@article{LohmannTietjenBlaumetal.2014,
  author    = {Lohmann, Dirk and Tietjen, Britta and Blaum, Niels and Joubert, David Francois and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Prescribed fire as a tool for managing shrub encroachment in semi-arid savanna rangelands},
  series = {Journal of arid environments},
  volume    = {107},
  journal   = {Journal of arid environments},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0140-1963},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.04.003},
  pages     = {49 -- 56},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Savanna rangelands worldwide are threatened by shrub encroachment, i.e. the increase of woody plant species at the cost of perennial grasses, causing a strong decline in the productivity of domestic livestock production. Although recent studies indicate that fire might be of great importance for semi-arid and arid savanna dynamics, it is largely not applied in the management of semi-arid rangelands especially with regard to woody plant control. We used the eco-hydrological savanna model EcoHyD to simulate the effects of different fire management strategies on semi-arid savanna vegetation and to assess their longterm suitability for semi-arid rangeland management. Simulation results show that prescribed fires, timed to kill tree seedlings prevented shrub encroachment for a broad range of livestock densities while the possible maximum long-term cattle densities on the simulated semi-arid rangeland in Namibia increased by more than 30\%. However, when grazing intensity was too high, fire management failed in preventing shrub encroachment. Our findings indicate that with regard to fire management a clear distinction between mesic and more arid savannas is necessary: While the frequency of fires is of relevance for mesic savannas, we recommend a fire management focussing on the timing of fire for semi-arid and arid savannas. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.},
  language  = {en}
}