IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v209y2007i2p377-391.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SATCHMO: A spatial simulation model of growth, competition, and mortality in cycling savanna patches

Author

Listed:
  • Meyer, Katrin M.
  • Wiegand, Kerstin
  • Ward, David
  • Moustakas, Aristides

Abstract

Many mechanisms have been suggested to explain the coexistence of woody species and grasses in savannas, yet, evidence from field studies and simulation models has been mixed. Shrub encroachment is an ecological and economic problem in savannas worldwide which generally is attributed to overgrazing. Patch-dynamics is a new mechanism explaining tree-grass coexistence and the natural occurrence of shrub encroachment in savannas. A patch-dynamic savanna consists of patches in which cyclical succession between grassy and woody dominance proceeds spatially asynchronously. The spatially explicit, individual-based patch-scale simulation model SATCHMO was developed to investigate cyclical succession in the paradigm of patch-dynamics for arid and semi-arid savannas. SATCHMO is designed to capture within-patch shrub population dynamics based on a grid of 51m side length and a resolution of 10cm. The model shrub characteristics were derived from Acacia mellifera, the main encroaching species in African savannas. The aim of SATCHMO is to give a detailed small-scale understanding of above- and belowground growth, competition, and mortality of savanna woody plants and the influence of precipitation and fire on patch transition frequencies, shrub growth rates, and shrub size frequencies. With SATCHMO, we want to identify the conditions leading to cyclical successions in general and shrub encroachment in particular. Soil moisture is the most important parameter in SATCHMO influencing growth, reproduction, and mortality of shrubs and grass tufts, and that mediates competition. To acknowledge the importance of belowground interactions in savannas, shrub root growth and competition are modelled spatially explicitly. The model output was successfully validated with morphometrical and spatial data from the field site in the South African Kalahari thornveld and with recent literature data on savanna woody species cover. Global sensitivity analysis with Latin hypercube sampling shows that soil moisture is the most important driver of shrub cover dynamics in semi-arid savannas.

Suggested Citation

  • Meyer, Katrin M. & Wiegand, Kerstin & Ward, David & Moustakas, Aristides, 2007. "SATCHMO: A spatial simulation model of growth, competition, and mortality in cycling savanna patches," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 209(2), pages 377-391.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:209:y:2007:i:2:p:377-391
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.07.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380007003547
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.07.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mahesh Sankaran & Niall P. Hanan & Robert J. Scholes & Jayashree Ratnam & David J. Augustine & Brian S. Cade & Jacques Gignoux & Steven I. Higgins & Xavier Le Roux & Fulco Ludwig & Jonas Ardo & Feetha, 2005. "Determinants of woody cover in African savannas," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7069), pages 846-849, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Moustakas, Aristides & Sakkos, Konstantinos & Wiegand, Kerstin & Ward, David & Meyer, Katrin M. & Eisinger, Dirk, 2009. "Are savannas patch-dynamic systems? A landscape model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(24), pages 3576-3588.
    2. Accatino, Francesco & Wiegand, Kerstin & Ward, David & De Michele, Carlo, 2016. "Trees, grass, and fire in humid savannas—The importance of life history traits and spatial processes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 320(C), pages 135-144.
    3. Linda Luvuno & Reinette Biggs & Nicola Stevens & Karen Esler, 2018. "Woody Encroachment as a Social-Ecological Regime Shift," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Guo, Tong & Lohmann, Dirk & Ratzmann, Gregor & Tietjen, Britta, 2016. "Response of semi-arid savanna vegetation composition towards grazing along a precipitation gradient—The effect of including plant heterogeneity into an ecohydrological savanna model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 325(C), pages 47-56.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Larissa Robinov & Chris Hopkinson & Mark C. Vanderwel, 2021. "Topographic Variation in Forest Expansion Processes across a Mosaic Landscape in Western Canada," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Tchuinté Tamen, A. & Dumont, Y. & Tewa, J.J. & Bowong, S. & Couteron, P., 2017. "A minimalistic model of tree–grass interactions using impulsive differential equations and non-linear feedback functions of grass biomass onto fire-induced tree mortality," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 265-297.
    3. Cecilia Parracciani & Robert Buitenwerf & Jens-Christian Svenning, 2023. "Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation in Kenya: Future Projections and Implications for Protected Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Djeumen, I.V. Yatat & Dumont, Y. & Doizy, A. & Couteron, P., 2021. "A minimalistic model of vegetation physiognomies in the savanna biome," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 440(C).
    5. Synodinos, Alexis D. & Tietjen, Britta & Jeltsch, Florian, 2015. "Facilitation in drylands: Modeling a neglected driver of savanna dynamics," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 304(C), pages 11-21.
    6. Klaus Kellner & Jaco Fouché & David Tongway & Ricart Boneschans & Helga van Coller & Nanette van Staden, 2022. "Landscape Function Analysis: Responses to Bush Encroachment in a Semi-Arid Savanna in the Molopo Region, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-24, July.
    7. Guo, Tong & Lohmann, Dirk & Ratzmann, Gregor & Tietjen, Britta, 2016. "Response of semi-arid savanna vegetation composition towards grazing along a precipitation gradient—The effect of including plant heterogeneity into an ecohydrological savanna model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 325(C), pages 47-56.
    8. Kenneth R. Young, 2023. "Reflections on the Dynamics of Savanna Landscapes," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-12, September.
    9. Accatino, Francesco & De Michele, Carlo, 2013. "Humid savanna–forest dynamics: A matrix model with vegetation–fire interactions and seasonality," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 265(C), pages 170-179.
    10. Akpoué, Kouadio Jean-Philippe & Barot, Sébastien & Raynaud, Xavier & Gignoux, Jacques, 2021. "Modeling the biomass allocation of tree resprout in a fire-prone savanna," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 448(C).
    11. Epstein, Graham & Vogt, Jessica & Cox, Michael & Shimek, Luke, 2014. "Confronting problems of method in the study of sustainability," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 42-50.
    12. Loudermilk, E.L. & Cropper, W.P. & Mitchell, R.J. & Lee, H., 2011. "Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and hardwood dynamics in a fire-maintained ecosystem: A simulation approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(15), pages 2733-2750.
    13. Blanco, Carolina Casagrande & Scheiter, Simon & Sosinski, Enio & Fidelis, Alessandra & Anand, Madhur & Pillar, Valério D., 2014. "Feedbacks between vegetation and disturbance processes promote long-term persistence of forest–grassland mosaics in south Brazil," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 291(C), pages 224-232.
    14. Guo, Tong & Weise, Hanna & Fiedler, Sebastian & Lohmann, Dirk & Tietjen, Britta, 2018. "The role of landscape heterogeneity in regulating plant functional diversity under different precipitation and grazing regimes in semi-arid savannas," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 379(C), pages 1-9.
    15. Pachzelt, Adrian & Rammig, Anja & Higgins, Steven & Hickler, Thomas, 2013. "Coupling a physiological grazer population model with a generalized model for vegetation dynamics," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 263(C), pages 92-102.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:209:y:2007:i:2:p:377-391. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.