TY - JOUR
T1 - Tree-grass coexistence in savannas
T2 - The role of spatial dynamics and climate fluctuations
AU - Rodríguez-Iturbe, Ignacio
AU - D'Odorico, Paolo
AU - Porporato, Amilcare Michele M.
AU - Ridolfi, Luca
PY - 1999/1/15
Y1 - 1999/1/15
N2 - The codominance of trees and grasses in savannas is explained as resulting from the minimization of vegetation stress. It is shown that under different climate, soil and vegetation conditions local interactions dictated by the spatial competition for soil moisture lead to an optimal state of minimum global water stress involving a stable coexistence of trees and grasses. The optimal state matches the observed canopy cover and soil moisture characteristics. Moreover, changes in canopy cover in the savanna environments are also suggested to result from climate fluctuations.
AB - The codominance of trees and grasses in savannas is explained as resulting from the minimization of vegetation stress. It is shown that under different climate, soil and vegetation conditions local interactions dictated by the spatial competition for soil moisture lead to an optimal state of minimum global water stress involving a stable coexistence of trees and grasses. The optimal state matches the observed canopy cover and soil moisture characteristics. Moreover, changes in canopy cover in the savanna environments are also suggested to result from climate fluctuations.
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U2 - 10.1029/1998GL900296
DO - 10.1029/1998GL900296
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0040439569
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 26
SP - 247
EP - 250
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 2
ER -