Temperate mountain grasslands: a climate-herbivore hypothesis for origins and persistence
| Autor: | Peter D. Weigl, Travis W. Knowles |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
grass bald
Biogeography Climate Forests Poaceae General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Grassland Temperate climate Animals Ecosystem polonina Herbivory keystone herbivores Mammals Herbivore geography.geographical_feature_category Community Ecology Altitude disturbance regime Original Articles Oregon Coast Range palaeoecology Regional geography Biological Evolution landscape conservation Pleistocene Geography Paleoecology East Carpathians Southern Appalachians General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
| Zdroj: | Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society |
| ISSN: | 1469-185X 1464-7931 |
| Popis: | Temperate montane grasslands and their unique biotas are declining worldwide as they are increasingly being invaded by forests. The origin and persistence of these landscapes have been the focus of such controversy that in many areas their conservation is in doubt. In the USA some biologists have largely dismissed the grass balds of the Southern Appalachians as human artifacts or anomalous and transitory elements of regional geography, worthy of only limited preservation efforts. On the basis of information from biogeography, community ecology, regional history and palaeontology and from consideration of two other montane grassland ecosystems—East Carpathian poloninas and Oregon Coast Range grass balds—we hypothesize that these landscapes are more widespread than was formerly recognized; they are, in many cases, natural and ancient and largely owe their origin and persistence to past climatic extremes and the activities of large mammalian herbivores. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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