savanna

/seuh van"euh/, n.

1. a plain characterized by coarse grasses and scattered tree growth, esp. on the margins of the tropics where the rainfall is seasonal, as in eastern Africa.

2. grassland region with scattered trees, grading into either open plain or woodland, usually in subtropical or tropical regions.

Also, savannah.

[1545-55; earlier zavana < Sp (now sabana) < Taino zabana]

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▪ ecological region

Introduction

also spelled  savannah 

 vegetation type that grows under hot, seasonally dry climatic conditions and is characterized by an open tree canopy (i.e., scattered trees) above a continuous tall grass understory. The largest areas of savanna are found in Africa, South America, Australia, India, the Myanmar- Thailand region, and Madagascar. Their distribution is shown in Figure 1—>.

Origin

      Savannas arose as rainfall progressively lessened in the peripheral regions of the tropics during the Cenozoic Era (66.4 million years ago to the present)—in particular, during the past 25 million years. Grasses (grass), the dominant plants of savannas, appeared only about 50 million years ago, although it is possible that some savanna-like vegetation lacking grasses occurred earlier. The South American fossil record provides evidence of a well-developed vegetation, rich in grass and thought to be equivalent to modern savanna, being established by the Early Miocene Epoch, about 20 million years ago.

      Climates across the world became steadily cooler during this period. Lower ocean surface temperatures caused a reduction in water evaporation, which led to a slowing of the whole hydrologic cycle, with reduced cloud formation and less precipitation. The vegetation of mid-latitude regions, lying between the wet equatorial areas and the moist, cool, temperate zones, was affected substantially.

      The main regions in which savannas emerged in response to this long-term climatic change—tropical America, Africa, South Asia, and Australia—were already separated from each other by ocean barriers by this time. Plant migration across these barriers was inhibited, and the details of the emergence of savannas on each continent varied. In each region different plant and animal species evolved to occupy the new, seasonally dry habitats.

      Savannas became much more widespread, at the expense of forests, during the long, cool, dry intervals—contemporaneous with the Pleistocene Ice Ages, or glacial intervals, of temperate regions—during the Quaternary Period (Quaternary) (1.6 million years ago to the present). Studies of fossilized pollen in sediments from sites in South America, Africa, and Australia provide strong support for this view.

      When humans first appeared, in Africa, they initially occupied the savanna. Later, as they became more adept at modifying the environment to suit their needs, they spread to Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Here their impact on the nature and development of savanna vegetation was superimposed on the natural pattern, adding to the variation seen among savanna types. The savannas of the world currently are undergoing another phase of change as modern expansion of the human population impinges on the vegetation and fauna.

Environment

      In general, savannas grow in tropical regions 8° to 20° from the Equator. Conditions are warm to hot in all seasons, but significant rainfall occurs for only a few months each year—around October to March in the Southern Hemisphere and April to September in the Northern Hemisphere. Mean annual precipitation is generally 800 to 1,500 mm (31 to 59 inches), although in some central continental locations it may be as low as 500 mm (20 inches). The dry season is typically longer than the wet season, but it varies considerably, from two to eleven months. Mean monthly temperatures are around 10 ° to 20 °C (50 ° to 68 °F) in the dry season and 20 ° to 30 °C (68 ° to 86 °F) in the wet season.

      Savannas may be subdivided into three categories—wet, dry, and thornbush—depending on the length of the dry season. In wet savannas the dry season typically lasts 3 to 5 months, in dry savannas 5 to 7 months, and in thornbush savannas it is even longer. An alternative subdivision recognizes savanna woodland, with trees and shrubs forming a light canopy; tree savanna, with scattered trees and shrubs; shrub savanna, with scattered shrubs; and grass savanna, from which trees and shrubs are generally absent. Other classifications have also been suggested.

      In spite of their differences, all savannas share a number of distinguishing structural and functional characteristics. Generally they are defined as tropical or subtropical vegetation types that have a continuous grass cover occasionally interrupted by trees and shrubs and that are found in areas where bushfires occur and where main growth patterns are closely associated with alternating wet and dry seasons. Savannas can be considered geographic and environmental transition zones between the rainforests of equatorial regions and the deserts of the higher northern and southern latitudes.

      The distinction between savannas and other major vegetation types such as tropical deciduous forests, scrublands, or grasslands is somewhat arbitrary. The variation from one to another occurs along a continuum, often without distinct boundaries, and the vegetation is dynamic and changeable. The tree component of savannas generally becomes more important as rainfall increases, but other factors such as topography, soil, and grazing intensity all exert influences in complex and variable ways. Dry season fires, fueled by dried grass, may kill some trees, especially the more vulnerable young saplings; therefore, their severity also greatly affects the nature of savanna vegetation. Because grazing and fire are strongly affected by human activities and have been for thousands of years, humans continue to have a controlling influence on the nature, dynamics, development, structure, and distribution of savannas in many parts of their global range.

