Fire shapes the distribution of savanna and forest through complex interactions involving
climate, resources and species traits. Based on data from central Brazil, we propose that …

Ecologists have long sought to understand the factors controlling the structure of savanna
vegetation. Using data from 2154 sites in savannas across Africa, Australia, and South …

Theoretically, fire–tree cover feedbacks can maintain savanna and forest as alternative
stable states. However, the global extent of fire-driven discontinuities in tree cover is …

This paper is the first global study of the extent to which fire determines global vegetation
patterns by preventing ecosystems from achieving the potential height, biomass and …

Savannas are known as ecosystems with tree cover below climate‐defined equilibrium
values. However, a predictive framework for understanding constraints on tree cover is …

Ecology Letters (2012) 15: 748–758 Abstract Forest and savanna biomes dominate the
tropics, yet factors controlling their distribution remain poorly understood. Climate is clearly …

Tropical savanna and forest are recognized to represent alternate stable states, primarily
determined by feedbacks with fire. Vegetation–fire dynamics in each of these vegetation …

Aim Fire protection gradually changes the density of woody plants in numerous savannas
around the world. In this study changes of structure in two tropical savanna areas with …

1. Fire is important in the dynamics of savanna-forest boundaries, often maintaining a
balance between forest advance and retreat. 2. We performed a comparative ecological …

Human activity has resulted in high fire frequency in many moist tropical savannas. To
simulate the effects of increased fire frequency on woody plants of the cerrado savannas of …