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Biodiversity and Fire in the Savanna Landscape

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Biodiversity and Savanna Ecosystem Processes

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 121))

Abstract

Biodiversity or biological diversity is, as Solbrig (1992) points out, not an entity or resource but a property, a characteristic of nature. Species, populations, certain kinds of tissues are resources, but not their diversity as such. Diversity is a defining characteristic of life. In order to deal with it scientifically, we need standard ways of measuring it. Biodiversity has been operationally defined as a hierarchical product of genetic, species, and community (or ecosystem) diversity (Walker and Nix 1993). Each level is ecologically significant and each can be accorded a value in its own right. Similarly, Groombridge (1992) reports the widespread practice of defining biodiversity in terms of genes, species, and ecosystems. The present chapter considers the three levels, though I know of no specific research on the genic level in tropical savannas. The only approximation available seems to be the degree of genetic distinctiveness represented by the level of endemicity.

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Authors
  1. R. W. Braithwaite
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 22 Divinity Avenue, 02138, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Otto T. Solbrig

  2. Instituto Venezelano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Centro de Ecologia, Aptdo. 21827, 1020-A, Caracas, Venezuela

    Ernesto Medina

  3. CIELAT, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de los Andes, Merida, Venezuela

    Juan F. Silva

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Braithwaite, R.W. (1996). Biodiversity and Fire in the Savanna Landscape. In: Solbrig, O.T., Medina, E., Silva, J.F. (eds) Biodiversity and Savanna Ecosystem Processes. Ecological Studies, vol 121. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78969-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78969-4_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78971-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78969-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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