Despite their extent and socio‐ecological importance, a comprehensive biogeographical
synthesis of drylands is lacking. Here we synthesize the biogeography of key organisms …

Responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change have been explored in many regions
worldwide. While continued drying and warming may alter process rates and deteriorate the …

Self-organized spatial patterns are a common feature of complex systems, ranging from
microbial communities to mussel beds and drylands. While the theoretical implications of …

Drylands make up roughly 40% of the Earth's land surface, and billions of people depend on
services provided by these critically important ecosystems. Despite their relatively sparse …

The overwhelming taxonomic diversity and metabolic complexity of microorganisms can be
simplified by a life-history classification; copiotrophs grow faster and rely on resource …

The episodic nature of water availability in arid and semiarid ecosystems has significant
consequences on belowground carbon and nutrient cycling. Pulsed water events directly …

Grazing can alter the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation, influencing ecosystem processes
and biodiversity. Our objective was to identify why grazing causes increases in the spatial …

Humans and climate affect ecosystems and their services, which may involve continuous
and discontinuous transitions from one stable state to another. Discontinuous transitions are …

Approximately 57% of the Brazilian northeast region is recognized as semi-arid land and
has been undergoing intense land use processes in the last decades, which have resulted …

Am. Nat. 2002. Vol. 160, pp. 524–530. 2002 by The University of Chicago. 0003-
0147/2002/16004-0009 $15.00. All rights reserved. ley et al. 1997; Aguiar and Sala 1999; …