      Soil fertility is generally rather low in savannas but may show marked small-scale variations. It has been demonstrated in Belize and elsewhere that trees can play a significant role in drawing mineral nutrients up from deeper layers of the soil. Dead leaves and other tree litter drop to the soil surface near the tree, where they decompose and release nutrients. Soil fertility in the vicinity of trees is thereby enhanced in comparison with areas between trees.

      An unusually large proportion of dead organic matter—approximately 30 percent—is decomposed through the feeding activities of termites (termite). Thus, a significant proportion of released mineral nutrients may be stored for long periods in termite mounds where they are not readily available to plant roots. In savannas in Thailand it has been shown that soil fertility can be markedly improved by mechanically breaking up termite mounds and spreading the material across the soil surface. In Kenya old termite mounds, which are raised above the general soil surface, also provide flood-proof sites where trees and shrubs can grow, with grassland between them, forming the so-called termite savanna.

      Soil factors are particularly important in large areas of relatively moist savanna in South America and Africa. Where soils are poor, and especially in areas prone to waterlogging in the rainy season due to flatness of the ground or a hardpan close to the surface that roots cannot penetrate, tree growth is not vigorous enough for a closed forest to develop. This is true even where the climate appears to be suitable for it; a more open savanna vegetation is the result.

Biota

      The biota of savannas reflect their derivation from regional biotas; therefore, species vary between regions. The savannas of Asia and tropical America, unlike those of Africa and Australia, are best considered as attenuated rainforests, their natural biotas having strong affinities with those of the wetter environments nearer the Equator in the same regions. Trees in these savannas are usually deciduous, their leaves falling during the dry season. The African savanna biota is fundamentally a grassland assemblage of plants (plant) and animals, with the addition of scattered trees.

Flora

 Different groups of plants are prominent in the savannas of different regions. A vegetation profile of a typical savanna is shown in Figure 2—>. Across large parts of the tropical American savannas, the most common broad-leaved trees belong to the genera Curatella, Byrsonima, and Bowdichia, their place being taken in some seasonally waterlogged sites by the palms Copernica and Mauritia. Grasses include species of Leersia and Paspalum. In Argentina the most common woody plant is the bean relative Prosopis.

      In the drier regions of East Africa (eastern Africa), species of acacia and Combretum are the most common savanna trees, with thick-trunked baobabs (Adansonia digitata), sturdy palms (Borassus), or succulent species of Euphorbia being conspicuous in some areas. In the drier savannas in particular there is often a wide diversity of spiny shrubs. Among the most prevalent grasses are species of Andropogon, Hyparrhenia, and Themeda. In wetter savannas, Brachystegia trees grow above a 3-metre- (10-foot-) tall understory of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum). The most common West African savanna trees are in the genera Anogeissus, Combretum, and Strychnos.

      In India the savanna vegetation of most areas has been extensively altered by human activities, which also have expanded its range. Where they have been least altered, Indian savannas commonly consist of thorny trees of Acacia, Mimosa, and Zizyphus growing over a grass cover consisting mainly of Sehima and Dichanthium.

      At temperate latitudes in Australia the flora of the savanna resembles that of other types of sclerophyllous (sclerophyll) vegetation (thickened woody plants that have tough leaves with a low moisture content), neither fauna nor flora being of a distinctively savanna type (see temperate forest). Most Australian savanna trees are evergreen, surviving the dry season not by dropping their leaves but by reducing water loss from them. The dominant trees of savannas in Australia and southern New Guinea are various species of Eucalyptus, with Acacia, Bauhinia, Pandanus, and other tall shrubs also being common. Baobabs (Adansonia gregorii) are the most common and conspicuous savanna trees in parts of northwest Australia. Tall spear grass (Heteropogon) or the shorter kangaroo grass (Themeda) dominates the understory of large areas of moist savanna. The prickly spinifex grasses (Plectrachne, Triodia) are prominent in more arid regions. Most trees and shrubs of the Australian savanna are markedly sclerophyllous. Small patches of monsoon (monsoon forest) rainforest and other types of vegetation occur locally within mainly savanna regions, surviving in places that have some degree of protection from the dry season fires.

