| Title |
Prescribed fire as a tool for managing shrub encroachment in semi-arid savanna rangelands |
? |
| Author |
Dirk Lohmann, Britta Tietjen, Niels Blaum, David Francois Joubert, Florian Jeltsch |
? |
| Abstract |
Savanna rangelands worldwide are threatened by shrub encroachment, i.e. the increase of woody plant species at the cost of perennial grasses, causing a strong decline in the productivity of domestic livestock production. Although recent studies indicate that fire might be of great importance for semi-arid and arid savanna dynamics, it is largely not applied in the management of semi-arid rangelands especially with regard to woody plant control. We used the eco-hydrological savanna model EcoHyD to simulate the effects of different fire management strategies on semi-arid savanna vegetation and to assess their long-term suitability for semi-arid rangeland management. Simulation results show that prescribed fires, timed to kill tree seedlings prevented shrub encroachment for a broad range of livestock densities while the possible maximum long-term cattle densities on the simulated semi-arid rangeland in Namibia increased by more than 30%. However, when grazing intensity was too high, fire management failed in preventing shrub encroachment. |
? |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.04.003 |
? |
