Resilience and restoration of tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and grassy woodlands

Author(s):Show less -

Buisson, Elise ^[1] ; Le Stradic, Soizig ^{[2, 3]} ; Silveira, Fernando A. O. ^[4] ; Durigan, Giselda ^[5] ; Overbeck, Gerhard E. ^[6] ; Fidelis, Alessandra ^[3] ; Wilson Fernandes, G. ^[7] ; Bond, William J. ^{[8, 9]} ; Hermann, Julia-Maria ^[10] ; Mahy, Gregory ^[2] ; Alvarado, Swanni T. ^[11] ; Zaloumis, Nicholas P. ^[12] ; Veldman, Joseph W. ^[13]

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon & Pays de Vaucluse, Inst Mediterraneen Biodivers & Ecol & Continental, CNRS, IRD, Agroparc BP61207, F-84911 Avignon 9 - France

^[2] Univ Liege, Gembloux Agrobio Tech Biodivers & Landscape Unit, B-5030 Gembloux - Belgium

^[3] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Inst Biociencias, Dept Bot, Lab Vegetat Ecol, Ave 24A, 1515, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Dept Bot, BR-30161901 Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil

^[5] Inst Florestal, Floresta Estadual Assis, Lab Ecol & Hidrol Florestal, POB 104, BR-19802970 Assis, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Dept Bot, BR-91501970 Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[7] Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Ecol Evolut & Biodiversidade, BR-30161901 Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil

^[8] Univ Cape Town, Dept Biol Sci, ZA-7701 Rondebosch - South Africa

^[9] NRF, South African Environm Observat Network, ZA-7701 Rondebosch - South Africa

^[10] TUM, Ctr Life & Food Sci Weihenstephan, Restorat Ecol, Freising Weihenstephan - Germany

^[11] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Inst Geociencias & Ciencias Exatas, Dept Geog, Ecosyst Dynam Observ, Ave 24A, 1515, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[12] Univ Cape Town, Dept Bot, P Bag X3, ZA-7701 Cape Town - South Africa

^[13] Texas A&M Univ, Dept Ecosyst Sci & Management, College Stn, TX 77843 - USA

• Document type: Review article
• Source: BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS; v. 94, n. 2, p. 590-609, APR 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 13

Abstract

Despite growing recognition of the conservation values of grassy biomes, our understanding of how to maintain and restore biodiverse tropical grasslands (including savannas and open-canopy grassy woodlands) remains limited. To incorporate grasslands into large-scale restoration efforts, we synthesised existing ecological knowledge of tropical grassland resilience and approaches to plant community restoration. Tropical grassland plant communities are resilient to, and often dependent on, the endogenous disturbances with which they evolved - frequent fires and native megafaunal herbivory. In stark contrast, tropical grasslands are extremely vulnerable to human-caused exogenous disturbances, particularly those that alter soils and destroy belowground biomass (e.g. tillage agriculture, surface mining); tropical grassland restoration after severe soil disturbances is expensive and rarely achieves management targets. Where grasslands have been degraded by altered disturbance regimes (e.g. fire exclusion), exotic plant invasions, or afforestation, restoration efforts can recreate vegetation structure (i.e. historical tree density and herbaceous ground cover), but species-diverse plant communities, including endemic species, are slow to recover. Complicating plant-community restoration efforts, many tropical grassland species, particularly those that invest in underground storage organs, are difficult to propagate and re-establish. To guide restoration decisions, we draw on the old-growth grassland concept, the novel ecosystem concept, and theory regarding tree cover along resource gradients in savannas to propose a conceptual framework that classifies tropical grasslands into three broad ecosystem states. These states are: (1) old-growth grasslands (i.e. ancient, biodiverse grassy ecosystems), where management should focus on the maintenance of disturbance regimes; (2) hybrid grasslands, where restoration should emphasise a return towards the old-growth state; and (3) novel ecosystems, where the magnitude of environmental change (i.e. a shift to an alternative ecosystem state) or the socioecological context preclude a return to historical conditions. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/12728-1 - Monitoring the effects of fire on the phenology and community structure of campos rupestres and Cerrado vegetation through remote sensing
• Grantee: Swanni Tatiana Alvarado Romero
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 18/03755-6 - Impact of fire history on root architectural and morphological functional parameters in campo sujo communities
• Grantee: Soizig Anne Le Stradic
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 15/06743-0 - How does fire season affect Cerrado vegetation?
• Grantee: Alessandra Tomaselli Fidelis
• Support type: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/14236-7 - Patch morphological features as indicators of fire regimes: a comparison of tropical savannas in Africa and South America through remote sensing
• Grantee: Swanni Tatiana Alvarado Romero
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 16/13232-5 - Digging deeper: contribution of belowground plant traits to the functioning of tropical old-growth grasslands
• Grantee: Soizig Anne Le Stradic
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate