Carlos I. Espinosa

TL;DR: A global empirical study relating plant species richness and abiotic factors to multifunctionality in drylands, which collectively cover 41% of Earth’s land surface and support over 38% of the human population, suggests that the preservation of plant biodiversity is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in dryland.

TL;DR: Any predicted increase in aridity with climate change will probably reduce the concentrations of N and C in global drylands, but increase that of P, suggesting the provision of key services provided by these ecosystems could be negatively affected.

TL;DR: Fernando T. Maestre,* Jose L. Quero, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Adrian Escudero, Victoria Ochoa, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Miguel Garcia-Gomez, Matthew A. Eldridge, Carlos I. Espinosa, Adriana Florentino, Juan Gaitan, M. Gabriel Gatica, Wahida Ghiloufi, Susana Gomez-Gonzalez, Julio R. Gutierrez, Rosa M. Veiga, Deli Wang, Eli Zaady

TL;DR: It is shown that taller plants have predictably wider water-conducting conduits, and that wider conduits within species are more vulnerable to conduction-blocking embolisms, suggesting that tall plants in formerly moist areas die because their wide conduits are excessively vulnerable under novel drought conditions.

TL;DR: It is found that deforestation is more intense at lower elevations (premontane evergreen forest and shrubland) and that the deforestation front currently moves in upslope direction.