African savannas are inherently patterned by mosaics of trees and grasses. The causes and consequences of such patterning for community assembly, ecosystem functioning, and resilience are only sparsely understood. Therefore, as a part of the RESILIENCE project, we are using a multi-pronged approach from synthesizing data from literature and collaborating with the SEOSAW network in sub-Saharan Africa, to carrying out additional field campaigns to empirically understand spatial patterning dynamics in the savannas

Projects under this theme

Causes of spatial patterning

Fezile Mtsetfwa is a Postdoctoral Researcher whose work builds on emerging insights into savanna tree spatial patterns, focusing on what these patterns reveal about the ecological processes that shape them. Using insights from the broad spectrum of patterns identified in a meta-analysis, ranging from clustered to regular distributions, she explores how different mechanisms operate across environmental gradients, from arid to mesic regions. Additionally, her research examines whether observed tree patterns reflect self-organized dynamics driven by scale-dependent feedbacks or whether they arise from external factors such as landscape heterogeneity. By considering how these spatial structures shift with scale and environmental conditions, her work advances understanding of the situations where savanna tree patterns may signal resilience, when they may indicate vulnerability, and how they might change under increasing climate stress.

Consequences of spatial patterning on diversity

Neha Mohanbabu is a postdoctoral researcher examining the consequences of spatial patterning on savanna communities.  In collaboration with the SEOSAW network, she is leveraging a multi-site dataset to better understand the role of spatial patterning on tree species diversity along a rainfall gradient in sub-Saharan Africa. Results from her work suggest that spatial patterning can have contrasting effects on diversity along a rainfall gradient. These results have paved way for the development of a new conceptual framework that attempts to bridge insights from metacommunity ecology with that of spatial patterning studies. She aims to build on these findings by merging existing ground data with high-resolution remote sensing data to quantify spatial patterning and their consequences for savannas at a continental or sub-continental scale. The outcomes from these projects will fill a few crucial empirical knowledge gaps on links between spatial patterning and community assembly and will serve as a stepping-stone for research on impact of spatial patterning and diversity on ecosystem functioning and resilience.