Ecology of grazing lawns in Africa

GP Hempson, S Archibald, WJ Bond, RP Ellis… - Biological …, 2015 - Wiley Online Library
Grazing lawns are a distinct grassland community type, characterised by short‐stature and
with their persistence and spread promoted by grazing. In Africa, they reveal a long co …

Trophic rewilding as a climate change mitigation strategy?

JPGM Cromsigt, M Te Beest… - … of the Royal …, 2018 - royalsocietypublishing.org
The loss of megafauna at the terminal Pleistocene has been linked to a wide range of Earth-
system-level changes, such as altered greenhouse gas budgets, fire regimes and biome …

Ancient herders enriched and restructured African grasslands

F Marshall, REB Reid, S Goldstein, M Storozum… - Nature, 2018 - nature.com
Grasslands are one of the world's most extensive terrestrial biomes and are central to the
survival of herders, their livestock and diverse communities of large wild mammals,–. In …

Negative effects of cattle on soil carbon and nutrient pools reversed by megaherbivores

J Sitters, DM Kimuyu, TP Young, P Claeys… - Nature …, 2020 - nature.com
Wild herbivore populations are declining in many African savannas, which is related to
replacement by livestock (mainly cattle) and the loss of megaherbivores. Although some …

Rainfall trends and variation in the Maasai Mara ecosystem and their implications for animal population and biodiversity dynamics

GS Bartzke, JO Ogutu, S Mukhopadhyay, D Mtui… - PloS one, 2018 - journals.plos.org
Rainfall exerts a controlling influence on the availability and quality of vegetation and
surface water for herbivores in African terrestrial ecosystems. We analyse temporal trends …

Determinants of woody encroachment and cover in African savannas

AP Devine, RA McDonald, T Quaife, IMD Maclean - Oecologia, 2017 - Springer
Savanna ecosystems are an integral part of the African landscape and sustain the
livelihoods of millions of people. Woody encroachment in savannas is a widespread …

Nutrient availability controls the impact of mammalian herbivores on soil carbon and nitrogen pools in grasslands

J Sitters, ERJ Wubs, ES Bakker… - Global Change …, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
Grasslands are subject to considerable alteration due to human activities globally, including
widespread changes in populations and composition of large mammalian herbivores and …

The stoichiometry of nutrient release by terrestrial herbivores and its ecosystem consequences

J Sitters, ES Bakker, MP Veldhuis, GF Veen… - Frontiers in Earth …, 2017 - frontiersin.org
It is widely recognized that the release of nutrients by herbivores via their waste products
strongly impacts nutrient availability for autotrophs. The ratios of nitrogen (N) and …

Landscapes shaped from the top down: predicting cascading predator effects on spatial biogeochemistry

JD Monk, OJ Schmitz - Oikos, 2022 - Wiley Online Library
Spatial heterogeneity in ecological systems can result from animal‐driven top–down
processes, but despite some theoretical attention, the emergence of spatial heterogeneity …

Spatial redistribution of nutrients by large herbivores and dung beetles in a savanna ecosystem

MP Veldhuis, MI Gommers, H Olff… - Journal of Ecology, 2018 - Wiley Online Library
Territorial or resting behaviour of large herbivores can cause strong local deposits of dung,
in different places than where they graze. Additionally, dung beetles and other …