Fauna

      Savannas provide habitats for a wide array of animals, some of which foster the vegetation through grazing, browsing, pollinating, nutrient cycling, or seed dispersal. Many areas of savanna are managed today to maintain large grazing mammals, such as the native fauna of Africa or the cattle used for commercial production in large areas of Australia and South and Central America. Less spectacular but nevertheless very important are the small invertebrate animals; for example, grasshoppers and caterpillars are among the chief consumers of the understory foliage, and termites are significant consumers of dead plant matter, including wood.

      Perhaps the best-known savanna fauna (faunal region), because of its large mammals, is that of Africa. These large mammals basically are part of a grassland community, despite the presence of low trees in their environment. Most depend on the grass component of the vegetation either directly for their food, as do the herbivorous buffalo, zebra, gnu, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and antelope, or indirectly, as is true of the carnivores or scavengers that feed primarily on these herbivores. Only a small number, including the giraffe and elephant, rely to a significant extent on foliage or fruit from the often thorny trees.

      Large animals are uncommon in Australian savannas and are represented mainly by several species of the family Macropodidae, such as kangaroos and wallabies. However, in this region a wide variety of very large mammals and reptiles became extinct several thousand years ago, after the first arrival of humans. Their place today is taken by animals, both domesticated and feral, that have been introduced by humans: mainly cattle but also horses and, more locally, camels, donkeys, and the Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).

Population and community development and structure

      Savanna plants annually experience a long period in which moisture is inadequate for continued growth. Although the aboveground parts of the shallow-rooted grasses (grass) quickly dry out and die, the more deeply rooted trees can tap moisture lying further beneath the surface longer into the dry season. Grasses grow rapidly when moisture is available but die back when it is not, surviving long, dry periods as dormant buds close to the soil surface. Sandy soils, which supply abundant moisture during rainy periods but which dry out almost completely in the absence of rain, favour the grassy component of savannas. Trees (tree), on the other hand, require water in at least small amounts at all seasons even if they drop their leaves; deep soil layers supply this need. Trees in savannas are favoured by stony soils, which allow deep penetration by roots but which are less favourable to grasses. Nevertheless, especially toward the end of the dry season, many trees may lose their leaves to reduce transpirational loss of water, even though the leafless branches of some species carry open flowers. Soil, therefore, exerts some control over the nature of savanna vegetation, particularly in the drier parts of its distribution where sandy soils support grass-rich savanna with few trees and coarser, deeper soils support more tree-rich savanna with a smaller grass component.

      Through the grazing pressure they exert, animals also can alter the balance between woody plants and grasses in a savanna—in either direction, depending on their feeding habits. Grass-eating mammals may overgraze and push the grass component of the vegetation toward local extinction; however, even high populations of these creatures cannot eliminate woody plant species, whose upper branches are out of their reach. Subsequent regeneration will favour the woody plants, which will become denser and shift the profile of the vegetation from savanna to forest. Other herbivores (herbivore) can have the reverse effect if their populations increase. For example, a steady rise in the elephant population between 1934 and 1959 in Virunga National Park, Congo (Kinshasa), led to an increase in the destruction of woody plants and transformed a heavily wooded savanna into a grass savanna with very few trees. An imbalance in favour of the tree components of savanna vegetation may also reduce the number and intensity of fires that would have destroyed many woody plants. Such bush encroachment commonly renders grazing land virtually useless; it is a widespread problem in drier parts of savanna lands in such places as Venezuela, India, and Australia.

      Animals of savannas have adapted to surviving the seasonal variations in their food supply. Many birds and—especially in Africa—many mammals are seasonal migrants, occupying savannas during and immediately after the wet season when vegetation is lush and food abundant; they move elsewhere as the green parts of the plants disappear later in the dry season. The seasonal contrast in availability of plant food is less marked below ground where roots, tubers, and other subterranean organs commonly make up a large proportion of the total plant biomass—e.g., up to four times as much as the aboveground component has been found below ground in some West African study sites, especially in the dry season. It is not surprising, therefore, that most invertebrate animals of the savanna—especially termites but also many other arthropods and earthworms—spend most of their lives underground.

       fire is an important ingredient in savanna ecosystems in all regions. Fires are started naturally by lightning strikes, but in most regions humans are now the greatest cause of savanna burning. Fire primarily consumes grasses, leaf litter, and other dead plant material that quickly dries out after the rains are over. Savanna trees commonly display a thick, corky bark that helps protect their trunks—at least once they have reached a certain size—from fire injury. While fires are important in the creation and maintenance of savanna vegetation in all regions, some disagreement exists concerning the extent to which fire should be considered a natural phenomenon, as well as to what extent it should be interpreted as the main factor responsible for the distribution and character of savanna vegetation.

