African shrub distribution emerges via a trade‐off between height and sapwood conductivity

• DOI: 10.1111/jbi.13447
• Publication Date: 2018-11-02T02:37:02Z
• Authors: Camille Gaillard; Liam Langan; Mirjam Pfeiffer; Dushyant Kumar; Carola Martens; Steven I. Higgins; Simon Scheiter
• Keywords: Shrubland

Abstract Aim Shrubs are multistemmed woody plants and a successful growth form in many ecosystems globally. Ecosystems such as the Fynbos South Africa or mediterranean shrublands dominated by dense shrub cover. In savannas, shrubs major vegetation component. Despite importance of at global scale, they are, contrast to trees, often understudied both empirical modelling studies. We define tree strategies trade‐off between water uptake capacity height growth, aim explore if this allows us explain distribution. Location Sub‐Saharan Methods improve dynamic model, adaptive Dynamic Global Vegetation Model version 2 ( aDGVM 2), simulate plants, based on rapid single‐stemmed trees efficient shrubs. Results show that, 2, (a) implemented strategy emerge is sufficient broad distribution African savannas; (b) fire aridity promote expense grasses; (c) presence influences competitive interactions grasses vegetation. Main conclusion provide novel approach model. This enhances our understanding , but further work required for arid shrublands. conclude that introducing fundamental trade‐offs forms into models can representation.