Coffin and Lauenroth evaluated the effects of spatially-explicit processes on the recovery of Bouteloua gracilis after disturbances using a modification of a gap dynamics simulation model, developed for a semiarid grassland in northcentral Colorado. Of particular interest was the recovery of the dominant plant species, the perennial grass, blue grama (B. gracilis) after disturbances. Coffin and Lauenroth focused on scale-dependent processes, such as seed dispersal, that are important to the recruitment of individuals of B. gracilis. Landscapes composed of independent plots recovered more rapidly following a disturbance than landscapes composed of interacting plots, in which the recovery time was dependent on the spatial scale of disturbance.
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