Abstract
Developing
state-transition models of complex vegetation mosaics and identifying
the factors driving these transitions can help to guide restoration
efforts. Misidentification of anthropogenetically-degraded grasslands
and savannas as natural states can lead to misguided restoration
efforts and legislation. Here we describe multiple natural and
anthropogenetically altered states in the grassland-savanna-forest
mosaic in the Cerrado region of Central Brazil.
We contend that the
varied vegetation composition was originally driven by soil types and
secondarily by precipitation and fire frequency. Grasslands were
found on the shallowest, least fertile soils and scleromorphic forest
on the most fertile, with savannas ocuppying an intermediate
position.
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