Skip to main content

Publications in journals ranked in the ISI Web of Science

2025

  • Harkort, L., Okujeni, A., Amputu, V., Mahler, J., Nill, L., Pflugmacher, D., Röder, A., Hostert, P. (2025). Mapping fractional vegetation cover in Sub-Saharan rangelands using phenological feature spaces. Remote Sensing of Environment, 319, 114646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2025.114646
  • Kindermann, L., Sandhage-Hofmann, A., Amelung, W., Börner, J., Dobler, M., Fabiano, E.C., Meyer, M., Linstädter, A. (2025). Natural and human disturbances have non-linear effects on whole-ecosystem carbon storage in an African savanna. Global Change Biology, 31:e70163. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70163
  • Menestrey Schwieger, D.A., Munyebvu-Chambara, F., Hamunyela, N., Tielbörger, K., Nesongano, W.C., Bilton, M.C., Bollig, M., Linstädter, A. (2025). Understanding Rangeland Desertification at the Village Level: A Comparative Study with a Social-Ecological Systems Perspective in Namibia. Human Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-025-00574-0
  • Pärtel, M., Tamme, R., Carmona, C.P., ... Amputu, V., et al. (2025). Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08814-5

2024

  • Amputu, V., Männer, F., Tielbörger, K., Knox, N. (2024). Spatio-Temporal Transferability of Drone-Based Models to Predict Forage Supply in Drier Rangelands. Remote Sensing, 16, 1842. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16111842
  • Díaz-Martínez, P., Maestre, F.T., (…)  Linstädter, A., Plaza, C. (2024). Vulnerability of mineral-associated soil organic carbon to climate across global drylands. Nature Climate Change 14:976-982. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02087-y
  • Gross, N., Maestre, F.T., (…) Linstädter, A., (…) Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Y. (2024). Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world. Nature 632:808-814. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07731-3
  • Piemontese, L., Terzi, S., Di Baldassarre, G., Menestrey Schwieger, D.A., Castelli, G., Bresci, E. (2024). Over-reliance on water infrastructure can hinder climate resilience in pastoral drylands. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14:267–274. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01929-z
  • Scheiter, S., M. Pfeiffer, K. Behn, K. Ayisi, F. Siebert, Linstädter, A. (2024). Managing southern African rangeland systems in the face of drought - a synthesis of observation, experimentation, and modelling for policy and decision support. Pages 439-470 in G. von Maltitz, G. F. Midgley, J. Veitch, C. Brümmer, R. P. Rötter, F. Viehberg, and M. Veste, editors. Sustainability of Southern African Ecosystems under Global Change. Ecological Studies, Vol 248. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10948-5_16
  • Zimmer, K., Amputu, V., Schwarz, L.-M., Linstädter, A., Sandhage-Hofmann, A. (2024). Soil characteristics within vegetation patches are sensitive indicators of savanna rangeland degradation in central Namibia. Geoderma Regional, e00771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2024.e00771

2023

  • Amputu, V., Braun, A., Heshmati, S., Retzlaff, R., Röder, A., Knox, N., Tielbörger, K. (2023). Unmanned Aerial Systems accurately map rangeland condition indicators in a dryland savannah. Ecological Informatics, 102007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2023.102007
  • Brinkmann, K., Menestrey Schwieger, D.A., Grieger, L., Heshmati, S., Rauchecker, M. (2023): How and why do rangeland changes and their underlying drivers differ across Namibia's two major land tenure systems? The Rangeland Journal, 45(3):123-139. https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ23007
  • Heita, H.T.N., Dressler, G., Menestrey Schwieger, D., Mbidzo, M. (2023) Pastoralists’ perceptions on the future of cattle farming amidst rangeland degradation: A case study from Namibia’s semiarid communal areas. Rangelands, 10001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rala.2023.10.001
  • Menestrey Schwieger, D.A. (2023). Overcoming Namibia’s worst drought in the last 40 years: Ethnographic insights from Okakarara constituency. Journal of Namibian Studies, 33, 31-56. https://doi.org/10.59670/jns.v33i.272

2022

  • Anderies, J.M., Cumming, G.S., Clements, H.S., Lade, S.J., Seppelt, R., Chawla, S., Müller, B. (2022). A framework for conceptualizing and modeling social-ecological systems for conservation research. Biological Conservation, 275, 109769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109769
  • Dressler, G., Groeneveld, J., Hetzer, J., Janischewski, A., Nolzen, H., Rodig, E., Schwarz, N., Taubert, F., Thober, J., Will, M., Williams, T., Wirth, S.B., Müller, B. (2022). Upscaling in socio-environmental systems modelling: Current challenges, promising strategies and insights from ecology. Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling, 4, 18112. https://doi.org/10.18174/sesmo.18112
  • Koch, F., Tietjen, B., Tielbörger, K., Allhoff, K. T. (2022). Livestock management promotes bush encroachment in savanna systems by altering plant–herbivore feedback. Oikos, e09462. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.09462
  • Menestrey Schwieger D.A. (2022). Exploring pastoralists’ perceptions of desertification tipping points in Namibia’s communal drylands: An ethnographic case study from Okakarara constituency. Pastoralism, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-022-00231-x

2021

  • Will, M., Dressler, G., Kreuer, D., Thulke, H.H., Grêt‐Regamey, A., Müller, B. (2021). How to make socio‐environmental modelling more useful to support policy and management? People and Nature, 3, 560-572. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10207
  • Williams, T.G., Dressler, G., Stratton, A.E., Müller, B. (2021). Ecological and financial strategies provide complementary benefits for smallholder climate resilience: Insights from a simulation model. Ecology and Society, 26(2):14. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12207-260214

2020

  • Menestrey Schwieger, D.A., Mbidzo, M. (2020). Socio-historical and structural factors linked to land degradation and desertification in Namibia's former Herero 'homelands.' Journal of Arid Environments, 178, 104151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104151