Chapter 7, Problem 1CR

To determine

The description of African savanna and the reason why it serves as a model which describes that the changes in climate can lead to the formation of various  types of ecosystems.

Answer to Problem 1CR

The African savanna is the tropical grassland that primarily has grazing herbivores like wildebeests, zebras, gazelles and so on. They also have predators like lions, humans and hyenas. The elephants from the keystone species, as they are not very large in number but they do affect the climate and other conditions of the area. The alternation of seasons causes the development of different ecosystems.

Explanation of Solution

African savanna is tropical grassland that inhabits a large number of grazing animals like wildebeests, zebras, giraffes, elephants, antelopes and some predators like hyenas, lions and humans. The grasslands also have plants that mainly grow in deserts. The vegetation in the savanna is mainly desert-like plants that are adapted to grow in hot and dry conditions. The temperature conditions alternate between dry and wet seasons.

The temperature conditions of the Africa savanna support the existence of different types of ecosystems as the hot season promote the growth of desert-like vegetation and grazing herbivores while in the seasons that are wet and have moderate rainfall the vegetation apart from the desert vegetation occurs that mainly compose of small shrubs and bushes that make the geographical location look like temperate grasslands. Thus the change in the climatic conditions of the African savanna serves as an example of the area where the alterations in the climatic conditions can lead to the development of different ecosystems