Publications

Links to all publications can be found at Carla’s Google Scholar page. Please email for copies!!

[54] Staver, A.C. and G. Hempson. In press. Seasonal strategies determine population sizes of savanna ungulates. Science Advances. [ESA talk]

[53] Goel, N., E. van Vleck, J. Aleman, and A.C. Staver. In press. Dispersal limitation and fire feedbacks explain savanna distributions in Madagascar. Ecology.

[52] Case, M.F., J. Nippert, R. Holdo, and A.C. Staver. 2020. Root-niche separation between trees and grasses is greater on sandier soils. Journal of Ecology (online).  

[51] Zhou, Y., Wigley, B.J., Case, M.F., Coetsee, C., and A.C. Staver. 2020. Rooting depth as a key woody functional trait in savannas. New Phytologist (online). [ESA talk]

[50] Goel, N., V. Guttal, S.A. Levin, and A.C. Staver. 2020. The spatial dynamics of savanna-forest distribution change. The American Naturalist 195: 833-850.

[49] Coetsee-Wigley, C. and Staver, A.C. 2020. Grass community responses to drought in an African savanna. African Journal of Range and Forage Science (Special Issue) 37: 43-52.

[48] Kulmatiski, A., et al [including A.C. Staver]. 2020. Forecasting semi-arid biome shifts in the Anthropocene. New Phytologist 226: 351-361. 

[47] Case, M.F., Wigley, B.J., Coetsee-Wigley, C., and Staver, A.C. 2020. Could drought disfavor woody encroachers in savanna? African Journal of Range and Forage Science (Special Issue) 37: 19-29. [ESA talk]

[46] Staver, A.C., P. Brando, J. Barlow, D. Morton, T. Paine, Y. Malhi, A. Murakami, J. de A. Pasquel. 2020. Thinner bark increases sensitivity of wetter Amazonian tropical forests to fire. Ecology Letters 23: 99-106.

[45] Daskin, J.H., Aires, F., and A.C. Staver. 2019. Determinants of tree cover in tropical floodplains. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286: 20191755.

[44] Veldman, J.W., et al. [alphabetical] 2019. Comment on “The global tree restoration potential”. Science 366: eaay7976. 

[43] Aleman, J., O. Blarquez, H. Elenga, J. Paillard, V. Kimpuni, G. Itoua, G. Issele, and A.C. Staver. 2019. Paleo-trajectories of forest savannization in the southern Congo. Biology Letters (Special Issue) 15: 20190284.

[42] Zhou, Y., and A.C. Staver. 2019. Enhanced activity of soil nutrient-releasing enzymes after plant invasion: a meta-analysis. Ecology 100: e02830.

[41] Case, M.F., Wigley-Coetsee, C., Nzima, N., Scogings, P., and Staver, A.C. 2019. Severe drought limits trees in a semi-arid savanna. Ecology 100: e02842. [ESA talk]

[40] Wigley, B.J., A.C. Staver, R. Zytkowiak, A. Jagodzinski, and C. Wigley-Coetsee. 2019. Root trait variation in African savannas. Plant + Soil 441: 555-565.

[39] Hempson, G., S. Archibald, and A.C. Staver. 2019. Chapter 10: Fire-browser interactions. In Scogings, P., C Skarpe, and M. Sankaran (eds). Herbivores and woody plants in savannas. Wiley and Sons: Chichester.

[38] Archibald, S., W.J. Bond, W. Hoffmann, C. Lehmann, A.C. Staver, N. Stevens. 2019. Chapter 4: Distribution and Determinants Savannas. In Scogings, P., C Skarpe, and M. Sankaran (eds). Herbivores and woody plants in savannas. Wiley and Sons: Chichester.

[37] Abraham, J.O., G.P. Hempson, and A.C. Staver. 2019. Drought-response strategies of savanna herbivores. Ecology and Evolution 9: 7047–7056. [link]

[36] Li, Q., A.C. Staver, S.A. Levin, and W. E. 2019. Spatial feedbacks and the dynamics of savanna and forest. Theoretical Ecology (online). [link]

[35] Staver, A.C., G. Asner, I. Rodriguez-Iturbe, S.A. Levin, I. Smit. 2019. Spatial patterning among savanna trees in high-resolution, large-scale data. PNAS 116: 10681-10685. [link]
[34] Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., Z. Chen, A.C. Staver, and S.A. Levin. 2019. Tree clusters in savannas result from islands of soil moisture. PNAS 116: 6679-6683. [link]
[33] C.L. Dutton, A.L. Subalusky, T.D. Hill, J.C. Aleman, E.J. Rosi, K.B. Onyango, K. Kanuni, J.A. Cousins, A.C. Staver and D.M. Post. 2019. A 2000-year sediment record reveals rapidly changing sedimentation and land use since the 1960s in the Upper Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem. Science of the Total Environment 115: E1336-E1345. [link]
[32] Staver, A.C., C. Wigley-Coetsee, and J. Botha. 2018. Grazer movements exacerbate grass declines during drought in an African savanna. Journal of Ecology (online). [link]
[31] Staver, A.C. and E. Schertzer. 2018. Fire spread and the issue of community-level selection in the evolution of flammability. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 15: 20180444. [link]
[30] Case, M.F. and A.C. Staver. 2018. Soil texture mediates tree responses to rainfall intensity in African savannas. The New Phytologist 219: 1363-1372. [link]
[29] Aleman, J.C. and A.C. Staver. 2018. Spatial patterns in the global distribution of savanna and forest. Global Ecology and Biogeography 27: 792-803. [link]
[28] Touboul, J., A.C. Staver, and S.A. Levin. 2018. On the complex dynamics of savanna landscapes. PNAS 115: E1336-E1345. [link]
[27] Aleman, J.C., M. Jarzyna, and A.C. Staver. 2018. Forest extent and deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa since 1900. Nature Ecology and Evolution 2: 26. [link]
[26]  Pellegrini, A.F.A., A. Ahlström, S.E. Hobbie, P.B. Reich, L.P. Nieradzik, A.C. Staver, B.C. Scharenbroch, A. Jumponnen, W.R.L. Anderegg, J.R. Randerson, and R.B. Jackson. 2018. Fire frequency drives decadal changes in soil carbon and nitrogen and ecosystem productivity. Nature[link]
[25] Staver, A.C. 2017. Tansley Insight: Prediction and scale in savanna ecosystems. New Phytologist. [link]
[24] Staver, A.C., J. Botha, and L. Hedin. 2017. Soils and fire jointly determine vegetation structure in an African savanna. New Phytologist 216: 1151-1160. [link]
[23] Staver, A.C., H. Beckett, and J. Graf. 2017. Chapter 3: Long-term vegetation dynamics. In Cromsigt, J., S. Archibald, and N. Owen-Smith (eds). Savanna Ecology and Management: Conserving Africa’s Mega-Diversity in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. Cambridge UP: Cambridge.
[22] Archibald, S., H. Beckett, W.J. Bond, D. Druce, A.C. Staver, and C. Coetsee. 2017. Chapter 10: Interactions between fire and ecosystem processes: implications for fire management. In Cromsigt, J., S. Archibald, and N. Owen-Smith (eds). Savanna Ecology and Management: Conserving Africa’s Mega-Diversity in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. Cambridge UP: Cambridge.
[21] Bond, W.J., A.C. Staver, M. Cramer, J. Wakeling, J.J. Midgley, and D. Balfour. 2017. Chapter 9: Demographic bottlenecks and savanna trees. In Cromsigt, J., S. Archibald, and N. Owen-Smith (eds). Savanna Ecology and Management: Conserving Africa’s Mega-Diversity in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. Cambridge UP: Cambridge.
[20] Case, M.F. and A.C. Staver. 2017. Fire prevents woody encroachment only at higher-than-historical frequencies in a South African savanna. Journal of Applied Ecology. [link]
