IAI-Final Report_ISP1_071: Comparative Studies in North and South America Along An Aridity Gradient

The understanding of natural systems has always been difficult due to their high number of constituent species. Any attempt to go beyond the descriptive level into explanation, prediction and sustainable manipulation needs to reduce the enormous taxonomic diversity in to fewer groups of ecologically similar species.

This approach has recently provoked renewed interest, in view of the urgent challenges represented by global climate change and massive loss of biodiversity. Both problems have to be tackled expediently, as well as on strong theoretical basis. This project proposed to develop comparative studies on structural and functional characteristics of ecologically similar plant communities in North and South America.