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Titel |
A synthesis of ENSO effects on drylands in Australia, North America and South America |
VerfasserIn |
M. Holmgren, P. Stapp, C. R. Dickman, C. Gracia, S. Graham, J. R. Gutiérrez, C. Hice, F. Jaksic, D. A. Kelt, M. Letnic, M. Lima, B. C. López, P. L. Meserve, W. B. Milstead, G. A. Polis, M. A. Previtali, Michael Richter, S. Sabate, F. A. Squeo |
Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
Englisch
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ISSN |
1680-7340
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Digitales Dokument |
URL |
Erschienen |
In: 1st Alexander von Humboldt International Conference ; Nr. 6 (2006-01-09), S.69-72 |
Datensatznummer |
250003239
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Publikation (Nr.) |
copernicus.org/adgeo-6-69-2006.pdf |
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Zusammenfassung |
Fundamentally, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climatic and
oceanographic phenomenon, but it has profound effects on terrestrial
ecosystems. Although the ecological effects of ENSO are becoming
increasingly known from a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems (Holmgren et
al., 2001), their impacts have been more intensively studied in arid and
semiarid systems. In this brief communication, we summarize the main
conclusions of a recent symposium on the effects of ENSO in these
ecosystems, which was convened as part of the First Alexander von Humboldt
International Conference on the El Niño Phenomenon and its Global
Impact, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from 16–20 May 2005. Participants in the
symposium shared results and perspectives from research conducted in North
and South America and Australia, regions where the ecological effects of
ENSO have been studied in depth. Although the reports covered a wide array
of organisms and ecological systems (Fig. 1), a recurring theme was the
strong increase in rainfall associated with ENSO events in dry ecosystems
(during the El Niño phase of the oscillation in the Americas and the La
Niña phase in Australia). Because inter-annual variability in
precipitation is such a strong determinant of productivity in arid and
semiarid ecosystems, increased ENSO rainfall is crucial for plant
recruitment, productivity and diversity in these ecosystems. Several
long-term studies show that this pulse in primary productivity causes a
subsequent increase in herbivores, followed by an increase in carnivores,
with consequences for changes in ecosystem structure and functioning that
can be quite complex. |
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