DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0p
title: Data from: Advancing transdisciplinary research on Madagascar's grassy biomes to support resilience in ecosystems and livelihoods

description: Madagascar-wide metadata relating to Malagasy Grassy Biomes. The
 understanding of vegetation dynamics in tropical grassy biomes is severely
 limited across spatio-temporal scales, limiting effective management and
 support for livelihoods and biodiversity. Despite their extent, utility,
 and central importance to people and ecosystem function, grassy biomes are
 often uncritically regarded as degraded, valueless landscapes that result
 primarily from destructive anthropogenic forces. Moreover, this
 characterization is often presented without investigation of their
 history, biodiversity, or ecological complexity. Iconically, Madagascar’s
 grassy biomes cover approximately 80% of the island’s land surface today
 and exemplify core challenges to understanding tropical grassy ecosystems
 and their interactions with anthropogenic activities across
 spatio-temporal scales. Intersections between human history and
 environmental change have sparked debates about the role of land use in
 shaping grassy biomes (e.g., pastoralism, cultivation, fire use), echoing
 land use debates globally, and highlighting obstacles to ecosystem and
 livelihood resilience. Like many tropical biodiversity hotspots,
 Madagascar faces converging challenges that can be aided by an improved
 understanding of grassy ecosystems and the livelihoods they support,
 including food and health insecurity, economic inequities, biodiversity
 loss, climate change, land conversion, and limited resource access.
 Centered on improved understanding and management of grassy biomes, we
 present a framework to guide transdisciplinary research across the tropics
 by: (1) establishing a common terminology; (2) summarising data
 contributions and knowledge gaps that reflect those in other tropical
 regions; (3) identifying priority research questions; and (4) highlighting
 transdisciplinary and inclusive approaches to resolve knowledge gaps and
 co-benefit ecosystems and livelihoods. 
description: The data was collected through a systematic review of publically
 available manuscripts. The assosciated manuscript is published in
 Ecological Monographs (Phelps et al. in press).
description: # Data from: Advancing transdisciplinary research on Madagascar's
 grassy biomes to support resilience in ecosystems and livelihoods
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0p](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0p) This dataset includes publication metadata associated with interdisciplinary evidence around Madagascar's grassy biomes. Publications and associated metadata were systematically collated into an Excel sheet. ## Description of the data and file structure Relevant publications are listed in columns A-D; the type of evidence is listed in column E; the region of Madagascar is listed in column F, followed by latitude and longitude (column G-H). Site name is provided in column I, as well as relevant research contact details (Column J). An approximate date range for the evidence is provided in column K, and a short data description is provided in column L. Column M indicates whether the data was included in a previously published data table, and column N indicates where the given data can be accessed. Column N includes additional Notes, and Column P includes relevant publication DOIs.