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

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

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