BACKGROUND In the Anthropocene, there is a need to better understand the catastrophic
effects that climate and land-use change may have on ecosystems, Earth system …

Large herbivores play unique ecological roles and are disproportionately imperiled by
human activity. As many wild populations dwindle towards extinction, and as interest grows …

Climate, land use, and other anthropogenic and natural drivers have the potential to
influence fire dynamics in many regions. To develop a mechanistic understanding of the …

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 …

While global deforestation induced by human land use has been quantified, the drivers and
extent of simultaneous woody plant encroachment (WPE) into open areas are only …

Desertification is a change in soil properties, vegetation or climate, which results in a
persistent loss of ecosystem services that are fundamental to sustaining life. Desertification …

Ecologists have long sought to understand the factors controlling the structure of savanna
vegetation. Using data from 2154 sites in savannas across Africa, Australia, and South …

Bush encroachment has been recognised in southern Africa since the late nineteenth
century. Our review of 23 studies showed that the rate of woody cover change has ranged …

Savannas are globally important ecosystems of great significance to human economies. In
these biomes, which are characterized by the co-dominance of trees and grasses, woody …

A biome is a key community ecological and biogeographical concept and, as such, has
profited from the overall progress of community ecology, punctuated by two major …