TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - Grazing herbivores reduce herbaceous biomass and fire activity across African savannas
JO  - Ecology letters
A1  - Karp, Allison Tyler
A1  - Koerner, Sally E.
A1  - Hempson, Gareth P.
A1  - Abraham, Joel O.
A1  - Anderson, T. Michael
A1  - Bond, William J.
A1  - Burkepile, Deron E.
A1  - Fillion, Elizabeth N.
A1  - Goheen, Jacob R.
A1  - Guyton, Jennifer A.
A1  - Kartzinel, Tyler R.
A1  - Kimuyu, Duncan M.
A1  - Mohanbabu, Neha
A1  - Palmer, Todd M.
A1  - Porensky, Lauren M.
A1  - Pringle, Robert M.
A1  - Ritchie, Mark E.
A1  - Smith, Melinda D.
A1  - Thompson, Dave I.
A1  - Young, Truman P.
A1  - Staver, A. Carla
SP  - e14450
EP  - e14450
VL  - 27
IS  - 6
N2  - Fire and herbivory interact to alter ecosystems and carbon cycling. In savannas, herbivores can reduce fire activity by removing grass biomass, but the size of these effects and what regulates them remain uncertain. To examine grazing effects on fuels and fire regimes across African savannas, we combined data from herbivore exclosure experiments with remotely sensed data on fire activity and herbivore density. We show that, broadly across African savannas, grazing herbivores substantially reduce both herbaceous biomass and fire activity. The size of these effects was strongly associated with grazing herbivore densities, and surprisingly, was mostly consistent across different environments. A one-zebra increase in herbivore biomass density (~100 kg/km(2) of metabolic biomass) resulted in a ~53 kg/ha reduction in standing herbaceous biomass and a ~0.43 percentage point reduction in burned area. Our results indicate that fire models can be improved by incorporating grazing effects on grass biomass.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1461-023X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.14450
ID  - ref1
ER  -