Ecotones Between Forest and Grassland

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’sfirst

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 currentlysamples 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.