Biomass and production of large African herbivores in relation to rainfall and primary production

M J Coe; D H Cumming; J Phillipson

doi:10.1007/BF00345312

Biomass and production of large African herbivores in relation to rainfall and primary production

Oecologia. 1976 Dec;22(4):341-354. doi: 10.1007/BF00345312.

Authors

M J Coe¹, D H Cumming², J Phillipson¹

Affiliations

¹ Animal Ecology Research Group, Department of Zoology, Oxford.
² Department of National Parks and Wildlife, Salisbury, Rhodesia.

PMID: 28308896
DOI: 10.1007/BF00345312

Abstract

Standing crop biomass, energy expenditure and production by large mammalian herbivores in the African savannas show a high degree of correlation with mean annual precipitation and predicted above ground primary production. These relationships possess the potential for predicting carrying capacity and protein production from simple meteorological data.