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Facilitation drives 65 years of vegetation change in the Sonoran Desert

Citation

Julio L Betancourt, Raymond M Turner, Bradley J Butterfield, and John M Briggs, Facilitation drives 65 years of vegetation change in the Sonoran Desert: .

Summary

Ecological processes of low-productivity ecosystems have long been considered to be driven by abiotic controls with biotic interactions playing an insignificant role. However, existing studies present conflicting evidence concerning the roles of these factors, in part due to the short temporal extent of most data sets and inability to test indirect effects of environmental variables modulated by biotic interactions. Using structural equation modeling to analyze 65 years of perennial vegetation change in the Sonoran Desert, we found that precipitation had a stronger positive effect on recruitment beneath existing canopies than in open microsites due to reduced evaporation rates. Variation in perennial canopy cover had additional facilitative [...]

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  • Upper Colorado River Basin

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From Source - Mendeley RIS export <br> On - Tue May 10 11:06:41 CDT 2011

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Title Citation Facilitation drives 65 years of vegetation change in the Sonoran Desert

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