CONTROL OF A DESERT-GRASSLAND TRANSITION BY A KEYSTONE RODENT GUILD
CONTROL OF A DESERT-GRASSLAND TRANSITION BY A KEYSTONE RODENT GUILD
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DOI：
10.1126/science.250.4988.1705
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发表时间：
1990-12-21
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
HESKE, EJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
BROWN, JH;HESKE, EJ
从奇瓦瓦沙漠灌木生境中去除3种袋鼠鼠（Dipodomys spp.） 12年后，多年生和一年生高大牧草的密度增加了约3倍，干旱草原典型的啮齿动物物种也在此定居。这些只是由于实验排除双足畸形而引起的一系列动植物变化中最近的和戏剧性的变化。在这个生态系统中，袋鼠鼠是一个重要的群体，它们通过捕食种子和干扰土壤对生物多样性和生物地球化学过程产生重要影响。
Twelve years after three species of kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.) were removed from plots of Chihuahuan Desert shrub habitat, density of tall perennial and annual grasses had increased approximately threefold and rodent species typical of arid grassland had colonized. These were just the most recent and dramatic in a series of changes in plants and animals caused by experimental exclusion of Dipodomys. In this ecosystem kangaroo rats are a keystone guild: through seed predation and soil distrubance they have major effects on biological diversity and biogeochemical processes.