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GUTIÉRREZ,JULIO R; MESERVE,PETER L; KELT,DOUGLAS A; ENGILIS JR,ANDREW; PREVITALI,M. ANDREA; MILSTEAD,W. BRYAN; JAKSIC,FABIAN M. |
Since 1989, we have conducted a large-scale ecological experiment in semiarid thorn scrub of a national park in north-central Chile. Initially, we focused on the role of biotic interactions including predation, interspecific competition, and herbivory in small mammal and plant components of the community. We utilized a reductionist approach with replicated 0.56 ha fenced grids that selectively excluded vertebrate predators and/or larger small mammal herbivores such as the degu, Octodon degus. Although we detected small transitory effects of predator exclusions on degu survival and numbers, other species failed to show responses. Similarly, interspecific competition (i.e., degus with other small mammals) had no detectable numerical effects (although some... |
Tipo: Journal article |
Palavras-chave: Birds; Chilean desert; Ephemeral plants; LTER; Small mammals. |
Ano: 2010 |
URL: http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2010000100005 |
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