Trees, fires and elephants: applying ecological theory to science-society issues in southern Africa

Abstract

A group of researchers at the CSIR have been investigating the question “What controls the growth rate of trees in African savannas”? A combination of simple measurements taken in the field over long periods of time, with high-technology instruments such as satellites and flux towers have allowed the researchers to construct, for the first time, relatively simple predictive models. These models have, in turn, allowed new light to be cast on several important problems. The researchers were, for example, able to show that southern Africa grows more fuelwood than it consumes; that a dense coppice of small trees with a persistently high number of elephants is the likely outcome in the Kruger National Park; and that trees do not automatically come to dominate the savannas of the future