Inferred controls on tree/grass composition in a savanna ecosystem: Combining 16-year normalized difference vegetation index data with a dynamic soil moisture model

Water Resources Research

Volumn 39, Issue 8, 2003, Pages

  Scanlon, Todd M ^a,c   Albertson, John D ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA   (United States)

^b Duke University   (United States)

^c Princeton University   (United States)

Author keywords

Africa; Satellite; Savanna; Soil moisture

Indexed keywords

COMPUTER SIMULATION; ECOSYSTEMS; FORESTRY; INTERPOLATION; MOISTURE; RAIN; SOILS; STATISTICS; VEGETATION; WEATHER SATELLITES;

SAVANNA ECOSYSTEMS; SOIL MOISTURE;

WATER RESOURCES;

ANNUAL VARIATION; NDVI; PRECIPITATION (CLIMATOLOGY); REMOTE SENSING; SATELLITE IMAGERY; SAVANNA; SOIL MOISTURE; VEGETATION COVER;

AFRICA;

EID: 1542651762     PISSN: 00431397     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/2002WR001881     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Albertson, J. D., and G. Kiely, On the structure of soil moisture time series in the context of land surface models, J. Hydrol., 243, 101-119, 2001.
2. Archer, S. R., Have southern Texas savannas been converted to woodlands in recent history?, Am. Nat., 134(4), 545-561, 1989.
3. Avissar, R., and R. A. Pielke, The impact of plant stomatal control on mesoscale atmospheric circulations, Agric. For. Meteorol., 54, 353-372, 1991.
4. Campbell, G. S., A simple method for determining unsaturated conductivity from moisture retention data, Soil Sci., 117, 311-314, 1974.
5. Clapp, R. B., and G. M. Hornberger, Empirical equations for some soil hydraulic properties, Water Resour. Res., 14(4), 601-604, 1979.
6. Darnell, W. L., W. G. Staylor, N. A. Ritchey, S. K. Gupta, and A. C. Wilber, Surface radiation budget: A long-term global dataset of shortwave and longwave fluxes, Eos Trans. AGU, Electron. Suppl., 27 Feb. 1996.
7. De Vries, J. J., E. T. Selaolo, and H. E. Beekman, Groundwater recharge in the Kalahari, with reference to paleo-hydrologic conditions, J. Hydrol., 238, 110-123, 2000.
8. D'Odorico, P., F. Laio, A. Porporato, and I. Rodriguez-Iturbe, Hydrologic controls on soil carbon and nitrogen cycles. II A case study, Adv. Water Res., 26(1), 59-70, 2003.
9. Eagleson, P. S., Ecological optimality in water-limited natural soil-vegetation systems: 1. Theory and hypothesis, Water Resour. Res., 18(2), 325-340, 1982.
10. Eagleson, P. S., and R. I. Segarra, Water-limited equilibrium of savanna vegetation systems, Water Resour. Res., 21(10), 1483-1493, 1985.
11. Fuller, D. O., and S. D. Prince, Rainfall and foliar dynamics in tropical southern Africa: Potential impacts of global climatic change on savanna vegetation, Clim. Change, 33, 69-96, 1996.
12. Goward, S. M., and S. D. Prince, Transient effects of climate on vegetation dynamics: Satellite observations, J. Biogeogr., 22, 549-563, 1995.
13. Grist, J., S. E. Nicholson, and A. Mpolokang, On the use of NDVI for estimating rainfall fields in the Kalahari of Botswana, J. Arid Environ., 35, 195-214, 1997.
14. Jacquemin, B., and J. Noilhan, Sensitivity study and validation of a land surface parameterization using the HAPEX-MOBILHY data set, Boundary Layer Meteorol., 52, 93-134, 1990.
15. Jeltsch, F., S. J. Milton, W. R. J. Dean, N. van Rooyen, and K. A. Moloney, Modeling the impact of small scale heterogeneity on tree-grass coexistence in semi-arid savannas, J. Ecol., 86, 780-793, 1998.
16. Jeltsch, F., G. E. Weber, and V. Grimm, Ecological buffering mechanisms in savannas: A unifying theory of long-term tree-grass coexistence, Plant Ecol., 161, 161-171, 2000.
