Comment on "The extent of forest in dryland biomes"

Daniel M Griffith; Caroline E R Lehmann; Caroline A E Strömberg; Catherine L Parr; R Toby Pennington; Mahesh Sankaran; Jayashree Ratnam; Christopher J Still; Rebecca L Powell; Niall P Hanan; Jesse B Nippert; Colin P Osborne; Stephen P Good; T Michael Anderson; Ricardo M Holdo; Joseph W Veldman; Giselda Durigan; Kyle W Tomlinson; William A Hoffmann; Sally Archibald; William J Bond

doi:10.1126/science.aao1309

Comment on "The extent of forest in dryland biomes"

Science. 2017 Nov 17;358(6365):eaao1309. doi: 10.1126/science.aao1309.

Authors

Daniel M Griffith¹, Caroline E R Lehmann^{2

3}, Caroline A E Strömberg⁴, Catherine L Parr^{5

6

7}, R Toby Pennington^{8

9}, Mahesh Sankaran^{10

11}, Jayashree Ratnam¹⁰, Christopher J Still¹², Rebecca L Powell¹³, Niall P Hanan¹⁴, Jesse B Nippert¹⁵, Colin P Osborne^{16

17}, Stephen P Good¹⁸, T Michael Anderson¹⁹, Ricardo M Holdo²⁰, Joseph W Veldman^{21

22}, Giselda Durigan²³, Kyle W Tomlinson²⁴, William A Hoffmann²⁵, Sally Archibald^{3

26}, William J Bond^{27

28}

Affiliations

¹ Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA. griffith.dan@gmail.com.
² School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 EFF, UK.
³ Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁵ Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
⁶ School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.
⁸ Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, UK.
⁹ Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK.
¹⁰ National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bangalore, India.
¹¹ School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
¹² Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
¹³ Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA.
¹⁴ Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.
¹⁵ Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
¹⁷ Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
¹⁸ Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
²⁰ Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
²¹ Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
²² Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal, Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
²³ Assis State Forest, Forestry Institute of São Paulo State, Assis, SP, Brazil.
²⁴ Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun 666303, Yunnan, People's Republic of China.
²⁵ Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
²⁶ Natural Resources and the Environment, Council for Scientiﬁc and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa.
²⁷ South African Environmental Observation Network, National Research Foundation, Claremont, South Africa.
²⁸ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.

PMID: 29146777
DOI: 10.1126/science.aao1309

Abstract

Bastin et al (Reports, 12 May 2017, p. 635) infer forest as more globally extensive than previously estimated using tree cover data. However, their forest definition does not reflect ecosystem function or biotic composition. These structural and climatic definitions inflate forest estimates across the tropics and undermine conservation goals, leading to inappropriate management policies and practices in tropical grassy ecosystems.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Comment

MeSH terms

Ecosystem
Forests*
Poaceae
Trees*