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Ecosystem diversity in southern African savannas is fueled by pyrodiversity

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Abstract

African savannas are experiencing a rapid decline in burned area, often entailing a simplification of landscape pyrodiversity. We used virtual landscapes generated from data collected in a multi-decadal fire experiment to test how pyrodiversity (measured as spatial variation in fire frequency) shapes multiple dimensions of three savannas spanning a rainfall gradient in South Africa. Results provide empirical evidence that pyrodiversity begets diversity across structural, functional, and taxonomic dimensions, especially at precipitation ≥650 mm yr⁻1. The positive effects of pyrodiversity arise because patches with different fire frequencies form a diverse landscape mosaic. Critically, the highest woody encroachment, carbon storage, soil nitrogen and woody species diversity was found in low fire frequency patches. On the contrary, the most diverse ground vegetation communities were detected in frequently burned patches. Our findings emphasize the importance of pyrodiversity-based management for maintaining ecosystem diversity and associated services in the face of ongoing environmental changes.

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Data availability

The data used in this manuscript are available in Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29183975.v1)74.

Code availability

The R script used to generate the figures was run in R version 4.3.170 and is available in Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29183975.v1)74.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been done with funding from the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) for the project “Fire regimes and ecosystem services in African biodiversity hotspots: can fire policies favoring climate change mitigation, biodiversity and local communities converge?”, in which Christian Kull is the coordinator and Víctor Fernández-García the principal member. We acknowledge support from project SS1107 (approved by SANParks), with Víctor Fernández-García as principal investigator. During fieldwork, Víctor Fernández-García was supported by a Margarita Salas post-doctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Universities of Spain, financed with European Union-NextGenerationEU and Ministerio de Universidades funds and granted by the University of León. We thank Elijah Masango, Ndzalama Mkanzi and Cintia González for their kind support in the fieldwork. We also thank the Scientific Services team at SANParks in Kruger National Park, and especially Dudu Mzimba, Herman Ntimane, Velly Ndlovu and Khensani Nkuna for their valuable help in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, Universidad de León, Ponferrada, Spain

    Víctor Fernández-García

  2. Institute of Geography and Sustainability (IGD), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Víctor Fernández-García

  3. South African National Parks, Skukuza, South Africa

    Tercia Strydom

  4. Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

    Tercia Strydom

  5. NRF-SAEON Ndlovu Node, WITS Rural Campus, Acornhoek, South Africa

    Dave I. Thompson

  6. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Dave I. Thompson

  7. Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, Potchefstroom Campus, North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Dave I. Thompson

  8. Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Universidad de León, León, Spain

    José Manuel Fernández-Guisuraga

  9. Institute of Environmental Research, Natural Resources and Biodiversity (IMARENABIO), Universidad de León, León, Spain

    José Manuel Fernández-Guisuraga

  10. Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB), CSIC-University of Oviedo-Principality of Asturias, Mieres, Spain

    Cristina Santín

  11. Biosciences Department, Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Cristina Santín

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  1. Víctor Fernández-García
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  2. Tercia Strydom
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  3. Dave I. Thompson
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  4. José Manuel Fernández-Guisuraga
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  5. Cristina Santín
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Contributions

V.F.-G.: Conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, resources, visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation; T.S.: Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – Review & Editing; D.T.: Investigation, Data curation, Writing – Review & Editing; J.M.F.-G.: Writing – Review & Editing; C.S.: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing.

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Víctor Fernández-García.

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Communications Earth and Environment thanks Tiaan Strydom, Tionhonkélé Drissa Soro and Evan Hockridge for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editors: Tobias Landmann and Mengjie Wang. [A peer review file is available].

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Fernández-García, V., Strydom, T., Thompson, D.I. et al. Ecosystem diversity in southern African savannas is fueled by pyrodiversity.
Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03260-1

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