#savannascience — Public Fediverse posts

The webinar by Land & Carbon Lab on 18th July on mapping the world's trees should be interesting, especially for those doing #SavannaScience who know that tree height and cover are not sufficient metrics for defining forests. #SavannasMatter

@ecology

https://www.landcarbonlab.org/news-updates/mapping-trees-unprecedented-detail-ai

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2311280120

The authors provide evidence that vegetation changes in SE Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum involved "fluid" transitions between lowland rainforest, seasonally dry forest and tropical montane forest, not switches between forest and savanna. However, their depiction of the alternative stable state model of forests and savannas is flawed. It doesn't consider recent insights and is based on erroneous interpretation of earlier studies in #SavannaScience.
#SavannasMatter

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

There is interesting circularity in the use of global forest/non-forest (FNF) and global forest change (GFC) products. FNF maps are used to mask non-forest areas in studies of global forest change, and GFC maps are used to update FNF maps, yet both types of map are almost always based only on vegetation structure (height or tree cover). The situation is analogous to using the wrong screwdriver on a screw that will never tighten, even with the correct screwdriver.

#SavannasMatter #SavannaScience

I'll be talking about #WoodyPlants and #FunctionalTraits in the Kruger Park version of the SAVANNA #EcosystemModel at this year's #SavannaScience Network Meeting.

https://www.sanparks.org/scientific-services/events/savanna-science-network-meeting-2023

#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

@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

@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

@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

@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

The descriptions and maps of #TropicalGrassyBiomes in the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (v2.1) are an excellent resource.

https://global-ecosystems.org/explore/biomes/T4

#SavannasMatter

They are not based on the FAO's outdated definitions that perpetuate the misclassification of savannas as "forest" or "degraded forest".

#SavannaScience

They are based on current thinking about #OpenBiomes /
#OpenNaturalEcosystems in the framework of #AlternateBiomeStates.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534722000611?via%3Dihub