Fires Regenerate African Grassland

Natural grass fires are evidently more important for the ecology of savannahs than has previously been assumed. This is the finding of a study carried out in Etosha National Park in the north of Namibia. It is the first study to have investigated the complex interplay of the factors fire, competition, moisture and seed availability in relation to a grass species. Periodic fires in semi-arid regions can lead to older tufts of grass disappearing, thereby making room for younger grasses.

Writing in the Journal of Ecology, the researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the University of Frankfurt am Main and the University of Cologne say that fire therefore plays an important role in regeneration. The findings are particularly significant for the management of semi-arid nature reserves, in which, in the absence of natural plant eaters, fires are the only practical means of renewing the grass canopy.

For the study, the researchers selected an area measuring 500 by 500 metres in Etosha National Park because it has one dominant grass species and because it was possible to rule out interference such as grazing and other human influences. Etosha National Park in the north of Namibia is the second largest nature reserve in Africa, measuring 20,000 square kilometers.

The temperatures in the semi-arid savannah fluctuate between 6 degrees centigrade in the winter and 35 degrees in the summer. The area under investigation is one of the driest areas in which plants can still grow, with annual rainfall of just 380 mm. That is less than the rainfall in the rain shadow of the Harz mountains.

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