%0 Journal Article %1 mares1997desert %A Mares, Michael A. %A Ojeda, Ricardo A. %A Borghi, Carlos E. %A Giannoni, Stella M. %A Diaz, Gabriela B. %A Braun, Janet K. %D 1997 %I Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences %J BioScience %K Atriplex convergent_evolution desert_rodents halophytic specialization %N 10 %P pp. 699-704 %T How Desert Rodents Overcome Halophytic Plant Defenses %U http://www.jstor.org/stable/1313210 %V 47 %X Convergent evolution among desert rodents has received a great deal of attention in re- cent years, with research centering on the question of how phylogeneti- cally unrelated species evolving on different continents have developed similar morphological, behavioral, ecological, or physiological charac- teristics in response to similar selec- tive pressures posed by the desert environment (Mares 1975, 1993a, 1993b, Schluter and Ricklefs 1993). The heat and aridity of deserts pose severe challenges for both plants and animals. Deserts generally support reduced levels of plant biomass com- pared with more mesic habitats (Hadley and Szarek 1981, Rosenzweig 1968), and those plants that inhabit the desert often have special adapta- tions for coping with aridity, heat, and desert soils. For example, some plants, such as cacti, store water in their stems to weather extended droughts; others, such as desert ephemerals, spend only a short pe- riod of the year as a green plant (perhaps only a few weeks during the rainy season), and the rest of their life as a seed.

@article{mares1997desert, abstract = {Convergent evolution among desert rodents has received a great deal of attention in re- cent years, with research centering on the question of how phylogeneti- cally unrelated species evolving on different continents have developed similar morphological, behavioral, ecological, or physiological charac- teristics in response to similar selec- tive pressures posed by the desert environment (Mares 1975, 1993a, 1993b, Schluter and Ricklefs 1993). The heat and aridity of deserts pose severe challenges for both plants and animals. Deserts generally support reduced levels of plant biomass com- pared with more mesic habitats (Hadley and Szarek 1981, Rosenzweig 1968), and those plants that inhabit the desert often have special adapta- tions for coping with aridity, heat, and desert soils. For example, some plants, such as cacti, store water in their stems to weather extended droughts; others, such as desert ephemerals, spend only a short pe- riod of the year as a green plant (perhaps only a few weeks during the rainy season), and the rest of their life as a seed.}, added-at = {2014-04-07T21:03:54.000+0200}, author = {Mares, Michael A. and Ojeda, Ricardo A. and Borghi, Carlos E. and Giannoni, Stella M. and Diaz, Gabriela B. and Braun, Janet K.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2f23b60e1e8ea3df7e30f96309212adca/peter.ralph}, interhash = {0ac21bc08591416944856b18b81bc7f7}, intrahash = {f23b60e1e8ea3df7e30f96309212adca}, issn = {00063568}, journal = {BioScience}, jstor_articletype = {research-article}, jstor_formatteddate = {Nov., 1997}, jstor_issuetitle = {AIBS: The First 50 Years}, keywords = {Atriplex convergent_evolution desert_rodents halophytic specialization}, language = {English}, number = 10, pages = {pp. 699-704}, publisher = {Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences}, timestamp = {2014-04-07T21:03:54.000+0200}, title = {How Desert Rodents Overcome Halophytic Plant Defenses}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/1313210}, volume = 47, year = 1997 }