      Fires burn annually in savannas in all regions, nowhere more so than in Australia, the continent with the most fire-prone vegetation. In Australia humans have been lighting fires in savanna regions for at least 50,000 years. These fires have traditionally been lit for many reasons: to keep the country open and easily crossed; to reveal and kill small, edible animals such as lizards, turtles, and rodents; to create areas that later will develop a cover of fresh, green grass, which will attract wallabies and other game; and to encourage plants that produce edible tubers. Fires early in the dry season are less hot and destructive than fires that occur later in the season. They are sometimes employed to provide a firebreak around patches of fire-sensitive rainforest that inhabitants may want to protect for religious or utilitarian reasons. However, early fires may have ecological drawbacks, especially in areas intended for grazing. In these areas fires that burn late in the dry season are less detrimental to new grass growth.

      The effect of fire on the vegetation is great. Some plants can survive fire. For example, some have buds located underground or beneath thick bark that provides fire protection; from these shielded structures regeneration quickly takes place. Other plants are able to reproduce effectively from seeds shed onto the fire-scorched ground in the wake of wildfire. Such plants benefit from burning and become more abundant than the fire-sensitive plants that occur in areas of frequent burning. Foremost among these plants are trees in the genus Eucalyptus, which contains many species that dominate most areas of Australian savanna. Some trees in Australian savanna areas, such as the cypress pine (Callitris), have been shown to be highly drought-tolerant, albeit fire-sensitive. Were it not for frequent fires, they would be able to grow over wide areas. Today Callitris is restricted to sites such as gorges and rocky outcrops where there is some protection from fire.

      Similar patterns are recognizable in other regions. For example, in northern Nigeria thickets comprising a few fire-sensitive rainforest tree species from genera such as Diospyros, Ficus, and Tamarindus grow on rocky knolls lacking grass. These rocky “islands,” protected from fire and cattle, are surrounded by expanses of grazed and frequently burned savanna. Where plots of African savanna vegetation are protected from being burned, they tend to revert quickly to deciduous forest.

      Savannas are also affected by the overuse of woody plants for fuel. Together with grazing and cultivation, this leads to overall depletion of the vegetative cover, both the grassy and the woody components. Often a subsequent acceleration of soil erosion occurs. Such processes are associated, in densely settled savanna areas such as Africa north of the Equator, with the type of land degradation called desertification.

Biological productivity

      Savannas have relatively high levels of net primary productivity compared with the actual biomass (dry mass of organic matter) of the vegetation at any one time. (For a full discussion of productivity see biosphere: The organism and the environment: Resources of the biosphere (biosphere).) Most of this productivity is concentrated into the period during and following the wet season, when water is freely available to the plants; at this time savanna productivity can rival or exceed that of forests. Values for the aboveground biomass at its seasonal maximum range from 0.5 to 11.5 metric tons per hectare in drier regions (the higher values being recorded in years of sufficient rainfall) to 5.5 to 20.8 metric tons per hectare in more humid regions. Belowground biomass values have been measured less often but are typically as large as or larger than the aboveground values. Primary productivity is less easily evaluated, but rates of 3.6 metric tons of dry matter per hectare per year have been recorded in Senegal, a dry part of West Africa, and values of 21.5 to 35.8 metric tons per hectare per year in humid areas farther south. In India a range of values has been obtained for different savannas, from as low as 1.6 metric tons per hectare per year in drier areas to as high as 45.5 metric tons in wetter areas.

      Furthermore, the quality of the vegetation as food for animals is generally high. A large proportion—ranging from 15 percent to more than 90 percent—is grass, which is palatable and digestible, especially by comparison with the woody vegetation that dominates forest growth. Grass foliage also contains far fewer unpalatable compounds than do most tropical forest tree leaves and so is more readily eaten and digested. Many shrubs and trees in savannas have leaves that are eaten by browsing mammals as well as invertebrates. Seeds and underground organs provide important dry-season foods for many animals.

      Dried grass and dead wood in savannas are quickly decomposed, primarily by termites, or burned, releasing mineral nutrients to be reused in subsequent production. This rapid nutrient turnover helps explain the relatively high productivity and therefore the diverse and abundant faunas typical of savannas.

Jeremy M.B. Smith

Additional Reading

A wide assortment of issues relating to the global distribution and ecology of savannas are addressed in François Bourlière (ed.), Tropical Savannas (1983). E.M. Lind and M.E.S. Morrison, East African Vegetation (1974), discusses the range of savannas and related vegetation types in East Africa. Patricia A. Werner (ed.), Savanna Ecology and Management: Australian Perspectives and Intercontinental Comparisons (1991), deals with the functioning, maintenance, and management of savannas, focusing upon the region in which they remain most intact and undamaged by human activities. Jeremy M.B. Smith

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