Savanna definition

Tropical Savanna with zebras and African Thorn Acacia trees

 Tropical Savannas are large grassland areas and are associated with tropical wet and dry type climate. They are generally in the location where forests would grow, but due to disturbances in nature, they wold not grow as much as they would, these can be caused by humans changing the climate. 

Savanna vegetation

Their vegetation consists of a sparse amount of trees, some of these trees like the Whistling thorn, which can grow up to 18 feet tall, and the African umbrella thorn acacia (shown below) which  can grow up to 65 feet tall.

African Thorn Acacia next to jeeps

Precipitation and temperature

The annual precipitation changes every year, here is the average annual precipitation in Brasilia's tropical savannas.

The monthly precipitation tends to be around 100-250 milimeters of rain monthly during the spring, while dropping to lower 30's and 20 milimeters a month during the summertime and rising back up to 100-270 milimeters monthly during autumn. Averaging about 150 centimeters of rain annually. Temperatures tend to average in the higher 20's degrees celsius. But can go as low as 10-20.

Organisms within the savanna

Local consumers within African tropical savanna are African Elephants, African Lions, Amur leopard, Black rhinocerous, cheetahs, Dama Gazelles, Flamingos, Masai Giraffes, Ostriches, African Zebras, and Springboks.

Local producers within the region are Acacia Sengal, Baobab, Bermuda Grass, Candelabra Tree, Elephant grass, Gum Tree Eucalyptus, Jackalberry Trees, Jarrah Tree, Kangaroo Paw, Manketti Tree, River Bushwillow, Umbrella Thorn Acacia and Whistling Thorns.

Alerted zebra

Primary consumers in the food web are zebras, elephants, giraffes, ostriches, springboks, black rhinos and dama gazelles.

The secondary consumers are flamingos, amur leopard, and cheetahs.

The tertiary consumers are the African Lion and the cheetah, they eat secondary animals listed before them, and African lions and cheetahs will sometimes fight eachother, and usually, the lion would win because of shear power.

Lion sunbathing

The main decomposers are dung beetle and fungi, they break down waste and make fertile soil, and repeat the process.

Fungi growing on the side of a tree

Micro organisms are bacteria, and fungi, they are also decomposers and play an important factor in recycling matter within the biome.

An example of mutualism within this enviroment is termites and Jackal Berry tree, the termites provide a good source of moisture for the tree, and in return for that moisture, the tree's roots will give termites protection against predators.

An example of commensalism is when the lions eat their prey, they leave some leftoevers, then, the hyenas like to go to it and eat the leftovers. The lion isn't hurt and isn't benefitted.

Ticks exist in the savanna, and they like to drink the blood of elephants, the elephant is hurt, possibly getting some diseases from the tick, and the tick is benefitting from the nutrient rich blood.

Reserve gaurds protecting a endangered rhino.

Tourism within the savanna

If you're planning to visit the savanna, you can do so, but have caution, because there are lions and hyenas and other animals that would be hostile to you. Using a caged jeep would be a good way to observe this enviroment. There are areas where you could not visit, like national reservers with endangered species due to poachers killing animals like elephants and rhinos for their ivory. These endagered species would often be protected by guards, and will shoot on sight if they see anyone with any malicious intent.

Enviromental problems

One enviromental problem in the savanna are poaching, there are many poachers in the savanna, mainly aiming for ivory from elephants and rhinos. In fact, everyday 96 elephants are killed for their ivory. The rest of the body is left there to rot.

Another enviromental problem is the wildfires happening in the savanna, they can spread very quickly because of the dry plants, and long grassland areas allow fires to spread from tree to tree.

Wildfire in the savanna

One last problem is the diminishing of grasses due to animals grazing on them, while it is natural, more and more of them are being moved in and grazing upon more and more grass. If the grass diminishes, the trees would have no competition, and their numbers would greatly increase. Which would be a problem for animals that have evolved specifically for large open areas, and not small, cluttered forests.

Solutions to human poaching

The poaching problem is being countered, as there are many asian governments banning the sale of ivory and the poaching of animals, which is usually punishable by a 10,000$ fine, 5 years in prison and a hunting license revocation. One chinese government acted out by confiscating and shredding 6 tons of ivory making it unuseable.