There is growing interest in the application of alternative stable state (ASS) theory to explain major vegetation patterns of the world. Here, we introduce the theory as applied to the puzzle of nonforested (open) biomes growing in climates that are warm and wet enough to support forests (alternative biome states, ABSs). Long thought to be the product of deforestation, diverse lines of evidence indicate that many open ecosystems are ancient. They have also been characterized as ‘early successional’ even where they persist for millennia. ABS is an alternative framework to that of climate determinism and succession for exploring forest/nonforest mosaics. This framework explains not only tropical forest–savanna landscapes, but also other landscape mosaics across the globe.

人们对利用替代稳态（ASS）理论来解释世界主要植被格局的兴趣日益浓厚。在这里，我们介绍该理论，该理论适用于在温暖和湿润以支持森林的气候中生长的非森林（开放）生物群落的难题（替代生物群落状态，ABS）。长期以来，人们一直认为这是森林砍伐的产物，各种各样的证据表明，许多开放的生态系统都是古老的。即使它们持续了数千年，它们也被称为“早期继承人”。对于探索森林/非森林马赛克，获取和惠益分享是气候确定性和继承的框架的替代框架。该框架不仅解释了热带森林-热带稀树草原景观，而且还解释了全球其他景观马赛克。