Rocky Mountain Research Station

Title: Biodiversity, functional processes, and the ecological consequences of fragmentation in Southwestern grasslands

Author: Merola-Zwartjes, Michele

Date: 2004

Source: In: Finch, Deborah M., Editor. 2004. Assessment of grassland ecosystem conditions in the Southwestern United States. Volume 1. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-135-vol. 1. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 49-85

Station ID: GTR-RMRS-135

Description: Concern over accelerating extinction rates and loss of species diversity on a global scale was the subject of E.O. Wilson's seminal volume Biodiversity (Wilson 1988). This work essentially transformed the term "biodiversity" into a household word as a short-hand for species diversity--or more simply, the full array and variety of living organisms on Earth. But the term biodiversity means much more than the complement of plant and animal species that one expects to find in some given area. The term now encompasses not only the diversity of species, but their genetic structure, the interaction of the biotic and abiotic components of the environment at the ecosystem level, and at an even higher level the array of communities and ecosystem processes and functions that make up the landscape or regional level of biological diversity. Such a detailed exploration of biodiversity is beyond the scope of this section.

Keywords: grasslands, ecological assessment, Southwestern United States, ecosystem conditions, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma

View and Print this Publication (500 K)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• You may send email to rschneider@fs.fed.us to request a hard copy of this publication. (Please specify exactly which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Merola-Zwartjes, Michele  2004.  Biodiversity, functional processes, and the ecological consequences of fragmentation in Southwestern grasslands.   In: Finch, Deborah M., Editor. 2004. Assessment of grassland ecosystem conditions in the Southwestern United States. Volume 1. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-135-vol. 1. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 49-85.