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7 - Savanna biome evolution, climate change and the ecological expansion of C4 grasses

from Section 2 - Adaptation, speciation and extinction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2011

By
Y. Bouchenak-Khelladi  and
T. R. Hodkinson
Edited by
Trevor R. Hodkinson ,
Michael B. Jones ,
Stephen Waldren  and
John A. N. Parnell
Y. Bouchenak-Khelladi
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town, South Africa
T. R. Hodkinson
Affiliation:
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Trevor R. Hodkinson
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin
Michael B. Jones
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin
Stephen Waldren
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin
John A. N. Parnell
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin
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Summary

Abstract

This chapter discusses the abiotic (climatic, atmospheric, fire) and biotic (herbivory, competition) factors driving the origin of savanna biomes and the evolution of their dominant plant group, the grasses. C4 photosynthesis is a key innovation in grass evolution, and we outline how phylogenetic approaches have helped us understand the multiple origins of this trait and the factors driving its evolution, such as atmospheric CO2 concentrations, drought, heat and fire. C4 grasses have interacted closely with other organisms throughout their evolution, and we describe evidence for their coevolution with ungulate herbivores in savanna habitats (an evolutionary arms-race scenario). We also describe phylogenetic approaches for reconstructing ancestral niches and geographical ranges of grasses over evolutionary time. These studies reveal a close link between climate and savanna evolution, with the first C4 grasses evolving in open habitats of Africa. By reviewing the findings of several major studies, we hope to provide predictions about the fate of savannas under future global change scenarios.

Introduction

Biomes are natural communities of wide geographical extent, characterised by distinctive, climatically controlled groups of organisms (Raven et al., 2005). Savannas are among the most charismatic of such biomes because they are extremely species-rich, because their predominantly C4 grasses coevolved with a large diversity of mammalian grazers, and because their history is intimately linked with the opening up of tropical forests that occurred during the Cenozoic (in the last 65 million years), due to climate change. C4 grasses exhibit the Hatch–Slack photosynthetic pathway (Slack and Hatch, 1967).

Type
Chapter
Information
Climate Change, Ecology and Systematics , pp. 156 - 175
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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