Title | A Holistic View of an Arid Ecosystem: A Synthesis of Research and Its Applications |
Publication Type | Book Chapter |
Year of Publication | 2006 |
Authors | Bestelmeyer BT, Brown JR, Havstad K, Fredrickson E.L. |
Editor | Havstad K, Huenneke L., Schlesinger W.H |
Series Editor | Havstad K, Huenneke L., Schlesinger W.H |
Book Title | Structure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem: The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research Site |
Chapter | 17 |
Pagination | 354-368 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
City | New York |
ARIS Log Number | 172322 |
Keywords | Chihuahuan Desert, desert grassland ecosystem, holistic view, Jornada Basin, LTER, multidisciplinary, patch-based correlations, research, synthesis book |
Abstract | A primary objective of the Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has been to provide a broad view of desert grassland ecology. Early architects of the LTER program felt that existing ecological datasets were usually of too short a duration and represented too few ecosystem components to provide a foundation for predicting dynamics in response to disturbances (NSF 1979). This recognition gave rise to the LTER approach—using long-term and multidisciplinary research at particular places to advance a holistic and broad-scale, but also mechanistic, view of ecological dynamics. Such a view is essential to applying ecological research to natural resources management (Golley 1993; Li 2000). In this synthesis chapter we ask: What has this approach taught us about the structure and function of a desert grassland ecosystem? How should this knowledge change the way we manage arid ecosystems? What gaps in our knowledge still exist and why? |
URL | /files/bibliography/06-068.pdf |