Forefronting the Socio-Ecological in Savanna Landscapes through Their Spatial and Temporal Contingencies

Abstract

Landscape changes and the processes driving them have been a critical component in both research and management efforts of savanna systems. These dynamics impact human populations, wildlife, carbon storage, and general spatio-temporal dynamism in response to both anthropomorphic and climatic shifts. Both biophysical and human agents of change can be identified by isolating their respective spatial, temporal, and organizational contingencies. However, we argue here that a significant portion of savanna research has either considered humans as exogenous (e.g., via enacting regional or broader policies) or somewhat spatio-temporally removed from the system (e.g., as in many protected areas with limited current human habitation). Examples from African savanna research and particularly those systems of southern Africa are thus reviewed and used to model a stylized or prototypical savanna system and contingencies. Such an approach allows for a richer socio-temporal integration of theories and data on past biophysical and human histories to facilitate an improved framework for understanding savanna systems and their complex contingencies as socio-ecological landscapes.

Analysis of High Temporal Resolution Land Use/Land Cover Trajectories

“…As pointed by Crews and Young [43], the linkage of pattern to process is a crucial part of the scientific method as it potentially enables (i) developing approaches to prospect possible future outcomes or resiliencies in particular landscapes and (ii) creating theories in order to generalize explanations helpful in other landscapes. The results of the case study show the enormous potential of the methods used in life course trajectory analysis when applied to the analysis of land cover sequences.…”

“…OM based on features enables the user to focus on certain transitions. For instance, savannas shift easily and rapidly into grasslands or woodlands due to anthropogenic (e.g., fire regime), biotic (e.g., woody encroachment), and abiotic factors (e.g., change in rainfalls) [43]. Thus, the land categories are not totally exclusive since a complex and dynamic land management occurs in the study area (e.g., pasture, agriculture, mosaic of pasture and agriculture categories are not completely exclusive).…”

Firewood Collection in South Africa: Adaptive Behavior in Social-Ecological Models

“…Overharvesting and unstainable fuelwood extraction are contributors for land use and land cover changes (LUCC) causing a significant impact on the overall savanna ecosystem [8,9,29,54,56].…”

Thresholds of change in a multi-use conservation landscape of South Africa: historical land-cover, future transformation and consequences for environmental decision-making

“…The neighbourhood of surrounding cover impacts the future potential land cover in a given area, with neighbouring cover not only important for local effects (e.g., edge effects), but also for the broader spatial context of the landscape (Crews & Young 2013), with initial transformation fuelling further transformation trajectories (Brady et al 2009;Rosa et al 2013;. Thus, the increased expansion of settlement and impacted vegetation beyond previously observed localities in 2012 across K2C is predicted to have substantial repercussions for the intact vegetation expanse in the near future.…”