Dynamic global vegetation models are used to predict the response of vegetation to climate change. They are essential for planning ecosystem management, understanding carbon cycle–climate feedbacks, and evaluating the potential impacts of climate change on global ecosystems. JULES (the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) represents terrestrial processes in the UK Hadley Centre family of models...

Thar region of Rajasthan, with its varied characteristics in culture, economies, the environment, governance and religion, is home to semi-urban and urban agriculture that seems to have originated in the Fertile Crescent of the homeland of the first farmers. Arid lands and deserts make up a large part of Rajasthan. Two-thirds of the state is desert or dry-lands. Half the state’s population is f...

The expansion of C(3) shrubs into C(4)-dominated tallgrass prairies represents a fundamental shift in growth-form dominance accompanied by changes in resource acquisition and use. We assessed these changes by comparing the ecophysiological traits of the dominant C(4) grass Andropogon gerardii, with traits of three C(3) invasive shrub species, Cornus drummondii, Prunus americana, and Rhus glabra...

We examined the relationship between primary productivity and diversity for grassland, meadow, savanna (GMS) vegetation in northeastern Pennsylvania, USA, where landscape is primarily forests, agriculture, urban or suburban development. surveyed productivity, plant species diversity, invertebrate order avian abundance 14 grasslands open areas that were actively managed three apparently occurred...

As wildland fire frequency increases around the globe, a better understanding of the patterns of plant community recovery in burned landscapes is needed to improve rehabilitation efforts. We measured establishment of seeded species, colonization of Bromus tectorum and other nonnative annual plants, and recovery of nonseeded native species in topographically distinct areas within five fires that...

An in vitro rumen batch culture study was completed to compare effects of common grasses, leguminous shrubs and non-leguminous shrubs used for livestock grazing in Australia and Ghana on CH4 production and fermentation characteristics. Grass species included Andropodon gayanus, Brachiaria ruziziensis and Pennisetum purpureum. Leguminous shrub species included Cajanus cajan, Cratylia argentea, G...

rangeland shrubs may provide mechanical facilitation on their understory plants, by protecting themagainst the livestock grazing. however, such a facilitation effect may vary depending on the rangelandutilization rate. in a field research, mechanical facilitation of rangeland shrubs was compared in ahighly grazed, a moderately grazed and an enclosure site; in an arid rangeland, kakhak, gonabad,...

We used a multi-method approach to analyze the spatial patterns of shrubs and cover types (plant species, litter or bare soil) in grassland-shrubland ecotones. This approach allows us to assess how fine-scale spatial heterogeneity of cover types affects the patterns of Cytisus balansae shrub encroachment into mesic mountain grasslands (Catalan Pyrenees, Spain). Spatial patterns and the spatial ...

Changes in the vegetation of Flat Top Hill, a highly modified conservation area in semi-arid Central Otago, New Zealand, are described four years after the cessation of sheep and rabbit grazing. Unusually moist weather conditions coincide with the four-year period of change in response to the cessation of grazing. Between 1993 and 1997, the average richness and diversity (H’) of species increas...