Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

"... the trees are innumerable / Marumbi, taraṭī, and hivara / hiṅgaṇa, pācunda, and bābara / ṭākaḷī, and vehaṅkaḷī are abundant... Such is this thorny forest / it is highly frightening / this forest is empty / peacocks scream here"

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Top) A folio depicting saint-poet Nāmadeva (circa 1270–1350 CE; fifth from right) performing a devotional verse. Two verses attributed to saint Nāmadeva were included in this study. Center) Donut plot depicting the diversity of genres of traditional literature included in the linked study. Divisions of the doughnut plot represent the genres and include the number of excerpts/examples of that particular genre. Inset shows the flower of Capparis divaricata, a savanna indicator plant which features in multiple excerpts cited in the linked paper. Flanking this plot are two photographs of local folk performers. Bottom) A folio from an early 19th-century manuscript of the Bhaktavijaya mentioning the taraṭī tree (Capparis divaricata; underlined)

Descriptions of plants in traditional Indian myths, poems, and folk songs provide greater context to the ecological history of western Maharashtra and suggest that local tropical savannas are not the result of deforestation! 🧪

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

750-year-old Indian poems reveal a landscape scientists got wrong Old Indian poems and folk songs are revealing a surprising truth about the land. Scientists found that descriptions of thorny trees and open grasslands in texts written as far back as the 1200s closel...

Very cool grassland research using old poems and songs to show that western Indian savannas are ancient.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

New from lab alum @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social. Traditional Marathi compositions up to 800 years old illustrate the antiquity of west Indian savannas. They are ancient and important conservation targets, not relicts of colonial forest clearance

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Ancient Literature Suggests India's Savannas Are Much Older Than Previously Thought Plant species mentioned in texts from the past 800 years hint the wooded grasslands of western India have been there since ancient times, pushing back on the narrative that they are remnants of long-g...

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...

Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Cool paper documenting ecological insights about Indian tropical savannas in traditional literature between the 13th and 20th century. Grassland-scrubland biomes are often misconceived as deforested and/ or degraded wastelands. So, important paper.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Nerlekar Savanna Ecology Lab Welcome to our brand new lab at IISER Pune, India! We are on a curiosity-driven mission to understand the complex drivers of biodiversity and to provide solutions for halting the ongoing global biodi...

VERY excited to start my own lab today at @IISERPune!
Please check out our new website and keep an eye out for some cool #tropical #savanna #ecology research
sites.google.com/view/nsel/ho...

Folklore sheds light on ancient Indian savannas Researchers have been scouring centuries-old Indian poetry and folklore to understand the history of the great expanses of grasslands that cover nearly 10% of India and more than a third of the land o...

press release here: eurekalert.org/news-release.... Email me on nerleka1@msu.edu for any questions!

By highlighting the potential of traditional literature in triangulating ecological histories of threatened ecosystems, our work makes a strong case to better appreciate these sources as archives of #biocultural histories to catalyze the conservation of both nature & culture 9/n

How do these findings matter for biodiversity conservation elsewhere? Our study has a lot to offer for regions beyond tropical India. 8/n

We were fascinated to find that ecological reconstructions from our novel line of evidence complemented other lines of evidence. This led us to generate a first-of its kind abridged ecological history for our study area, spanning centuries to millions of years before present. 7/n

Color-palette for Figure 1 is inspired by the Marathi movie Ringan, not only because it is set in a popular religious location we include in our review (Pandharpur) but also because Abhimanyu in the movie, much like us, grapples with the past. 6/n

Our timely study set in western India, which utilizes #indigenous traditional literature dating back to 750yrs, provides 1 such line of evidence. Contradicting t popular notion of a forested-past, historical nature descriptions revealed a major% of plants typical of savannas. 5/n

Clearly then, there is an urgent need to use interdisciplinary approaches and culturally resonant lines of evidence to foster the uptake of accurate ecological histories in the public and policy spheres, particularly in savannas of South Asia. 4/n

Yet, for many tropical savannas, such an accurate understanding is rare, as they remain misconceptualized as degraded grassy habitats formed by human-induced forest-clearance despite scientific mounting evidence to show otherwise. 3/n

Amidst the ongoing global biodiversity crisis, conserving the incredibly high biodiversity of tropical #savannas and #grasslands is critical. But designing effective and relevant conservation policies for the present and future requires an accurate understanding of the past. 2/n

🌟New Pub🌟! Out in @peopleandnature.bsky.social
Ecology meets Mythology: Medieval stories and songs uncover India’s ecological past. Link to paper: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (click "MR" for Marathi abstract). @dhmsu.bsky.social
@msunatsci.bsky.social
1/n

Prescribed ecological burn conducted at Como in southeastern Queensland, Australia. Fires were implemented in either autumn or winter, and obligate seeding species were subsequently monitored over time to see if recovery differed with fire seasonality. The work was undertaken as a joint collaboration between the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium, Queensland Parks and Wildlife and HQ Plantations. (Photo credit: Mark Ooi.)

🔥🌱 The new #AJB Special Issue, “Understanding novel #fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches," is now online! 🌱🔥

This issue features studies from evolutionary, ecological, organismal, physiological, fire management & conservation perspectives.

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15372197...

Our results highlight that the grass flora of Texas bears the signature of Pleistocene megafauna and influence of fires that predate human arrival. +
We suggest that grass functional classifications based on fire and grazer traits can improve prescribed fire and livestock management of savannas

Grass functional traits reflect the long history of fire and grazers in the savannas of Texas Premise Understanding relationships among grass traits, fire, and herbivores may help improve conservation strategies for savannas that are threatened by novel disturbance regimes. Emerging theory, ...

🔥🌾🦬New Pub in @botsocamerica.bsky.social ! We show that the flammability–palatability trade‐offs that operate in Africa also explain correlated suites of traits in #Texas #grasses.
@tamu.bsky.social
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Functional strategies of 337 native Texas grasses in relation to grazing and fire.

🔥🌱 From the upcoming #AJB Special Issue: “Understanding novel fire regimes using plant trait‐based approaches" 🌱🔥

Grass functional traits reflect the long history of #fire & grazers in the #savannas of #Texas

By @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social et al.

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Seeing the Savanna Through the Trees: Vegetation Structure, Composition and Function Along a Forest‐Savanna Boundary in Cambodia In the seasonally dry landscapes of continental Southeast Asia, deciduous dipterocarp vegetation (DDF), which resembles savanna, and semi-evergreen forests (SEF) form patchy landscape mosaics, with a...

Out today in @biotropica.bsky.social: We show that deciduous dipterocarp and semi-evergreen forests in Cambodia have distinct species, but similar soils across their abrupt boundaries. But we see differences in fire history and fire adapted functional traits. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A picture of an experimental prairie restoration, and the field is mostly composed of Echinacea purpurea

New paper alert! @lars-brudvig.bsky.social, @nashturley.bsky.social and I reveal key context-dependent impacts of seed mix design decisions on restored prairie community structure!🌾 🧪 #PlantScience #EcologicalRestoration #ecosystem

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Open letter: There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored Click on the article title to read more.

137 of us share our concerns with policymakers in an open letter: "There are more than just trees and forests to be conserved and restored" nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
@plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social

such a fascinating study!

Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity Grassland restoration efforts typically aim to recover lost biodiversity, guided by biologically diverse old-growth grasslands as a benchmark. In most old-growth grasslands, forbs greatly outnumber g...

Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity

Check out @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social's recent call for "forb-centric" grassland restoration

Message if you lack access and would like to a copy

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Could you add me please?
Thanks!

yes please!