Pressure from Grazers Hastens Ecosystem Collapse From Drought

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://nicholas.duke.edu/about/news/pressure-grazers-hastens-ecosystem-collapse-drought

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Pressure from Grazers Hastens Ecosystem Collapse From Drought[/font]

January 11, 2017
Featuring
Brian Reed Silliman

[font size=3]Note: Brian Silliman is available for additional comment at [phone] or [e-mail].

DURHAM, N.C. -- Extreme droughts, intensified by a warming climate, are increasingly causing ecosystem collapse in many regions worldwide. But models used by scientists to predict the tipping points at which drought stress leads to ecosystem collapse have proven unreliable and too optimistic.

A new study by scientists at Duke University and Beijing Normal University may hold the answer why.

The researchers found that these tipping points can happen much sooner than current models predict because of the added pressures placed on drought-weakened plants by grazing animals and fungal pathogens.

“Our work provides the first real-world experimental evidence that these natural enemies of plants can play a dramatic role in lowering ecosystems’ tipping point by killing drought-weakened vegetation and preventing plants from recovering,” said Brian R. Silliman, Rachel Carson Associate Professor of Marine Conservation Biology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12721

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Same can be said about the West.

NOAA forecasted our Western Drought back in 2000. The real start of the Western Drought started in 1997 and with over Grazing on marginal land and the loss of critical Range Grasses,we now see the lack of regeneration withing Rain Systems as they move across these lands.

But,don't tell that to a Republican or some guy who gets BLM range land at bargain rates. Now they are rounding up the Wild Horses and Boru's to appease a Certain Ranching operation because they are eating the grass that belongs to their herds of cows.