Researchers at the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in southern New Mexico have developed a new way to study the wide range of factors that influence changes in arid and semiarid landscapes that can result in desertification.
The research team, led by Lead Principal Investigator Debra Peters, published their findings in an article titled "Disentangling Complex Landscapes: New Insights Into Arid and Semiarid System Dynamics," in the June 2006 issue of BioScience.
Other members of the research team included Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Ed L. Fredrickson and Kris M. Havstad, all of JRN LTER, and H. Curtis Monger, a professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University (NMSU).
You can read the full article by following this link in BioScience [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aibs/bio/2006/00000056/00000006/art00008] (purchase may be necessary).
You may also read a New Mexico State University press release describing the research here [http://www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Releases/2006/june/desert_landscapes.htm]