Tulio Arredondo

• Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica

Increases in the abundance of woody species have been reported to affect the provisioning of ecosystem services in drylands worldwide. However, it is virtually unknown how multiple biotic and abiotic drivers, such as climate, grazing, and fire, interact to determine woody dominance across global drylands. We conducted a standardized field survey in...

Infrequent and small precipitation (PPT) events characterize PPT patterns in semiarid grasslands; however, plants and soil microorganisms are adapted to use the unpredictable small pulses of water. Several studies have shown short-term responses of carbon and nitrogen mineralization rates (called the “priming effect” or the Birch effect) stimulated...

Precipitation (PPT) patterns in semiarid grasslands are characterized by infrequency and small PPT events; however, plants and soil microorganisms are adapted to use the unpredictable small pulses of water. Several studies have shown short-term responses of carbon and nitrogen mineralization rates (called the priming effect or the Birch effect) sti...

Grazing represents the most extensive use of land worldwide. Yet its impacts on ecosystem services remain uncertain because pervasive interactions between grazing pressure, climate, soil properties, and biodiversity may occur but have never been addressed simultaneously. Using a standardized survey at 98 sites across six continents, we show that in...

Grazing represents the most extensive use of land worldwide. Yet its impacts on ecosystem services remain uncertain because pervasive interactions between grazing pressure, climate, soil properties, and biodiversity may occur but have never been addressed simultaneously. Using a standardized survey at 98 sites across six continents, we show that in...

Remote sensing-based evapotranspiration (ET) products have been evaluated primarily using data from northern middle latitudes; therefore, little is known about their performance at low latitudes. To address this bias, an evaluation dataset was compiled using eddy covariance data from 40 sites between latitudes 30° S and 30° N. The flux data were ob...

Characteristics of the geologic substrate include the degree of fractured rock, fracture depth, soil depth, parental rock, soil texture, etc., that affect the hidrology of substrates and subsequently the availability of water for plants. Here we examined the importance of the geological substrate, as a factor that triggers the incidence of forest d...

The application of geophysical detection techniques to mapping the underground of agricultural and forest fields has accelerated in recent years. Geophysical imaging provides an alternative or complement to traditional methods of collecting subsurface variables over time and space. Where previously the standard was soil sampling and laboratory anal...

🔗 𝗵𝘁𝘁𝗽://𝗴𝗴.𝗴𝗴/𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘀 Las herramientas que ofrecen las disciplinas ambientales tradicionales ya no son suficientes para entender los fenómenos de la Era Geológica del Antropoceno (nueva era geológica); como lo es el cambio ambiental global. Afortunadamente, han surgido dos aspectos que han coadyuvado para el surgimiento de disciplinas mult...

The Geodiversity involves substrate characteristics such as degree of fractured rock, fracture depth, soil depth, parental rock, soil texture, etc., that affect the hidrology of substrates and subsequently the availability of water for plants. Here we examined the importance of the geological substrate, as a factor that triggers the incidence of fo...

In the Mexican Altiplano, beans and corn are the main crops. Conditions favoring hail -- high daily minimum temperature and high rainfall intensity -- are expected to increase under climate change scenarios. If soil humidity remains suitable for plant growth until October, an adaptive strategy to reduce hail and frost damage consist in delaying sow...

Theories attempting to explain species coexistence in plant communities have argued in favor of species’ capacities to occupy a multidimensional niche with spatial, temporal and biotic axes. We used the concept of hydrological niche segregation to learn how ecological niches are structured both spatially and temporally and whether small scale humid...

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of increased temperature on roots and leaf water and osmotic potential, osmotic adjustment (OA) and transpiration on Triticum durum L. (CIRNO C2008 variety) during growth (seedling growth), tillering and heading phenophases. Wheat was sown under field conditions at the Experimental Technology Tra...

Dew has been recognized as an important source of water for many coastal arid and semiarid ecosystems because of its contributions to daily, seasonal and annual water balance. We measured the frequency, duration and amount of dewfall from January 2011 to December 2016 to assess its contribution to the local water balance in a continental semiarid g...

