Dear list members:

We would like to draw your attention to the following
session at the 2006 American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Fall Meeting in San Francisco (December 11-15, 2006)
and invite you to submit an abstract before September
7, 2006.

B27. Savanna ecosystems: Field observations and
manipulation experiments.

Sponsor: Biogeosciences 
CoSponsor: Global Environmental Change
           Hydrology

Session Description: Savanna ecosystems, covering
about 20% of the Earth’s land surface, are
transitional zones between forested environments and
grasslands, and represent areas sensitive to climate
change. Influential factors for the changing
productivity of savannas include for example, local
hydrology, atmospheric circulation, and nutrients.  An
example of a savanna that could be reported on in this
session is the Kalahari.  This savanna, situated in
central southern Africa, represents an ancient biome,
which has evolved to its present state over millions
of years.  The Kalahari sand sheet occupies 2.5
million ha in southern Africa, probably represents the
largest continuous surface of sand in the world. The
Kalahari transect is an IGBP “Mega transect”
dominated by different types of savanna vegetation. It
is an area with relatively similar deep aeolian soils,
and a strong south to north gradient in rainfall, from
200 mm in the south to more than 1000 mm mean annual
precipitation (MAP) in the north. These factors
provide an excellent basis for gradient studies at the
subcontinental scale and a testing bed for global
carbon and vegetation models without confounding soil
effects. In this session, we seek contributions
describing results from field observation, field
manipulations, modeling studies, and remote sensing
studies that address water, carbon and nutrient
dynamics and their interactions in Kalahari region as
well as other savanna ecosystems.


Co-Convenors: 

Lixin Wang (University of Virginia)
[log in to unmask]

Stephen A Macko (University of Virginia)
[log in to unmask]

Herman Shugart (University of Virginia)
[log in to unmask]


Index Terms: 0400 1615 1851

Yours sincerely,

Lixin Wang

************************************
Lixin Wang
G094 Clark Hall
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Virginia
291 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, VA 22903
434-924-6845 (office) 434-982-2967 (lab)
************************************



		
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