Plant invasions in western North America: implications for temperate grasslands worldwide
To varying degrees, temperate grasslands world‐wide have become invaded by non‐native plants and animals, products of both accidental and deliberate introductions.The susceptibility of these grasslands has been strikingly different and not strictly a function of the intensity of human occupation.Grasslands dominated by rhizomatous‐spreading grasses have generally been more resilient to disturbance and plant invaders, while those in which caespitose grasses dominate have displayed decidedly lower resilience to agriculture,particularly the combined forces of farming and livestock.As outlined here, the fate of the steppe in the Intermountain West of North America in the last 100 years is emblematic of the severity of damage that results from a radical change in the disturbance regime in a temperate caespitose‐dominated grassland, coupled with an onslaught of alien species pre‐adapted to these new factors (Mack, 1986, 1989).
Bromus tectorum caespitose grasses fire Intermountain West livestock
Richard N.Mack
School of Biological Sciences,Washington State University,Pullman,WA,USA 99164
国际会议
呼和浩特
英文
2008-06-29（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）