Research project NG| Understanding how fire diversity affects plant species communities in the Serengeti ecosystem
Savannas are a globally important ecosystem for climate change and grazing wildlife and livestock. Fire is a major driver of savanna vegetation dynamics, and we aim to better understand how fire management affects plant species distributions.
Fire is an important driver of plant species distributions in savanna landscapes. However, fire is not a uniform disturbance, and different fire characteristics are likely to affect herbaceous species differently. In this project, we assess how different fire attributes relate to the distribution of herbaceous species across the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania. To do this, we compiled a unique herbaceous dataset from 20 projects spanning 2 decades, containing 450 surveyed herbaceous species and over 11,000 recorded species presence locations. We applied joint species distribution models using the Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) approach, which incorporates species phylogeny and plant traits to better inform how species occurrence relates to environmental variables
Project description
Our model also included environmental covariates such as mean annual rainfall and soil properties, as well as plant life-history traits such as growth form and fire-response strategy. Initial results show that fire characteristics vary greatly in their predictive power between species. Fire frequency explained most of the variation in species distributions (range 1%-60%), while fire-adapted species responded most positively to a short fire-return-interval. Future fieldwork will collect further plant functional traits to be integrated into the predictive modelling. Our study will help identify target areas where the fire regime should be modified to ensure continued persistence of fire-adapted savanna flora in response to a changing climate. Furthermore, our dataset highlights the value of largescale monitoring surveys and data sharing among researchers to understand the response of savanna plant species to changing fire regimes.
Project members
Project managers
Anna Treydte
Associate professor, Docent
Members
Stuart Smith
Researcher
Anna Treydte
Associate professor, Docent