TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lohmann, Dirk
A1  - Tietjen, Britta
A1  - Blaum, Niels
A1  - Joubert, David Francois
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Prescribed fire as a tool for managing shrub encroachment in semi-arid savanna rangelands
JF  - Journal of arid environments
N2  - 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.
KW  - Acacia mellifera
KW  - Bush encroachment
KW  - Dry land degradation
KW  - Rangeland management
KW  - Simulation model
KW  - Southern Africa
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.04.003
SN  - 0140-1963
SN  - 1095-922X
VL  - 107
SP  - 49
EP  - 56
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - London
ER  -