Semiarid grasslands are water‐limited ecosystems where precipitation (PPT) controls the onset and duration of the growing season; however, this variable does not fully explain interannual variability of productivity at temporal scales. We examined the relationship between PPT and carbon (C) fluxes in a semiarid grassland at both seasonal and intera...

RESUMEN El dióxido de carbono (CO 2) es uno de los principales gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) cuyo incremento en la atmósfera está asociado con el calentamiento global. Con el objetivo de promover estudios de síntesis que lleven a un mejor entendimiento de los procesos relacionados con el ciclo del carbono en ecosistemas terrestres y costeros de...

Los agrónomos, silvicultores, ecólogos, ecohidrólogos y biogeoquímicos necesitan información detallada sobre la salud vegetal, las propiedades y procesos del suelo, incluidos los cambios en el nivel freático, las sales y otros elementos que pueden influir en la productividad y el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas y sistemas productivos. Confiar en...

An experiment, under field conditions, in the Valle del Yaqui, Sonora, Mexico, was established which consisted of raising the temperature of the wheat at 2 °C above the ambient canopy temperature during the crop phenology to determinate warming effect on total soluble proteins (PST) and carbohydrates (CST) in stems and grain and the total soluble c...

This work evaluates the experimental warming effects on phenology and grain yield components of wheat in the Yaqui Valley, Sonora, México, using CIRNO C2008 variety from Triticum durum L., as a model during the cropping cycle of 2016–2017 (December to April). Infrared radiators were deployed to induce experimental warming by 2 °C above ambient crop...

Raw data: phenphases, plant height, photosynthesis, yield and grains.

Examination of the effects of altered precipitation and atmospheric temperature patterns on ecosystem processes are an active area of research. Influences of these climate factors may change when plant cover and species composition are disturbed as a consequence of land use change altering ecosystem processes, such as soil respiration. We addressed...

Dryland vegetation is characterized by discrete plant patches that accumulate and capture soil resources under their canopies. These “fertile islands” are major drivers of dryland ecosystem structure and functioning, yet we lack an integrated understanding of the factors controlling their magnitude and variability at the global scale. We conducted...

1. Dryland vegetation is characterized by discrete plant patches that accumulate and capture soil resources under their canopies. These "fertile islands" are major drivers of dryland ecosystem structure and functioning, yet we lack an integrated understanding of the factors controlling their magnitude and variability at the global scale. 2. We cond...

While semiarid forests frequently colonize rocky substrates, knowledge is scarce on how roots garner resources in these extreme habitats. The Sierra San Miguelito Volcanic Complex in central Mexico exhibits shallow soils and impermeable rhyolitic-rock outcrops, which impede water movement and root placement beyond the soil matrix. However, rock fra...

Introduction: Treeline ecotone complexity might function as a barrier to altitudinal migration of Pinus hartwegii Lindl. Objectives: P. hartwegii forest structure was characterized through its treeline ecotone at Nevado de Toluca; in addition, possible changes in altitudinal limits over the last 25 years were determined. Materials and methods: Heig...

While semiarid forests frequently colonize rocky substrates, knowledge is scarce on how roots garner resources in these extreme habitats. The Sierra San Miguelito Volcanic Complex in Central Mexico exhibits shallow soils and impermeable rhyolitic-rock outcrops, which impede water movement and root placement beyond the soil matrix. However, rock fra...

El Reporte Mexicano de Cambio Climático es una iniciativa surgida desde el ámbito académico, impulsada y realizada por el Programa de Investigación en Cambio Climático de la UNAM, que se dio a la tarea de convocar, por primera ocasión, al más grande contingente de investigadores provenientes de las diversas disciplinas académicas, instituciones y e...

Significance Climate change is increasing the degree of aridity in drylands, which occupy 41% of Earth’s surface and support 38% of its population. Soil bacteria and fungi are largely responsible for key ecosystem services, including soil fertility and climate regulation, yet their responses to changes in aridity are poorly understood. Using a fiel...

