| Title | Tracking environmental change with the desert shrub ocotillo (Fouquiera splendens): Prospects and pitfalls |
| Publication Type | Conference Proceedings |
| Year of Publication | 1996 |
| Authors | Killingbeck K.T. |
| Editor | Barrow J.R., McArthur E.D., Sosebee R.E, Tausch R.J |
| Conference Name | Proceedings: symposium on shrubland ecosystem dynamics in a changing environment |
| Volume | Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-338 |
| Number of Volumes | 275 |
| Pagination | 224-229 |
| Date Published | May 23-25, 1995 |
| Publisher | U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station |
| Conference Location | Las Cruces, NM |
| Call Number | 00710 |
| Keywords | abstract, abstracts, conference, conference proceedings, conferences, Fouquieria, environmental change, ocotillo, SEE <Fouquieria>, plant, environmental change, proceeding, proceedings, technique, environmental change, technique, Fouquieria |
| Abstract | Ocotillo is a drought-deciduous desert shrub capable of orchestrating rapid morphological and physiological adjustments to changes in environmental conditions. Lengths of over 2,500 stem segments from two populations of ocotillo growing in the Chihuahuan Desert were measured to explore the possibility that episodes of stem growth could be used to infer past environmental change. Stem growth was so intermittent and complex that historical projections of environmental conditions were not possible without first establishing benchmark stem segments. Once established though, benchmark stem segments and subsequent stem growth may be used as easily measurable integrators of ongoing environmental change in desert ecosystems. |
| Custom 1 | Ogden, UT |
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Science-based management strategies for sustainability of agriculture and other land uses
