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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Patterns of plant functional traits in the biogeography of West African grasses (Poaceae)
African Journal of Ecology, Volume 49, No. 4, Year 2011
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Description
Grasses (Poaceae) are the largest family of vascular plants in Burkina Faso with 254 species. In the savannahs they are the most important family in terms of abundance and species richness, in other habitats, such as gallery forests, there are only few species. On the country scale there is a change in growth form: while in the Sahelian north most grasses are small therophytes, the Sudanian south is characterized by tall, often perennial grasses. To analyse these patterns in detail, we compiled a database on grass occurrences and used it in an ecological niche modelling approach with the programme Maxent to obtain country-wide distribution models. Secondly we used data on photosynthetic type, height, leaf width and growth form to aggregate the species distributions and quantified the relative importance of functional groups per grid cell. Pronounced latitudinal differences could be shown for life forms, photosynthesis and size: the drier north is characterized by smaller, mainly therophytic grasses with a high share of C4 NAD-ME photosynthesis, while the more humid south is characterized by tall, often hemicryptophytic grasses with C4 NADP-ME photosynthesis. For leaf width, no clear country-wide patterns could be observed, but local differences with more broad-leaved grasses in humid areas. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Schmidt, Marco
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Und Naturmuseum
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Goethe-universität Frankfurt am Main
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Senckenberg Biodiversität Und Klima Forschungszentrum
Thiombiano, Adjima M.Emmanuel
Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou
University of Ouagadougou
Zizka, Alexander
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Und Naturmuseum
König, Konstantin
Kenya, Nairobi
World Agroforestry Centre
Brunken, Ulrike
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Palmengarten
Zizka, Georg
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Und Naturmuseum
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Goethe-universität Frankfurt am Main
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Senckenberg Biodiversität Und Klima Forschungszentrum
Statistics
Citations: 29
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2028.2011.01283.x
ISSN:
01416707
e-ISSN:
13652028
Study Locations
Burkina Faso