Modeling by SFI Science Board member Simon Levin and collaborators explores how forests and savannas maintain a balance at the boundaries between the two.
The team reports in the October 14 Science that the two biomes exist in harmony because wildfires prevent the forests from encroaching on grassland, and rain in the forest keeps the trees healthy and tall enough to prevent fire damage, thereby keeping the grassland from encroaching on the forests.
Climate change, road construction, and fire prevention measures can alter the complex network of interactions between the two, negatively affecting the many species that rely on both. The study shows that such destabilization can happen very quickly and be difficult to reverse.
Read the Princeton News article (November 1, 2011)
Read the Science paper (October 14, 2011, subscription required for full article)