Savannahs of Asia: antiquity, biogeography, and an uncertain future

CORC > 西双版纳热带植物园 > 中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园 > 2012年后新成立研究组

	Savannahs of Asia: antiquity, biogeography, and an uncertain future
	Tomlinson, Kyle W.
刊名	PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
	2016
卷号	371 期号:1703
关键词	Asian savannahs diversity fire functional traits herbivory tropical dry forest
中文摘要	The savannahs of Asia remain locally unrecognized as distinctive ecosystems, and continue to be viewed as degraded forests or seasonally dry tropical forests. These colonial-era legacies are problematic, because they fail to recognize the unique diversity of Asian savannahs and the critical roles of fire and herb ivory in maintaining ecosystem health and diversity. In this review, we show that: the palaeo-historical evidence suggests that the savannahs of Asia have existed for at least 1 million years, long before widespread landscape modification by humans; savannah regions across Asia have levels of C-4 grass endemism and diversity that are consistent with area-based expectations for non-Asian savannahs; there are at least three distinct Asian savannah communities, namely deciduous broadleaf savannahs, deciduous fine-leafed and spiny savannahs and evergreen pine savannahs, with distinct functional ecologies consistent with fire- and herbivory-driven community assembly. Via an analysis of savannah climate domains on other continents, we map the potential extent of savannahs across Asia. We find that the climates of African savannahs provide the closest analogues for those of Asian deciduous savannahs, but that Asian pine savannahs occur in climates different to any of the savannahs in the southern continents. Finally, we review major threats to the persistence of savannahs in Asia, including the mismanagement of fire and herbivory, alien woody encroachment, afforestation policies and future climate uncertainty associated with the changing Asian monsoon. Research agendas that target these issues are urgently needed to manage and conserve these ecosystems. This article is part of the themed issue 'Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation.
公开日期	2016-09-30
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.xtbg.org.cn/handle/353005/10046]
专题	西双版纳热带植物园_2012年后新成立研究组
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Tomlinson, Kyle W.. Savannahs of Asia: antiquity, biogeography, and an uncertain future[J]. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,2016,371(1703).
APA	Tomlinson, Kyle W..(2016).Savannahs of Asia: antiquity, biogeography, and an uncertain future.PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,371(1703).
MLA	Tomlinson, Kyle W.."Savannahs of Asia: antiquity, biogeography, and an uncertain future".PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 371.1703(2016).