Mastodawn

Savannology Mar 1, 2025

@hfalcke This sounded good until I read they plant trees. I really hope they are planting the correct trees in the right places, and are not misguided by false classification of savannas and other #TropicalGrassyBiomes as "degraded forests". Planting the wrong trees in the wrong place is a disaster for biodiversity in those places.

#savannasmatter

Savannology Feb 23, 2024

C4 vegetation covers 17.5% of global land surface. C4 natural grass cover decreased from 2001-2019 (due to elevated CO2) and C4 crop cover increased (because of maize expansion).

C4 photosynthesis accounts for ~19% of global photosynthesis (~3% from C4 crops and ~16% from C4 natural grasses).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45606-3

#SavannasMatter

Planting trees in the name of #reforestation is BAD for #TropicalGrassyBiomes.

#BiomeAwarenessDisparity

Mapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory - Nature Communications

Due to fundamental anatomical and biochemical differences, C3 and C4 plant species tend to differ in their biogeography and response to climate change. Here, the authors use global observations and optimality theory to map patterns and temporal trends in C4 species distribution and the contribution of C4 plants to global photosynthesis.

Nature

Savannology Feb 21, 2024

“…vegetation definitions that only consider tree cover are problematic for tropical grassy biomes…”

science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0899

#SavannasMatter
#TropicalGrassyBiomes
#forests #reforestation

@ecology

Savannology Jan 24, 2024

Forest & Non-forest can't be defined by tree cover alone.

The WRI's Trees Outside Forests Indicator of forest extent is based on defining land that has trees outside forests as "all human-managed urban and agricultural land with tree cover and all other land with greater than zero percent and less than 10 percent tree cover".

https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/trees-outside-forests?utm_campaign=janrecap2024&utm_medium=bitly&utm_source=MonthlyRecap.

The definition misclassifies #TropicalGrassyBiomes that have >10% tree cover as 'forest'.
#BiomeAwarenessDisparity

#SavannasMatter

@ecology

Trees Outside Forests | Global Forest Review

The Trees Outside Forests (TOF) Indicator aims to monitor trees that are growing outside forests on farms, in orchards and tree plantations, in cities, along roads and in parks and across other non-forest landscapes. While this indicator discusses the distribution and importance of TOF generally, calculations in this indicator quantify land that contains trees outside forests, which we define as all human-managed urban and agricultural land with tree cover and all other land with greater than zero percent and less than 10 percent tree cover. Tall herbaceous vegetation such as sugarcane, bananas and cacti, as well as short woody crops such as tea and coffee are excluded. This indicator currently considers only tropical land that contains TOF in the year 2020.

Savannology Jan 24, 2024

Millions of USD going into planting trees in Africa.

https://www.africa.terramatch.org/?utm_campaign=janrecap2024&utm_medium=bitly&utm_source=MonthlyRecap

All based on arbitrary structural definitions of trees and forests.

https://greater-rift-valley-worldresources.hub.arcgis.com/

No inclusion of plant functional traits to distinguish #TropicalGrassyBiomes with fire-tolerant, shade-intolerant trees and shrubs from #forests with fire-intolerant, shade-intolerant trees.

#SavannasMatter

@ecology

TerraFund for AFR100 | TerraMatch

Entrepreneurs and nonprofit innovators restoring trees to Africa’s land: Apply for $50,000-$500,000 in funding

TerraFund for AFR100 | TerraMatch

Savannology Aug 30, 2023

Why is it wrong to monitor global #forests using only vegetation structure?

"Monitoring global forests using only structural metrics – problems and solutions from a savanna viewpoint"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112723006151

#SavannasMatter
#TropicalGrassyBiomes

Savannology Aug 23, 2023

Yes! Stop #forestization of #TropicalGrassyBiomes in the name of #forest "restoration". Stop the #Greenwashing.

https://mstdn.science/@KnowableMag/110939360119211152

#SavannasMatter

Knowable Magazine (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image The notion of planting miles of trees to hold back encroaching deserts is misguided and damaging, write researchers. Instead, they urge, we should promote programs that secure livelihoods and respect dryland ecologies. ✍️ By Matthew Turner, Diana Davis, Emily Yeh and Pierre Hiernaux Read the #OpEd: https://knowmag.org/GreenWalls_Mastodon #science #ScienceMastodon #ecology

mstdn.science

Show thread

Savannology Aug 4, 2023

@mongabay
The whole project should be canned. It's misguided and little more than #greenwashing funded by the #GlobalNorth. Many of the areas targeted for #reforestation are neither #deforested nor #degradedforest. They are natural #OpenBiomes such as #TropicalGrassyBiomes

#SavannasMatter

Show thread

Savannology Jun 28, 2023

Using the FAO definition of “forest” leads to misclassification of extensive areas of #TropicalGrassyBiomes (tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas) as "forests", especially in South America and Africa. If the definition of “forest” is based on tree cover, then global forest change monitoring is seriously flawed and can lead to gross exaggeration of global forest cover, deforestation, and estimates of forest carbon stocks.

#SavannasMatter

Savannology Jun 28, 2023

This is so WRONG! "Unlike in much of the tropics, fires in boreal and temperate forests are a natural and important part of the ecology" according to this World Resources Institute report.

https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends

Fires are a natural and important part of the ecology of Earth's #TropicalGrassyBiomes (tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas) too.

#SavannasMatter