Edmund C. February

TL;DR: It is shown, using data from 854 sites across Africa, that maximum woody cover in savannas receiving a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of less than ∼650 mm is constrained by, and increases linearly with, MAP.

TL;DR: Evidence is provided that savannas are demographically resilient to fire, but structurally responsive, and the density of woody individuals was unresponsive to fire.

TL;DR: Rooting depth and degree of iso/anisohydry allow a first-order functional classification of drought response pathways in this flora, and consideration of additional traits would further refine this approach.

TL;DR: The results suggest that, in savannas, increasing rainfall serves to increase the competitive pressure exerted by grasses on trees, and recruitment into the adult tree stage from the juvenile stage is most likely in drought years when there is little competition from grass for resources and grass fuel loads are low.

TL;DR: In this article, the root distribution of trees and grasses relative to soil nitrogen and water profiles is described and the proportion of tree and grass fine roots at each soil depth are estimated using the δ 13 C values of fine roots and the ε 13 C end members of the fine roots of the dominant trees and Grasses at both mesic and arid sites.