Grasslands, which constitute almost 40% of the terrestrial biosphere, provide habitat for a
great diversity of animals and plants and contribute to the livelihoods of more than 1 billion …

Ecology and evolutionary biology have focused on how organisms fit the environment. Less
attention has been given to the idea that organisms can also modify their environment, and …

Poales are one of the most species‐rich, ecologically and economically important orders of
plants and often characterise open habitats, enabled by unique suites of traits. We test six …

Plant functional traits provide a valuable tool to improve our understanding of ecological
processes at a range of scales. Previous handbooks on plant functional traits have …

Biomes of the world have long been assumed to be determined by climate. Major disparities,
where open low biomass systems occurred in the same climate zone as closed forests have …

Narratives of landscape degradation are often linked to unsustainable fire use by local
communities. Madagascar is a case in point: the island is considered globally exceptional …

Societal Impact Statement Madagascar is famous for its unique forests and their fauna. Most
of the island is covered by flammable grassy ecosystems long considered to be of human …

Today, grasslands cover approximately 80% of Madagascar [1, 2], but their extent prior to
recent landscape modification remains elusive. Numerous studies converge to suggest that …

Plant populations persist under recurrent fire via resprouting from surviving tissues
(resprouters) or seedling recruitment (seeders). Woody species are inherently slow …

It is common to characterise the species niche using climate and global species distribution
maps. This is then used to predict changes in distribution under a warming climate. This …