Mc. Rutherford, EMPIRICISM AND THE PREDICTION OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION AT THE MESOSCALE - A SAVANNA EXAMPLE, Ecological modelling, 67(2-4), 1993, pp. 129-146
The role of empiricism in predicting mean annual primary production at
the mesoscale is demonstrated through development of a simple model (
RESAP) for application over all land surfaces within a given savanna r
egion. The model is necessarily pragmatic and constrained by availabil
ity of standardized data on a network scale. The model was applied to
a large test area in southern Africa and provides results using a SYMA
P routine for representing spatially continuous information. The model
discriminates between woody and herbaceous plant components and also
assesses the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on plant productivit
y. Productivity of natural vegetation was found to be remarkably equit
ably distributed across the diverse conditions which suggests various
compensatory production mechanisms at the mesoscale. Model output grap
hically indicated that intensive agriculture successfully converts tot
al productivity into both a more usable and more accessible form at th
e apparent cost of long-evolved total production levels.