17. Koch, G. W., R. J. Scholes, W. L. Steffen, P. M. Vitousek, and B. H. Walker, The IGBP terrestrial transects: Science plan, Rep. 36, 61 pp., Int. Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, Stockholm, Sweden, 1995.
18. x emissions from African savanna fires, J. Geophys. Res., 101(D19), 23,585-23,595, 1996.
19. Le Roux, X., and T. Bariac, Seasonal variations in soil, grass, and shrub water status in a West African humid savanna, Oecologia, 113, 456-466, 1998.
20. Madany, M. H., and N. E. West, Livestock grazing-fire regime interactions within montane forests of Zion National Park, Utah, Ecology, 64, 661-667, 1983.
21. New, M., M. Hulme, and P. Jones, Representing twentieth-century spacetime climate variability. part I: Development of a 1961-1990 mean monthly terrestrial climatology, J. Clim., 12(3), 829-856, 1999.
22. Noilhan, J., and S. Planton, A simple parameterization of land surface processes for meteorological models, Mon. Weather Rev., 117, 536-549, 1989.
23. Parsons, D. A. B., M. C. Scholes, R. J. Scholes, and J. S. Levine, Biogenic NO emissions from savanna soils as a function of fire regime, soil type, soil nitrogen, and water status, J. Geophys. Res., 101(D19), 23,683-23,688, 1996.
24. Porporato, A., F. Laio, L. Ridolfi, K. K. Caylor, and I. Rodriguez-Iturbe, Soil moisture and plant stress dynamics along the Kalahari precipitation gradient, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D3), 4127, doi:10.1029/ 2002JD002448, 2003.
25. Priestley, C. H. B., and R. J. Taylor, On the assessment of surface heat flux and evaporation using large-scale parameters, Mon. Weather Rev., 100, 81-92, 1972.
26. Rodríguez-Iturbe, I., P. D'Odorico, A. Porporato, and L. Ridolfi, On the spatial and temporal links between vegetation, climate, and soil moisture, Water Resour. Res., 35(12), 3709-3722, 1999a.
27. Rodríguez-Iturbe, I., P. D'Odorico, A. Porporato, and L. Ridolfi, Tree-grass coexistence in savannas: The role of spatial dynamics and climate fluctuations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 247-250, 1999b.
28. Rossow, W. B., and R. A. Schiffer, ISCCP cloud data products, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 72, 2-20, 1991.
29. Sarmiento, G., The Ecology of Neotropical Savannas, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1984.
30. 2 and water vapor exchange along a precipitation gradient in southern Africa, Global Change Biol., in press, 2003.
31. Scanlon, T. M., J. D. Albertson, K. K. Caylor, and C. A. Williams, Determining land surface fractional cover from NDVI and rainfall time series for a savanna ecosystem, Remote Sens. Environ., 82(2-3), 376-388, 2002.
32. Scholes, R. J., and S. R. Archer, Tree-grass interactions in savannas, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 28, 517-544, 1997.
33. Scholes, R. J., and B. H. Walker, An African Savanna, Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1993.
34. Scholes, R. J., P. R. Dowty, K. Caylor, D. A. B. Parsons, P. G. H. Frost, and H. H. Shugart, Trends in savanna structure and composition along an aridity gradient in the Kalahari, J. Veg. Sci., 13(3), 419-428, 2002.
35. Smit, G., and N. F. G. Rethman, The influence of tree thinning on the soil water in a semi-arid savanna of southern Africa, J. Arid Environ., 44, 41-59, 2000.
36. Thomas, D. S. G., and P. A. Shaw, The evolution and characteristics of the Kalahari, southern Africa, J. Arid Environ., 25(1), 97-108, 1993.
37. Van de Vijver, C. A. D. M., P. Poot, and H. H. T. Prins, Causes of increased nutrient concentrations in post-fire regrowth in an East African savanna, Plant Soil, 214(1-2), 173-185, 1999.
38. Walter, H., Ecology of Tropical and Subtropical Vegetation, Oliver and Boyd, White Plains, N. Y., 1971.