FIG OF THE WEEK!

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• interests

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• SECA

• Sustainability under uncertainty in arid and semi-arid environments

My favorite figure of the week - for 8-20-2005

Figure title: Precipitation pulse size effects on belowground communities

This is exciting data from an experiment we ran last year looking at how rainfall events of different sizes influence the behavior of a bunch of different ecosystem components. These data are on different nematode classes within the soil community. Note the big 'spike' in predatory nematode immediately after rainfall, which sort of makes sense in that many criters are coming out of dormancy and ready to be eaten! This of course shows a pulse size effect suggesting the predatory nematodes 'know' how to come out when resources may be high. Alternatively, the pattern in the root feeding nematodes is a relatively prolonged peak that is also pulse size dependent, but probably associated with actual population growth and resource growth (e.g. root production by plants).

I guess Mitch (in our lab) was right that these belowground folks are interesting!

Index to all figures of the week