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Savannas are dynamic socio-ecological ecosystems with complex interactions between humans, fire, climate, and wildlife such as herbivores. These ecosystems have high biodiversity with mixed grass, tree communities, and a variety of animal populations that interact with each other and human populations. Vegetation such as trees, shrubs, and herbs are influenced by topography and provide food and water for wildlife and livestock. Wildlife such as elephants and other herbivores maintain the open landscape through grazing and fertilizing soils, while carnivores like lions control herbivore populations through predation. Fires also contribute to biodiversity and facilitate grass-dominated floras and faunas. Livestock also maintain open savanna

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148 views1 page

Infographic

Savannas are dynamic socio-ecological ecosystems with complex interactions between humans, fire, climate, and wildlife such as herbivores. These ecosystems have high biodiversity with mixed grass, tree communities, and a variety of animal populations that interact with each other and human populations. Vegetation such as trees, shrubs, and herbs are influenced by topography and provide food and water for wildlife and livestock. Wildlife such as elephants and other herbivores maintain the open landscape through grazing and fertilizing soils, while carnivores like lions control herbivore populations through predation. Fires also contribute to biodiversity and facilitate grass-dominated floras and faunas. Livestock also maintain open savanna

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Savannas

Dynamic socio-ecological ecosystems with complex interactions between


humans, fire, climate and wildlife, predominantly herbivores (Marchant, 2010).
These ecosystems have a large amount of biodiversity with mixed grass and
tree communities as well as a wide variety of animal populations, which
interact both with eachother and human populations.

Vegetation
Trees, shrubs and herbs are influenced by different
topography such as mountains or flat open land. In
Africa the main tree species is the Acacia
(Amsel, 2019) whereas in Brazil it is the Curatella. Both provide
water and food for wildlife and livestock. In
addition groundwater-fed swamps provide vital
drought relief for animals and people. (Marchant,
2010).

(Elowitt, 2016)

Wildlife
Elephants and other herbivores
maintain the open landscape by
grazing, resource sharing (Marchant,
2010) and fertilizing soils with dung.

Different Carnivores such as lions maintain the


herbivore levels through predation.

Relationships (Stokstad, 2017)

in Savanna Fires
Result in the evolution of highly

Ecosystems biodiverse ecosystems, and


facilitate C4 grass-dominated
floras and faunas. (Marchant,
2010).

(A. C. Staver, 2016)

Livestock
Goats, cows, donkeys and more maintain an
open savanna structure by preventing the
herb and tree seedling layers from excessive
growth (Marchant, 2010). However in many
cases, livestock out numbers natural wildlife
which disrupts the natural balance.
(Larson, 2019)

Climate Change
Puts a huge stress on water availability
(Marchant, 2010) in savannas resulting in a decline in animal
(Swanson, 2023)
populations and in turn a decrease in fertile soils, therefore, vegetation
becomes sparse leaving livestock and humans with minimal food.
Marchant, R. (2010). Understanding complexity in savannas: climate, biodiversity and people. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, [online] 2(1-2), pp.101–108.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2010.03.001.

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