Pattern and process in savanna ecosystems

Abstract

The spatial pattern of vegetation is both a cause and effect of variation in resource availability in semiarid ecosystems. At landscape to regional scales, climatic and geologic constraints on soil moisture and nutrient availability are primary determinants of vegetation structural pattern in semiarid ecosystems. Similarly, at local to landscape scales, the patchy vegetation structural mosaic serves to redistribute the availability of soil moisture and nutrients in ways that have important consequences for structural dynamics and community composition.