Historical shrub-grass transitions in the northern Chihuahuan Desert: Modeling the effects of shifting rainfall seasonality and event size over a landscape gradient

Global Change Biology

Volumn 9, Issue 10, 2003, Pages 1475-1493

  Gao, Qiong ^a   Reynolds, James F ^b  

^a BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY   (China)

^b DUKE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Bouteloua; Desertification; Hydrology; Larrea; Prosopis

Indexed keywords

CLIMATE CHANGE; DESERTIFICATION; ECOLOGICAL MODELING; HYDROLOGY; RAINFALL; SEASONALITY; SEMIARID REGION; VEGETATION DYNAMICS;

UNITED STATES;

BOS TAURUS; BOUTELOUA; LARREA; PROSOPIS;

EID: 0242275325     PISSN: 13541013     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2486.2003.00676.x     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Archer S (1999) Woody plant encroachment into southwestern grasslands and savannas: rates, patterns, and proximate causes. In: Ecological Implications of Livestock Herbivory in the West (ed Pieper R), 2nd edn. pp. 13-68. Society for Range Management, Denver, Colorado.
2. Bahre CJ, Shelton ML (1993) Historic vegetation change, mesquite increases, and climate in southeastern Arizona. Journal of Biogeography, 20, 489-504.
3. Barbour MG (1968) Germination requirements of the desert shrub Larrea divaricata. Ecology, 915-923.
4. Bennert WE, Mooney HA (1979) The water relations of some desert plants in Death Valley, California. Flora, 168, 405-427.
5. Brown JH, Valone TJ, Curtin CG (1997) Reorganization of an arid ecosystem in response to recent climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 94, 9729-9733.
6. Brown JR, Archer S (1989) Woody plant invasion of grasslands: establishment of honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa) on sites differing in herbaceous biomass and grazing history. Oecologia, 80, 19-26.
7. Buffington LC, Herbel CH (1965) Vegetational changes on a semidesert grassland range from 1858 to 1963. Ecological Monographs, 35, 139-164.
8. Burgress TL (1995) Desert grassland, mixed shrub savanna, shrub steppe, or semidesert scrub? The dilemma of coexisting growth forms. In: The Desert Grassland (eds McClaran MP, Van Devender TR), pp. 31-67. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
9. Busch DE, Smith SD (1995) Mechanisms associated with decline of woody species in riparian ecosystems of the southwestern United States. Ecological Monographs, 65, 347-370.
10. Bush JK, Van Auken OW (1987) Light requirements for growth of Prosopis glandulosa seedlings. Southwestern Naturalist, 32, 469-474.
11. Bush JK, Van Auken OW (1990) Growth and survival of Prosopis glandulosa seedlings associated with shade and herbaceous competition. Botanical Gazette, 151, 234-239.
12. Bush JK, Van Auken OW (1991) Importance of time of germination and soil depth on growth of Prosopis glandulosa (Leguminosae) seedlings in the presence of a C-4 grass. American Journal of Botany, 78, 1732-1739.
13. Campbell GS, Jungbauer JD Jr, Shiozawa S et al. (1993) A oneparameter equation for water sorption isotherm of soils. Soil Science, 156, 302-306.
14. Conley W, Conley MR, Karl TR (1992) A computational study of episodic events and historical context in long-term ecological process: climate and grazing in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Coenoses, 7, 55-60.
15. Cornelius JM, Kemp PR, Ludwig JA et al. (1991) The distribution of vascular plant species and guilds in space and time along a desert gradient. Journal of Vegetation Science, 2, 59-72.
16. de Soyza AG, Franco AC, Virginia RA et al. (1996) Effects of plant size on photosynthesis and water relations in the desert shrub Prosopis glandulosa (Fabaceae). American Journal of Botany, 83, 99-105.
17. Epstein HE, Burke IC, Lauenroth WK (1999) Response of the shortgrass steppe to changes in rainfall seasonality. Ecosystems, 2, 139-150.
18. Fernández RJ, Reynolds JF (2000) Potential growth and drought tolerance of eight desert grasses: lack of a trade-off? Oecologia, 123, 90-98.
19. Franco AC, de Soyza AG, Virginia RA et al. (1994) Effects of plant size and water relations on gas exchange and growth of the desert shrub, Larrea tridentata. Oecologia, 97, 171-178.
