its own establishment was developed. The model equation shows hysteresis between forest and savannas as a function of imported dry season precipitation. Regions are either dominated by forests or savannas, with each ecosystem showing stability despite changes in imported dry season precipitation. Deforestation beyond a certain threshold value, however, could cause a collapse… 
View via Publisher
eaton.math.rpi.edu
155 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
12
Background Citations
70
Methods Citations
3
Results Citations
1

Figures from this paper

155 Citations

The influence of the conservation status and changes in the rainfall regime on forest-savanna mosaic dynamics in Northern Brazilian Amazonia

If the increases in the frequency of dry periods predicted by climate models for this region are confirmed, future changes in extension and directions of forest limits will be affected, disrupting ecological services as carbon storage and the maintenance of local biodiversity.

Climatic variability and vegetation vulnerability in Amazônia

Models of climate change predict close coupling between increases in aridity and conversion of Amazonian forests to savanna. Here we assess the vulnerability and resilience of Amazonian vegetation to…

The climatic sensitivity of the forest, savanna and forest-savanna transition in tropical South America.

This sensitivity analysis predicts that the current dry shrubland vegetation of northeast Brazil could potentially turn into a bare soil landscape, with the most critical vegetation changes projected to take place over the easternmost portions of the basin, with a widening of the forest-savanna transition.

Synergistic effects of drought and deforestation on the resilience of the south-eastern Amazon rainforest

South Brazilian Forest-Grassland Ecotones: Dynamics Affected by Climate, Disturbance, and Woody Species Traits

The southernmost part of Brazil is characterized by extended grasslands—the southern Campos. In some parts of the region, these grasslands occur in close contact with different forest types of the…

Forest, fire and monsoon: A palaeo-environmental assessment of the ecological threshold dynamics of South-east Asia’s dry forests

Projections that the frequency and intensity of extremes in the Asian monsoon will rise in coming decades are being made with increasing confidence. There is concern that these events may drive…

Environmental determinants of tropical forest and savanna distribution: A quantitative model evaluation and its implication

The distributions of tropical ecosystems are rapidly being altered by climate change and anthropogenic activities. One possible trend—the loss of tropical forests and replacement by savannas—could…

What controls the distribution of tropical forest and savanna?

Experiments using Dynamic Global Vegetation Models, parameterised with measurements from each continent, provide an important tool for understanding the controls of these systems, consistent with the range of environmental variables correlated with forest distribution.

Humid savanna–forest dynamics: A matrix model with vegetation–fire interactions and seasonality

Global Resilience of Tropical Forest and Savanna to Critical Transitions

Empirical reconstruction of the basins of attraction indicates that the resilience of the states varies in a universal way with precipitation, and this results allow the identification of regions where forest or savanna may most easily tip into an alternative state.
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 37 REFERENCES

The role of deep roots in the hydrological and carbon cycles of Amazonian forests and pastures

DEFORESTATION and logging transform more forest in eastern and southern Amazonia than in any other region of the world1–3. This forest alteration affects regional hydrology4–11 and the global carbon…

Tree Spacing and Coexistence in Semiarid Savannas

A spatiotemporal model based on a cellular automata approach was constructed to identify the factors and processes crucial to the coexistence of trees and grass, and their effects on the spatial arrangement of trees in arid and semiarid savannas and provides a novel insight into the understanding of savanna dynamics.

Amazonia during the last glacial

A Long Pollen Record from Lowland Amazonia: Forest and Cooling in Glacial Times

A continuous pollen history of more than 40,000 years was obtained from a lake in the lowland Amazon rain forest. Pollen spectra demonstrate that tropical rain forest occupied the region continuously…

Contribution of transpiration to forest ambient vapour based on isotopic measurements

Using a simple isotope mixing model, we evaluated the relative proportion of water vapour generated by plant transpiration and by soil evaporation at two sites in the Amazon basin. Sampling was…

Amazonian and neotropical plant communities on glacial time-scales: The failure of the aridity and refuge hypotheses

Deep Soil Moisture Storage and Transpiration in Forests and Pastures of Seasonally-Dry Amazonia

To assess the impacts of land-use changes on plant-available water (PAW) and evapotranspiration (ET), volumetric water content (VWC) was measured to 8 m beneath three, adjacent ecosystems for four…

Cooling of Tropical Brazil (5�C) During the Last Glacial Maximum

A 30,000-year paleotemperature record derived from noble gases dissolved in carbon-14-dated ground water indicates that the climate in lowland Brazil (Piaui Province, 7�S, 41.5�W; altitude, 400…

Recycling of water in the Amazon Basin: An isotopic study

The oxygen-18 content of precipitation in the Amazon basin is characterized by a very small inland gradient, 0.75 × 10−3 ‰ km−1. This is a consequence of the large contribution of reevaporated…

Late Quaternary Vegetation and Climate Change in the Amazon Basin Based on a 50,000 Year Pollen Record from the Amazon Fan, ODP Site 932

Abstract Hemipelagic sediments from the Amazon deep-sea fan, ODP Site 932 (5° 12.7′N, 47° 1.8′W), and continental shelf provide a 50,000-yr-long pollen record of Amazon Basin vegetation. The age…