Publications from the savanna ecology lab (since 2016), or for which our lab played a significant role
Donaldson, J.E., Holdo, R.M., Anderson, T.M., Morrison, T.A., Hopcraft, J.G.C., McIntyre, J., Devaney, E., Hempson, G., Senso, B., Trentinus, A., and Ezenwa, V.O. 2023. Direct and indirect effects of fire on parasites in an African savanna. Journal of Animal Ecology 92:2323–2332. Link to paper.
Wargowsky, I.K., NeSmith, J.E., Gajjar, N.N., and Holdo, R.M. 2023. Root vascular anatomy predicts maximum growth rates in savanna trees and grasses. Biotropica 55:1159-1164. Link to paper.
Belovitch, M.W., NeSmith, J.E., Nippert, J.B. and Holdo, R.M. 2023. African savanna grasses outperform trees across the full spectrum of soil moisture availability. New Phytologist 239:66-74. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M. and Nippert, J.B. 2023. Linking resource- and disturbance-based models to explain tree-grass coexistence in savannas. New Phytologist 237:1966-1979. Invited Tansley Review. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M., Donaldson, J.E., Rugemalila, D.M. and Anderson, T.M. 2022. Seedling growth gradients interact with homogeneous disturbance regimes to explain savanna tree cover discontinuities. Ecological Monographs 92:e1514. Link to paper.
Donaldson, J.E., Holdo, R.M., Sarakikya, J. and Anderson, T.M. 2022. Fire, grazers and browsers interact with grass competition to determine tree establishment in an African savanna. Ecology 103:e3715. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M. and Onderdonk, D.A. 2022. River networks impose a dominant signature on savanna tree abundance and spatial pattern in Serengeti national Park, Tanzania. Landscape Ecology 37:1113-1123. Link to paper.
NeSmith, J.E., Twine, W. and Holdo, R.M. 2021. Interspecific variation in post-disturbance growth responses of a savanna tree community and its implications for escaping the fire trap. Biotropica 53:896-905. Link to paper.
Wargowsky, I.K., NeSmith, J.E. and Holdo, R.M. 2021. Root vascular traits differ systematically between African savanna tree and grass species, with implications for water use. American Journal of Botany 108:83-90. Link to paper.
Case, M., Nippert, J.B., Holdo, R.M., and Staver, C. 2020. Root-niche separation between savanna trees and grasses is greater on sandier soils. Journal of Ecology 108:2298-2308. Link to paper.
McHargue, W. and Holdo, R.M. 2020. Foliar temperature as a tool for quantifying whole-plant transpiration in tree seedlings under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Plant Ecology 221:283-293. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M., Onderdonk, D.A., Barr, A., Mwita, M. and Anderson, T.M. 2020. Spatial transitions in tree cover are associated with soil hydrology, but not with grass biomass, fire frequency, or herbivore biomass in Serengeti savannahs. Journal of Ecology 108:586-597. Link to paper.
Morrison, T., Holdo, R.M., Rugemalila, D., Nzunda, M. and T.M. Anderson. 2019. Grass competition overwhelms effects of herbivores and precipitation on seedling establishment in Serengeti. Journal of Ecology 107:216-228. Link to paper.
Ketter, B.M. and Holdo, R.M. 2018. Strong competitive effects of African savanna C4 grasses on tree seedlings do not support rooting differentiation. Journal of Tropical Ecology 34:65-73. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M., Nippert, J.B. and Mack, M.C. 2018. Rooting depth varies differentially in trees and grasses as a function of mean annual rainfall in an African savanna. Oecologia 186:269–280. Link to paper.
Campbell, T.A. and Holdo, R.M. 2017. Competitive response of savanna tree seedlings to C4 grasses is negatively related to photosynthesis rate. Biotropica 49:774–777. Link to paper.
Rugemalila, D.M., Morrison, T.A., Anderson, T.M. and Holdo, R.M. 2017. Species-specific trade-offs drive variability in seed production, infestation and viability in Acacia tortilis and Acacia robusta in Serengeti National Park. Plant Ecology 218:909-922. Link to paper.
Twine, W.C. and Holdo, R.M. 2016. Fuelwood sustainability revisited: integrating size structure and resprouting into a spatially realistic fuelshed model. Journal of Applied Ecology 53:1766-1776. Link to paper.
Rugemalila, D.M., Anderson, T.M. and Holdo, R.M. 2016. Precipitation and elephants, not fire, shape tree community composition in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Biotropica 48:476-482. Link to paper.
Morrison, T.A., Anderson, T.M., and Holdo, R.M. 2016. Elephant damage, not fire or rainfall, explains mortality of overstorey trees in Serengeti. Journal of Ecology 104:409-418. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M. and Nippert, J.M. 2015. Transpiration dynamics support resource partitioning in African savanna trees and grasses. Ecology 96:1466-1472. Highlighted in Nature Plants (DOI: 10.1038/nplants.2015.102). Link to paper.
Nippert, J.B. and Holdo, R.M. 2015. Challenging the maximum rooting depth paradigm in grasslands and savannas. Functional Ecology 29:739-745. Link to paper.
Holdo, R.M. and Brocato, E.R. 2015. Strength of tree-grass competition is strongly species-dependent. Plant Ecology 216:577-588. Link to paper.