20. Freudenberger DO, Hiernaux P (2001) Productivity of patterned vegetation. In: Banded Vegetation Patterning in Arid and Semiarid Environments (ed. Seghieri J), Ecological Studies Series, Vol. 149, pp. 198-209. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, New York, Heidelberg.
21. Fulbright TE, Kuti JO, Tipton AR (1995) Effects of nurse-plant canopy temperatures on shrub seed germination and seedling growth. Acta Oecologica - International Journal of Ecology, 16, 621-632.
22. Gao Q, Li JD, Zheng HY (1996) A dynamic landscape simulation model for the alkaline grasslands on Songnen Plain in northeast China. Landscape Ecology, 11, 339-349.
23. Gibbens RP, Beck RF (1988) Changes in grass basal area and forb densities over a 64-year period on grassland types of the Jornada Experimental Range. Journal of Range Management, 41, 186-192.
24. Gile LH, Hawley JW, Grossman RB, et al. (1988) 1988 Supplement to the Desert Project Guidebook. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, New Mexico.
25. Golluscio RA, Sala OE, Lauenroth WK (1998) Differential use of large summer rainfall events by shrubs and grasses: a manipulative experiment in the Patagonian steppe. Oecologia, 115, 17-25.
26. Grover HD, Musick HB (1990) Shrubland encroachment in southern New Mexico, USA: an analysis of desertification processes in the American Southwest. Climatic Change, 17, 305-330.
27. Guo Q, Rundel PW, Goodall DW (1998) Horizontal and vertical distribution of desert seed banks: patterns, causes and implications. Journal of Arid Environments, 39, 465-478.
28. Guo QF, Rundel PW, Goodall DW (1999) Structure of desert seed banks: comparisons across four North American desert sites. Journal of Arid Environments, 42, 1-14.
29. Herbel C, Dittberner P, Bickle TS (1970) In Simulation and Analysis of Dynamics of a Semi-Desert Grassland: An Interdisciplinary Workshop Program Toward Evaluating the Potential Ecological Impact of Weather Modification (ed. Van Dyne GM), pp. 133-178. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Co.
30. Huenneke LF, Anderson JP, Remmenga M et al. (2002) Desertification alters patterns of aboveground net primary production in Chihuahuan ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 8, 247-264.
31. Kemp PR, Reynolds JF (2000) Variability in phenology and production of desert ephemerals: implications for predicting resource availability for desert tortoises. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the Desert Tortoise Council, pp. 34-39. St George, UT.
32. Kemp PR, Reynolds JF, Ludwig JA (2003a) Effects of variation in rainfall, soil moisture, nitrogen availability, and landscape position on cover of plant functional types in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Journal of Vegetation Science (in press).
33. Kemp PR, Reynolds JF, Pachepsky Y et al. (1997) A comparative modeling study of soil water dynamics in a desert ecosystem. Water Resources Research, 33, 73-90.
34. Kemp PR, Reynolds JF, Virginia RA et al. (2003b) Decomposition of leaf and root litter of Chihuahuan Desert shrubs: effects of three years of summer drought. Journal of Arid Environments, 53, 21-39.
35. Kyparissis A, Grammatikopoulos G, Manetas Y (1997) Leaf demography and photosynthesis as affected by the environment in the drought semi-deciduous Mediterranean shrub Phlomis fruticosa 1. Acta Oecologica - International Journal of Ecology, 18, 543-555.
36. Lee SG, Felker P (1992) Influence of water/heat stress on flowering and fruiting of mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa). Journal of Arid Environments, 23, 309-319.
37. Lei SA (1997) Variation in germination response to temperature and water availability in blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) and its ecological significance. Great Basin Naturalist, 57, 172-177.
38. McAuliffe JR (1988) Markovian dynamics of simple and complex desert communities. American Naturalist, 131, 459-490.
39. McPherson GR (1997) Ecology and Management of North American Savannas. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, USA.
40. Monteith JL, Unsworth MH (1990) Principles of Environmental Physics. Edward Arnold, London.
41. Naeth MA, Chanasyk DS (1996) Runoff and sediment yield under grazing in foothills fescue grasslands of Alberta. Water Resources Bulletin, 32, 89-95.
42. Neilson RP (1986) High-resolution climatic analysis and southwest biogeography. Science, 232, 27-34.