Aims Climate and human impacts are changing the nitrogen ( N ) inputs and losses in terrestrial ecosystems. However, it is largely unknown how these two major drivers of global change will simultaneously influence the N cycle in drylands, the largest terrestrial biome on the planet. We conducted a global observational study to evaluate how aridity...

Vegetation characteristics of sub-urban areas might play underestimated regional roles in the provision of ecohydrological services such as the recharge of wells and superficial water reservoirs (dams), dust control and climate buffering. We hypothesized that potential hydrological processes at the soil–grass interface in a sub-urban area in Chihua...

Semiarid regions already facing strong water stress is likely to rise as rainfall patterns changes, associated to climate change, are becoming more variable. These changes, are going to cause a general decrease of forests in regions where drought is increasing in duration and severity. In particular sensible species such as pine and oak to environm...

Trees growing on shallow rocky soils must have exceptional adaptations when underlying weathered bedrock has no deep fractures for water storage. Under semiarid conditions, hydrology of shallow soils is expected to decouple from plant hydrology, as soils dry out as a result of rapid evaporation and competition for water increases between coexisting...

Geographic, climatic, and soil factors are major drivers of plant beta diversity, but their importance for dryland plant communities is poorly known. This study aims to: i) characterize patterns of beta diversity in global drylands, ii) detect common environmental drivers of beta diversity, and iii) test for thresholds in environmental conditions d...

Changes in species composition and abundance driven by land use change may alter canopy and litter characteristics of forests, and thereby modify rainfall redistribution and hydrological processes. To elucidate the interacting effects between tree species traits, forest structure and annual rainfall patterns on hydrological processes, three types o...

Our knowledge of plant functional group effects on ecosystem processes is relatively well established, but we know much less on how changes in plant phenotypic composition affect ecosystem functioning (i.e., phenotypic functional composition). Understanding phenotypic functional composition (PFC) is relevant in plant communities strongly dominated...

The biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are interlinked by primary production, respiration and decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems1. It has been suggested that the C, N and P cycles could become uncoupled under rapid climate change because of the different degrees of control exerted on the supply of these elemen...

The biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are interlinked by primary production, respiration and decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. It has been suggested that the C, N and P cycles could become uncoupled under rapid climate change because of the different degrees of control exerted on the supply of these element...

Background/Question/Methods Semiarid grasslands evolved under highly variable climate, nomadic grazing, and periodic fire events. In Central Mexico, two-hundred years of human appropriation of the grassland biome has conferred fundamental shifts in the original grazing and fire regimes resulting in changes in grass species composition, vegetation...

Understanding ecosystem processes from a functional point of view is essential to study relationships among climate variability, biogeochemical cycles, and surface-atmosphere interactions. Increasingly during the last decades, the eddy covariance (EC) method has been applied in terrestrial, marine and urban ecosystems to quantify fluxes of greenhou...

Changes in land use across the semiarid grasslands of northern Mexico have driven a decline of plant cover and alteration of plant species composition. A number of different plant communities have resulted from these changes. Their implications, however, on the carbon (C) cycle and regional carbon balance are still poorly understood. Here, we exami...

Changes in land use across the semiarid grasslands of Northern Mexico have driven a decline of plant cover and alteration of plant species composition. A number of different plant communities have resulted from these changes, however, their implications on the carbon cycle and regional carbon balance are still poorly understood. Here, we examined t...

Over two years ago MexFlux emerged as the network of scientists interested in flux measurements of greenhouse gases in Mexican ecosystems. The overall objective of MexFlux is to generate scientific knowledge to understand the role of Mexican ecosystem dynamics and their response to global environmental change. This knowledge is important for unders...

Changes in land use across the semiarid grasslands of Northern Mexico have driven a decline of plant cover and alteration of plant species composition. A number of different plant communities have resulted from these changes, however, their implications on the carbon cycle and regional carbon balance are still poorly understood. Here, we examined t...

