Wildfire
Wildfire is increasing in importance as an element of global change, but this process has been a part of African ecosystem for millennia, and well before the evolution of human population and their manipulation of the wildfire regime. Wildfire is now included as a process in ecosystem models, but much remains to be done to understand the behaviour and extent of wildfire, and the effects of climate change and climate variability on this potentially devastating ecosystem process. We are engaged in the improvement of wildfire models, and the collection of data on wildfire behaviour in key ecosystems, and statistical analysis of long term wildfire trends in response to climate variability and change.
Plant-animal interactions
Disturbance of plants by animal grazing and browsing is a potentially powerful explanatory factor for the success of plants in African ecosystems that retain, more than anywhere in the world, indigenous herbivore pressure, together with strong impacts of introduced domestic stock. We are exploring in collaborative work the relative importance of physical and chemical defenses (Tristan Charles-Dominique), and the potential for herbivore induced landscape sterility (Nikki Stevens and Mathieu Malan).