43. Ogle K, Reynolds JF (2002) Desert dogma revisited: coupling of stomatal conductance and photosynthesis in the desert shrub, Larrea tridentata. Plant Cell and Environment, 25, 909-922.
44. Peters D (2002) Recruitment potential of two perennial grasses with different growth forms at a semiarid-arid transition zone. American Journal of Botany, 89, 1616-1623.
45. Reynolds JF (1986) Adaptive strategies of desert shrubs with special reference to the creosotebush (Larrea tridentata [DC] Cov). In: Pattern and Process in Desert Ecosystems (ed. Whitford WG), pp. 19-49. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.
46. Reynolds JF (2001) Desertification. In: Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Vol. 2 (ed. Levin S), pp. 61-78. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
47. Reynolds JF, Cunningham GL (1981) Validation of a primary production model of the desert shrub Larrea tridentata using soil-moisture augmentation experiments. Oecologia, 51, 357-363.
48. Reynolds JF, Fernández RJ, Kemp PR (2000a) Drylands and global change: rainfall variability and sustainable rangeland production. In: Proceedings of the 12th Toyota Conference: Challenge of Plant and Agricultural Sciences to the Crisis of Biosphere on the Earth in the 21st Century (ed. Komanine A), pp. 73-86. R.G. Landes Company, Austin, TX.
49. Reynolds JF, Kemp PR, Tenhunen JD (2000b) Effects of long-term rainfall variability on evapotranspiration and soil water distribution in the Chihuahuan Desert: a modeling analysis. Plant Ecology, 150, 145-159.
50. Reynolds JF, Stafford Smith DM (eds) (2002) Global Desertification: Do Humans Cause Deserts? Dahlem Workshop Report 88. Dahlem University Press, Berlin.
51. Reynolds JF, Virginia RA, Kemp PR et al. (1999) Impact of drought on desert shrubs: effects of seasonality and degree of resource island development. Ecological Monographs, 69, 69-106.
52. Reynolds JF, Virginia RA, Schlesinger WH (1997) Defining functional types for models of desertification. In: Plant Functional Types: Their Relevance to Ecosystem Properties and Global Change (ed. Woodward FI), pp. 194-214. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
53. Schlesinger WH, Reynolds JF, Cunningham GL et al. (1990) Biological feedbacks in global desertification. Science, 247, 1043-1048.
54. Schwinning S, Ehleringer J (2001) Water use trade-offs and optimal adaptations to pulse-driven and ecosystems. Journal of Ecology, 89, 464-480.
55. Sharpe PJH, Rykiel EJ Jr. (1991) Modelling integrated response of plants to multiple stresses. In: Response of Plants to Multiple Stresses (ed. Pell EJ), pp. 205-224. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
56. Swetnam TW, Betancourt JL (1998) Mesoscale disturbance and ecological response to decadal climatic variability in the American Southwest. Journal of Climate, 11, 3128-3147.
57. Vaughton G (1998) Soil seed bank dynamics in the rare obligate seeding shrub, Grevillea barklyana (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Ecology, 23, 375-384.
58. Wainwright J, Mulligan M, Thornes J (1999) Plants and water in drylands. In: Eco-hydrology: Plants and Water in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments (ed. Wilby RL), pp. 78-126. Routledge, London.
59. Walter H (1971) Natural savannahs as a transition to the arid zone. In: Ecology of Tropical and Subtropical Vegetation (ed. Burnett JH), pp. 238-265. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York.
60. Weltz MA, Blackburn WH (1995) Water budget for south Texas rangelands. Journal of Range Management, 48, 45-52.
61. White TA, Campbell BD, Kemp PD et al. (2001) Impacts of extreme climatic events on competition during grassland invasions. Global Change Biology, 7, 1-13.
62. Wiegand T, Milton SJ, Wissel C (1995) A simulation model for a shrub ecosystem in the semiarid Karoo, South Africa. Ecology, 76, 2205-2221.
63. Wierenga PJ, Hendrickx JMH, Nash MH et al. (1987) Variation of soil and vegetation with distance along a transect in the Chihuahuan Desert. Journal of Arid Environments, 13, 53-63.
64. York JC, Dick-Peddie WA (1969) Vegetation changes in southern New Mexico during the past hundred years. In: Arid Lands in Perspective (ed. Goldman BJ), pp. 157-166. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.