Archibald, S2013-07-182013-07-182013-05Archibald, S. 2013. The fire-vegetation-climate system: how ecology can contribute to earth system science. South African Journal of Botany, vol. 86, pp 1390254-6299http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254629913000331http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6895Copyright: 2013 Elsevier. This is an ABSTRACT ONLY. The definitive version is published in South African Journal of Botany, vol. 86, pp 139Since the time of Darwin, Wallace and Schimper, botanists and ecologists have been interested in understanding the global distribution of vegetation. Such questions are becoming more pressing as Earth System modellers attempt to predict the current and future state of global vegetation. A key complexity that is currently not well captured by Earth System models is that vegetation is not always deterministically responsive to climate and soils. Feedbacks within the Earth System, top-down controls such as fire and herbivory, and historical contingencies related to the phylogenetic origins of the biota all contribute towards explaining the current distribution of vegetation. Here I discuss some of these aspects in more detail and, in particular, how this might shape the character and distribution of the global savanna biome. Specifically, I highlight the role that fire plays as both a driver and a response in the fire-vegetation-climate system.enFire vegetationEcologySavanna biomeFire-vegetation-climate systemArticleArchibald, S. (2013). The fire-vegetation-climate system: how ecology can contribute to earth system science. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6895Archibald, S "The fire-vegetation-climate system: how ecology can contribute to earth system science." (2013) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6895Archibald S. The fire-vegetation-climate system: how ecology can contribute to earth system science. 2013; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6895.TY - Article AU - Archibald, S AB - Since the time of Darwin, Wallace and Schimper, botanists and ecologists have been interested in understanding the global distribution of vegetation. Such questions are becoming more pressing as Earth System modellers attempt to predict the current and future state of global vegetation. A key complexity that is currently not well captured by Earth System models is that vegetation is not always deterministically responsive to climate and soils. Feedbacks within the Earth System, top-down controls such as fire and herbivory, and historical contingencies related to the phylogenetic origins of the biota all contribute towards explaining the current distribution of vegetation. Here I discuss some of these aspects in more detail and, in particular, how this might shape the character and distribution of the global savanna biome. Specifically, I highlight the role that fire plays as both a driver and a response in the fire-vegetation-climate system. DA - 2013-05 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Fire vegetation KW - Ecology KW - Savanna biome KW - Fire-vegetation-climate system LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2013 SM - 0254-6299 T1 - The fire-vegetation-climate system: how ecology can contribute to earth system science TI - The fire-vegetation-climate system: how ecology can contribute to earth system science UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6895 ER -