Relation between rainfall intensity and savanna tree abundance explained by water use strategies.

ABSTRACT: Tree abundance in tropical savannas exhibits large and unexplained spatial variability. Here, we propose that differentiated tree and grass water use strategies can explain the observed negative relation between maximum tree abundance and rainfall intensity (defined as the characteristic rainfall depth on rainy days), and we present a biophysical tree-grass competition model to test this idea. The model is founded on a premise that has been well established in empirical studies, namely, that the relative growth rate of grasses is much higher compared with trees in wet conditions but that grasses are more susceptible to water stress and lose biomass more quickly in dry conditions. The model is coupled with a stochastic rainfall generator and then calibrated and tested using field observatio

SUBMITTER: Xu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4620860 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature