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A Critical Consideration of the Environmental Conditions Associated with the Occurrence of Savanna Ecosystems in Tropical America

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Book cover Tropical Ecological Systems

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 11))

Abstract

The savannas cover extensive areas of the American tropics, and, together with rain forests, are the most extended neotropical plant formations. Ecological interpretation of these savannas has been quite divergent due partly to the word “savanna” being applied to completely different ecosystems. Even when limited by a definition like Beard’s (1953), it still includes a wide variety of physiognomic types and floristic units under different climatic, topographic, soil conditions, and degrees of human interference. Furthermore, the difficulty in distinguishing secondary herbaceous communities from primary savannas, as well as delimiting savannas and open forests, helps make the interpretation more confused.

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Authors
  1. G. Sarmiento
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  2. M. Monasterio
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30601, USA

    Frank B. Golley (Executive Director) (Executive Director)

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Apartado 1827, Caracas 101, Venezuela

    Ernesto Medina

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Sarmiento, G., Monasterio, M. (1975). A Critical Consideration of the Environmental Conditions Associated with the Occurrence of Savanna Ecosystems in Tropical America. In: Golley, F.B., Medina, E. (eds) Tropical Ecological Systems. Ecological Studies, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88533-4_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88533-4_16

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