Drylands are one of the most diverse yet highly vulnerable social-ecological systems on Earth. Water scarcity has contributed to high levels of heterogeneity, variability and unpredictability, which together have shaped the long coadaptative process of coupling humans and nature. Land degradation and desertification in drylands are some of the larg...

It is well known that inherent characteristics of forest species constitute the main control of litter decomposition. In mixed forest, chemical interactions occurring through precipitation turn mechanisms of litter decomposition very uncertain and difficult to predict. Early-stage leaf litter decomposition of Quercus potosina and Pinus cembroides a...

Utilizing the Drylands Development Paradigm (DDP) this paper analyzes the relationship between the legal discourse, the performance of governmental institutions and the management of socio-ecological systems (SES) in Mexico. DDP is a tool that examines the links between socio-economic and biophysical aspects and the sustainability of SES, and invol...

Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a globa...

Utilizing the Drylands Development Paradigm (DDP) this paper analyzes the relationship between the legal discourse, the performance of governmental institutions and the management of socio-ecological systems (SES) in Mexico. DDP is a tool that examines the links between socio-economic and biophysical aspects and the sustainability of SES, and invol...

The study of proportional relationships between size, shape, and function of part of or the whole organism is traditionally known as allometry. Examination of correlative changes in the size of interbranch distances (IBDs) at different root orders may help to identify root branching rules. Root morphological and functional characteristics in three...

Background/Question/Methods Land-use change (LUC) in semiarid grasslands of Northern Mexico has driven a decline of plant cover and alterations in species composition. Additionally, differential land-uses over small areas have provoked highly heterogeneous landscapes in vegetation structure and function. Implications of these ecosystem changes in...

Background/Question/Methods In Mexico's rangelands, livestock production, land conversion for subsistence farming, and long periods of drought have caused severe degradation of large areas of drylands resulting in loss of perennial grass cover, soil carbon, fertility, water retention capacity, i.e., in key ecosystem services and fundamental biophys...

Inside the birds group, the grassland birds are the most threatened in the world. In Mexico, these ecosystems have been affected by overgrazing by domestic livestock and conversion of soil to agriculture. To develop conservation plans is necessary to evaluate birds populations and the use of tools that help us to accurately assess the status of bir...

Mexico is situated between 14˚ and 32˚ latitude North within the tropical and subtropical regions. This wide geographic expansion contributes to the preponderance of arid and semi-arid climates in Northern Mexico covering almost 50 per cent of the country’s territory. The Northern region of Mexico is home to close 30 per cent of the total national...

Populations of North American grassland birds have suffered drastic declines. The causes of these declines are only partially understood and may vary among regions. During the 2004 and 2005 breeding seasons we recorded survival information from 220 nests of four bird species in nine study sites representing three habitat types of the desert grassla...

In Northern Mexico, long-term grazing has substantially degraded semiarid landscapes. In semiarid systems, ecological and hydrological processes are strongly coupled by patchy plant distribution and biological soil crust (BSC) cover in plant-free interspaces. In this study, we asked: 1) how responsive are BSC cover/composition to a drying/wetting c...

Land use change is one of the main factors contributing to increases of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. The effects of land use change in CO2 emissions and subsequently in climate change are particularly important for very extensive ecosystems with significant C storage. The arid and semiarid grassland biome in Mexico covers 100,000 km2. Carbon is...

Litterfall is an important ecological process in forest ecosystems, influencing the transfer of organic matter, carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and other nutrients from vegetation to the soil. We examined the production of different litterfall fractions as well as nutrient content and nutrient inputs by senesced and green leaf-litter in a...

Root proliferation is important in determining root foraging capability of rangeland grasses to unpredictable soil-nutrient pulses. However, root proliferation responses are often confounded by the inherent relative growth rate (RGR) of the particular species being compared. Additionally, inherent biomass allocation to roots (R:S ratio) can be asso...

Past research has shown that changes in grazing-resistance traits may be associated with genetic changes in plant populations. Little is known about spatial genetic relationships within plant populations (spatial genetic structure) and any grazing effects on these relationships. Here we present observations of the fine-scale spatial genetic structu...

Exotic African grasses have been introduced into deteriorated semiarid grasslands in northern Mexico to stop soil erosion and improve land productivity. These species are characterized by larger size and greater seed productivity than natives, traits which may contribute to eventual displacement of native grasses. Invasion of natural ecosystems alt...

Exotic African grasses have been introduced into deteriorated semiarid grasslands in northern Mexico to stop soil erosion and improve land productivity. These species are characterized by larger size and greater seed productivity than natives, traits which may contribute to eventual displacement of native grasses. Invasion of natural ecosystems alt...

En los pastizales del norte de México se han introducido gramíneas de origen africano, con el propósito fundamental de controlar la erosión del suelo e incrementar la productividad. Estas especies en lo general exhiben mayor talla y mayor producción de semilla, por lo que existe el riesgo, en caso de su naturalización, de que desplacen a las especi...

Livestock grazing is the principal driver of land use change in semiarid grasslands of Mexico. Despite the vast expansion of grasslands and the alarming extent of land degradation associated with overgrazing, our understanding of the effects of heavy grazing on root fungal symbiosis and the sizes of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks is still...

Soils of semiarid rangelands in Mexico show low nutrient concentrations which affect forage productivity. Biosolids, a byproduct of wastewater treatment, have a high potential to be used as fertilizer or soil conditioner. In June 2002, biosolids were surface-applied in 1 m2 field plots of a semiarid rangeland at 0 (control), 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 or 9...

Evidence is accumulating on the importance of plant cover and plant species composition on the control of ecosystem processes. In this study we examined a gradient considering the proportional contribution of the key species Bouteloua gracilis H.B.K. Lag. to assess its influence on the average and dynamic changes in soil water content in the shortg...

Natural selection in plant populations is reflected in morphological, physiological and growth characteristics. Identification of these traits in native grass populations allows detecting germplasm with characteristics such as stress tolerance and high yield. In this study, morphological differences, biomass allocation and growth traits of two Bout...

Los mecanismos de adaptación de las plantas a los factores ambientales se manifiestan en sus rasgos morfológicos, fisiológicos y de crecimiento. La identificación de estos rasgos en especies de gramíneas nativas permite identificar germoplasma con características particulares de tolerancia a estrés o de alto rendimiento. En este estudio se examinar...

Key words: AMOVA, Bouteloua gracilis, Genetic variability, Population genetics, RAPD Bouteloua gracilis _blue grama grass_ native populations have been shown to be highly variable, however the genetic basis of this variability has not been well established. Determining the extent of genetic variability within and among plant populations have impor...

Squirreltail (Elymus elymoides, E. multisetus) is a complex of 5 taxa whose systematic interrelationships are uncertain. Our objectives were to determine whether the 3 taxa studied here, Elymus elymoides ssp. elymoides, E. elymoides ssp. brevifolius, and E. multisetus, can be distinguished by several ecological and physiological traits and whether...

In grasses the leaf growth zone is the main site of shoot growth where anatomical and chemical characteristics of leaves originate. Yet, there is insufficient information to generalize as to whether the leaf growth zone reflects habitat characteristics, whether leaf growth traits are regularly interrelated, and whether they coincide with characteri...

Predictions of root architecture have been tested using only a narrow set of environmental conditions and species. There is little information on root architecture of plants growing on semi-arid grasslands where soil nutrient heterogeneity and defoliation might impose particular restrictions on root growth. We conducted a split-root study to evalua...

Squirreltail [Elymus elymoides (Raf.) Swezey] is a native coolseason grass that has been observed to invade rangelands dominated by the weedy annual grasses, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) and medusahead wildrye [Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski]. Our objective was to determine if growth characteristics could account for this squirreltail tr...

Although defoliation is known to affect root growth in range plants, little information is available concerning the effect of defoliation on root architecture and its relationship to root morphological characteristics. This study evaluated the influence of clipping on root architecture and morphology of 3 range grasses from the Intermountain West:...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Utah State University. Dept. of Rangeland Resources, 1995. Includes bibliographical references.