#grassybiomes — Public Fediverse posts

All those biome-specific papers I see that start out by claiming to be "the biggest" or "the most biodiverse" or "the most threatened" or some other thing of global importance, when we have yet to accurately define and map the #biomes on Earth, are getting beyond tedious.

That said, I have to add that #GrassyBiomes are grossly underappreciated compared to #Forests.

#SavannasMatter
@ecology

The 5th paragraph is an example of debunking a myth with another myth framed as "Truth". Besides the FAO's fatally flawed definition of #forest possibly protecting #GrassyBiomes from agric expansion, how can conversion to agric not be human-induced? #SavannasMatter

https://pro-news.globalforestwatch.org/news-events/busting-3-myths-about-deforestation-monitoring-for-the-eudr?utm_campaign=decrecap2024&utm_medium=bitly&utm_source=MonthlyRecap

@ecology

@CelloMomOnCars
Raising trees to restore #grasslands (i.e. #afforestation) makes no sense at all.

#SavannasMatter
Stop #forestization of #GrassyBiomes

Those who monitor global #forest cover, or have any other interest in global #forests should mask global non-forest areas such as #GrassyBiomes by using resources such as the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tool/iucn-global-ecosystem-typology) or the RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017© biomes map (https://ecoregions.appspot.com/). They are much better than the global #treecover / #treeheight maps that so many use.

#SavannasMatter
#deforestation
#climatechange
#ClimateCrisis

The worst ever map of global #forest cover is in Fig 1 of this paper:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162167

#SavannaScience #SavannasMatter #GrassyBiomes

#TropicalGrassyBiomes like the #Cerrado of South America are under threat of degradation by #Forestization.

Stop large-scale #TreePlanting in #GrassyBiomes. #Savannas are NOT "degraded forests".

Stop mapping global "forests" in terms of vegetation height and woody cover alone. That leads to misclassification of savannas as #forests.

#SavannasMatter

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/to-restore-brazils-cerrado-planting-trees-is-a-bad-option-experts-say/

Why is there still an obsessive interest in mapping global forests on the sole basis of remotely sensed vegetation height and woody cover?

For example:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425720305381#f0005

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13658816.2023.2183959

Such outdated approaches are prone to misclassifying #GrassyBiomes as "forest" or "degraded forest".

It's now known that plant functional traits and other data not easily acquired by satellites must be included.

For example:

https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/2022/9835284

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05318-4

#SavannasMatter

@wclark

Into "savanna states" or into "savanna-like states"? One assumes that forest and savanna are alternate stable states composed of species with very different functional traits. The other does not.

Savannas and other #GrassyBiomes are not "degraded forests".

#SavannasMatter

@pmeyfroidt

Important work.

But the analysis depends on how restoration priority areas are determined, which depends on how ecosystems are defined. Strassburg et al. (2020) is seriously flawed in that regard. Their Extended Data Figs 1 and 5 do not distinguish between "forest" and #GrassyBiomes such as savannas, especially in Africa and South America. This leads to intact savanna areas being misclassified as "degraded forest" and mislabelled as "restoration priority areas".

#SavannasMatter

@dominic

Important work.

Caveat: The analysis depends on how restoration priority areas are determined, which depends on how ecosystems are defined. Strassburg et al. (2020) is seriously flawed in that regard. Their Extended Data Figs 1 and 5 do not distinguish between "forest" and #GrassyBiomes such as savannas, especially in Africa and South America. This leads to intact savanna areas being misclassified as "degraded forest" and mislabelled as "restoration priority areas".

#SavannasMatter

@hakim

Excellent review of satellite remote sensing for mapping #GrassyBiomes at regional and global scales.

This is crucial for #SavannaScience and the prevention of #Forestization of #OpenNaturalEcosystems such as #TropicalGrassyBiomes.

The EU and FAO need to read this, and other recent related work, and then realise they need to update their antiquated definition of "forest" based only on veg structure and ignoring #FunctionalTraits.

#SavannasMatter

Very interesting work by Adie and Lawes reinforcing why managing #GrassyBiomes and #Forests must account for #FunctionalTraits of vegetation.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/brv.12923

@danielhz

This is a great resource for learning about tropical and temperate #GrassyBiomes.

The descriptions and maps of savannas are based on current thinking (not the FAO's outdated definitions that perpetuate the misclassification of savannas as "forest" or "degraded forest").

#SavannaScience
#SavannasMatter