TY  - JOUR
A1  - Synodinos, Alexios D.
A1  - Tietjen, Britta
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Facilitation in drylands: Modeling a neglected driver of savanna dynamics
JF  - Ecological modelling : international journal on ecological modelling and engineering and systems ecolog
N2  - Our current understanding regarding the functioning of the savanna ecosystem describes savannas as either competition- or disturbance-dependent. Within this generalized view, the role and importance of facilitation have been mostly neglected. This study presents a mathematical model of savannas with coupled soil moisture-vegetation dynamics, which includes interspecific competition and environmental disturbance. We find that there exist environmental and climatic conditions where grass facilitation toward trees plays an important role in supporting tree cover and by extension preserving the savanna biome. We, therefore, argue that our theoretical results in combination with the first empirical studies on the subject should stimulate further research into the role of facilitation in the savanna ecosystem, particularly when analyzing the impact of past and projected climatic changes on it. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - Ecohydrological modeling
KW  - ODE model
KW  - Coexistence
KW  - Biome shifts
KW  - Fire
KW  - Grazing
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.02.015
SN  - 0304-3800
SN  - 1872-7026
VL  - 304
SP  - 11
EP  - 21
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -