Erosión y desertificación.-Understanding the erosion of semi-arid landscapes subject to vegetation change: a combined approach using monitoring, isotope and c analysis.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The degradation of grasslands is a common problem across semi-arid areas worldwide. Over the last 150 years much of the South-Western USA has experienced significant land degradation, with desert grasslands becoming dominated by shrubs and concurrent changes in runoff and erosion which are thought to propagate further the process of degradation. Field-based experiments were carried out to determine how runoff and erosion vary at stages over a transition from a black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) grassland to creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) shrubland at the Sevilleta NWR LTER site in New Mexico. δ13C and δ15N analyses were carried out to investigate the age and potential provenance of eroded sediment