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Science 2 March 1990:
Vol. 247. no. 4946, pp. 1043 - 1048
DOI: 10.1126/science.247.4946.1043
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Articles

Biological Feedbacks in Global Desertification

William H. Schlesinger 1, James F. Reynolds 2, Gary L. Cunningham 3, Laura F. Huenneke 4, Wesley M. Jarrell 5, Ross A. Virginia 2, and Walter G. Whitford 3

1 Professor of botany, Duke University, Durham NC 27706
2 Professor in Systems Ecology Research Group, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182
3 Professor in Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM88003
4 Assistant Professor in Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM88003
5 Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, The Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, Beaverton, OR 97006

Studies of ecosystem processes on the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico suggest that longterm grazing of semiarid grasslands leads to an increase in the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of water, nitrogen, and other soil resources. Heterogeneity of soil resources promotes invasion by desert shrubs, which leads to a further localization of soil resources under shrub canopies. In the barren area between shrubs, soil fertility is lost by erosion and gaseous emissions. This positive feedback leads to the desertification of formerly productive land in southern New Mexico and in other regions, such as the Sahel. Future desertification is likely to be exacerbated by global climate warming and to cause significant changes in global biogeochemical cycles.


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