Vegetation and climate characteristics of arid and semi-arid grasslands in North America and their biome transition zone

Hochstrasser, Tamara; Kröel-Dulay, Gy.; Peters, Debra P. C.; Gosz, James R.

doi:10.1006/jare.2001.0929

Cited by 35 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Various aspects of vegetation research and land-use history of the study area have been detailed in numerous recent reports (e.g. Cross and Schlesinger, 2001;Gosz and Gosz, 1996;Hochstrasser et al, 2002;Peters, 2000, http:// sev.lternet.edu).…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although climate is relatively constant across the breadth of an ecotone, site characteristics influence vegetation patterns by affecting local-scale energy, water, or nutrient balance (Hochstrasser et al, 2002;Ludwig et al, 2000). Plant productivity and diversity in arid and semi-arid grasslands are characterized by the extent to which water is limiting (Burke et al, 1998;Lauenroth and Coffin, 1992;Noy-Meir, 1973).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil heterogeneity and the distribution of desert and steppe plant species across a desert-grassland ecotone

Buxbaum

Vanderbilt

2007

Journal of Arid Environments

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Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil heterogeneity and the distribution of desert and steppe plant species across a desert-grassland ecotone

Buxbaum

Vanderbilt

2007

Journal of Arid Environments

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“…Grazing by cattle has been excluded from the site since 1973, although native herbivores occur at low densities (pronghorn antelope, rabbits) or infrequently at high densities (e.g., grasshoppers). Long-term (80 yr) mean annual precipitation at a nearby weather station is 23.2 cm (SD ¼ 7.9 cm) (Socorro: 34.05 N, 106.91 W, 1432 m asl) (Hochstrasser et al 2002). Longterm mean monthly temperature over the same time period ranges from 2.68C (January) to 24.68C (July).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term experimental loss of foundation species: consequences for dynamics at ecotones across heterogeneous landscapes

Peters

Jin

2012

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Biome transition zones where species co-exist near their geographic limits are expected to be among the most responsive to changes in climate that result in mortality of foundation species. Long-term (.13 years) patterns in dominance and cover of functional types were examined following the annual experimental removal of one of three foundation species at an arid-semiarid biome transition zone. Objectives were to identify key processes influencing these patterns, and to predict future landscape-scale dynamics following mortality of different foundation species. Aboveground biomass of dominant species was removed from 3 3 4 m plots. Cover by species on control and removal plots was estimated annually in communities with a single dominant species, and in ecotonal communities with two dominant species across two types of ecotones (semiarid grassland-arid grassland, arid grassland-arid shrubland).For most species and functional types, trends in cover through time were related to the remaining species assemblages rather than to variable climatic conditions. In ecotonal communities, resident co-dominant species increased to dominance following the loss of a foundation species with little change in community composition. In mono-dominated communities, dominant species loss resulted in a shift to species that are currently sub-dominants of the same functional type as the species that was removed. Subdominant perennial grass and shrub species increased rapidly following removals in most grassland locations. Annuals and perennial forbs had variable cover values through time that were not clearly related to pulses in precipitation and were not synchronized across locations. The most common response regardless of the identity of the foundation species removed or the community type was an increase in cover by subdominant grasses and by the arid grass species (Bouteloua eriopoda). The rate of increase by B. eriopoda depended on initial cover, and resulted from both vegetative growth and seedling recruitment from other locations. Seed dispersal and seedling recruitment from other locations were not found for the semiarid grass, Bouteloua gracilis or the arid shrub, Larrea tridentata. Because B. eriopoda is more susceptible to shrub invasion, drought, and livestock grazing than the other two foundation species, widespread loss of either of the other species and subsequent increase in B. eriopoda is expected to result in an increase in landscapescale vulnerability to these environmental drivers. The extent and magnitude of this change in vulnerability will depend on the ability of B. eriopoda to respond based on the micro-environmental conditions of the site regardless of which species (B. gracilis, L. tridentata) is lost.

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“…In arid and semi-arid regions, there is a close association between rainfall and plant abundance (Beatley, 1969;Noy-Meir, 1973;Robertson, 1987, pp. 50-68;Polis et al, 1997), plant species composition (Kutiel et al, 2000;Hochstrasser et al, 2002), herbivore responses to plant changes (Bayliss, 1987, pp. 119-134;Meserve et al, 1995;Choquenot, 1998;Lima and Jaksic, 1999), and responses by predators to changes in populations of herbivores (Jaksic et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of mule deer forage in the Sonoran Desert

Marshal

Krausman

Bleich

2005

Journal of Arid Environments

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Vegetation and climate characteristics of arid and semi-arid grasslands in North America and their biome transition zone

Cited by 35 publications

References 48 publications

Soil heterogeneity and the distribution of desert and steppe plant species across a desert-grassland ecotone

Soil heterogeneity and the distribution of desert and steppe plant species across a desert-grassland ecotone

Long‐term experimental loss of foundation species: consequences for dynamics at ecotones across heterogeneous landscapes

Dynamics of mule deer forage in the Sonoran Desert

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