From the Back Cover
Ecotones are dynamic over-lapping boundary areas where major terrestrial
biomes meet. As past studies have shown, and as the chapters in this book will
illustrate, their structure, size, and scope have changed considerably over the
millennia, expanding and shrinking as climate and/or other driving conditions
have also changed. Today, however, many of them are changing at a rate not
seen for a long time, perhaps largely due to climate change and other humaninduced
factors. Indeed, ecotones are more sensitive to climate change than the
biomes on either side, and thus may serve as critical early indicators of future
climate change. As ecotones change, they also redefine the limits of the biomes
on either side by altering their distributions of species because, in addition to
their own endemic species, any ecotone will also have species from both
adjoining biomes. Consequently, they may also be places of high levels of
species interaction, serving as active evolutionary laboratories, which generate
new species that then migrate back into adjacent biomes.
Ecotones Between Forest and Grassland explores how these ecotones have
changed in the past, how they are changing today, and how they are likely to
change in the future. The book includes chapters from around the world with a
special focus on South American and Neotropical ecotones.
About the Editor
Randall W. Myster received his Ph.D from Rutgers University working with S. T. A.
Pickett on post-agriculture succession in New Jersey, USA. Dr. Myster's first
academic position was at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) where he conducted
tropical plant research in landslides and pastures, and also after banana, coffee
and sugarcane cultivation. He served as a CO-PI for 12 years on their LTER
grants. He left there for another position in Oklahoma where he conducted the
research in the Cross Timbers ecotone reported here. He continues to receive
support from UPR for work in Ecuador and Peru where he currently samples and
maintains a LTER set and also investigates flooded forests in the Western
Amazon. He teaches at Oklahoma State University-OKC.
Ecotones Between Forest and Grassland explores how these ecotones have
changed in the past, how they are changing today, and how they are likely to
change in the future. The book includes chapters from around the world with a
special focus on South American and Neotropical ecotones.
About the Editor
Randall W. Myster received his Ph.D from Rutgers University working with S. T. A.
Pickett on post-agriculture succession in New Jersey, USA. Dr. Myster's first
academic position was at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) where he conducted
tropical plant research in landslides and pastures, and also after banana, coffee
and sugarcane cultivation. He served as a CO-PI for 12 years on their LTER
grants. He left there for another position in Oklahoma where he conducted the
research in the Cross Timbers ecotone reported here. He continues to receive
support from UPR for work in Ecuador and Peru where he currently samples and
maintains a LTER set and also investigates flooded forests in the Western
Amazon. He teaches at Oklahoma State University-OKC.
About the Editor
Randall W. Myster received his Ph.D from Rutgers University working with S. T. A.
Pickett on post-agriculture succession in New Jersey, USA. Dr. Myster's first
academic position was at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) where he conducted
tropical plant research in landslides and pastures, and also after banana, coffee
and sugarcane cultivation. He served as a CO-PI for 12 years on their LTER
grants. He left there for another position in Oklahoma where he conducted the
research in the Cross Timbers ecotone reported here. He continues to receive
support from UPR for work in Ecuador and Peru where he currently samples and
maintains a LTER set and also investigates flooded forests in the Western
Amazon. He teaches at Oklahoma State University-OKC.