[19] Aleman, J.C., O. Blarquez, and A.C. Staver. 2016. Land use change outweighs projected effects of changing rainfall on tree cover in sub-Saharan Africa. Global Change Biology 22 (9), 3013-3025. [link]
[18] Pellegrini, A.F.A., A.C. Staver, L.O. Hedin, T. Charles-Dominique and A. Tourgee. 2016. Aridity, not fire, favors nitrogen-fixing plants across tropical savanna and forest biomes. Ecology 97 (9), 2177-2183. [link]
[17] Charles-Dominique, T., A.C. Staver, G.F. Midgley, and W.J. Bond. 2015. Functional differentiation of biomes in an African savanna/forest mosaics. South African Journal of Botany 101: 82-90. [link]
[16] Staver, A.C and M. Hansen. 2015. Analysis of stable states in global savannas: is the CART pulling the horse? - a comment. Global Ecology and Biogeography. [link]
[15] Pellegrini, A., L. Hedin, A.C. Staver, and N. Govender. 2015. Fire alters ecosystem carbon and nutrients but not plant nutrient stoichiometry or competition in tropical savanna. Ecology. [link]
[14] Schertzer, E., A.C. Staver, and S.A. Levin. 2015. Implications of the spatial dynamics of fire spread for the bistability of savanna and forest. Journal of Mathematical Biology 70: 329-341. [link]
[13] Staver, A.C. and S. Koerner. 2015. Chapter 5: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Interactions Determine Tree and Herbaceous Layer Dynamics in Savanna Grasslands. In LaPierre, K. and T. Hanley (eds). Trophic Ecology: Bottom-Up and Top-Down Interactions across Aquatic and Terrestrial Systems. Cambridge UP: Cambridge.
[12] Staver, A.C. and W.J. Bond. 2014. Is there a ‘browse trap’? Dynamics of herbivore impacts on trees and grasses in an African savanna. Journal of Ecology 102: 595-602. [link]
[11] Pérez-Harquindeguy, N., et al. 2013. New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Australian Journal of Botany 61: 167-234. [link]
[10] Staver, A.C., and S.A. Levin. 2012. Integrating theoretical climate and fire effects on savanna and forest systems.  The American Naturalist 180: 211-224. [link]
[9] Staver, A.C., W.J. Bond, M.J. Cramer, and J.L. Wakeling. 2012. Top-down determinants of niche structure and adaptation among African Acacias. Ecology Letters 15: 673-679. [link]
[8] Archibald, S., A.C. Staver, and S.A. Levin.  2012. The evolution of human-driven fire regimes in Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 109: 847-852. [link]
> BBC News coverage
[7] Staver, A.C., S. Archibald, and S.A. Levin. 2011. The global extent and determinants of savanna and forest as alternative stable states. Science 334: 230-232. [link]
> appeared with an accompanying perspective in Science
> Science News coverage
[6] Wakeling, J.L., A.C. Staver, and W.J. Bond. 2011. Simply the best: the transition of savanna saplings to trees.  Oikos 120: 1448-1451. [link]
[5] Staver, A.C., S. Archibald, and S.A. Levin. 2011. Tree cover in sub-Saharan Africa: rainfall and fire constrain forest and savanna as alternative stable states. Ecology 92: 1063–1072. [link]
> winner of the Ecological Society of America’s Mercer Award in 2012
[4] Staver, A.C., W.J. Bond, and E.C. February. 2011. History matters: tree establishment variability and species turnover in an African savanna. Ecosphere 2: art49. [link]
[3] Staver, A.C., W.J. Bond, et al. 2009. Browsing and fire interact to suppress tree density in an African savanna. Ecological Applications 19: 1909-1919. [link]
[2] Debroux, L., T. Hart, D. Kaimowitz, A. Karsenty and G. Topa (eds).  2007.  Forests in post-conflict Democratic Republic of Congo: analysis of a priority agenda.  A joint report by teams of the World Bank, CIFOR, CIRAD, AWF, CNONGD, CI, GTF, LINAPYCO, SNV, REPEC, WCS, Woods Hole Research Center, ICRAF, and WWF.  xxii, 82p. [link]
[1] Staver, A. C., W. de Jong, and D. Kaimowitz.  2007.  Nicaragua’s Frontier: the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve.  In De Jong, W., D. Donovan, and A.K. Ichi (eds).  Extreme conflicts and tropical forests. Springer: Berlin. [link]