Editorial : drivers of small-mammal community structure in tropical savannas

Abstract

Tropical and subtropical savanna ecosystems (TSE; Figure 1) contribute 30% of terrestrial primary productivity globally (Grace et al., 2006), while covering 20% of the land area of the Neotropics, sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia, and northern Australia (Bond, 2016). The tremendous productivity of intact TSE is consumed by—among others—a diverse mammalian fauna of small herbivores and omnivores and both native and domestic large herbivores. Much of it, though, is pre-emptively consumed by fire. Large fires are conspicuously concentrated in regions of TSE, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Cerrado of Brazil, and northern Australia (Giglio et al., 2021). Herbivores help shape fire regimes, and fire regimes in turn shape herbivory (Young et al., 2022). We opened this Research Topic because, relative to their counterparts in tropical forests and temperate grasslands, the ecological roles of smaller mammals (small rodents, marsupials, shrews, etc.) in TSE are poorly understood (Schieltz and Rubenstein, 2016). Our particular focus was what habitat-related factors drive species composition, abundance, diversity, and trophic and nontrophic relationships. We invited participation of small-mammal ecological researchers with field experience on all four continents hosting TSE.