The other night I watched the movie Twister. I have always hated that movie—it scares the crap out of me. Today I came across a study in the September issue of the Journal of Plant Ecology about just that—tornadoes! So in the spirit of the now almost 15 year old film twister here is a great, natural study about how tornadoes affect re-sprouting and special heterogeneity in the Cross Timbers ecotone. The transition zones between different ecosystems are known as ecotones. The most studied ecotones are ones that involve transitions between woody and non-woody vegetation. You would find these in alpine tree lines, coastal dunes and grasslands. Ecotones can be caused my both abiotic and biotic factors for example maintenance of positive carbon balance and competition, respectively. Myster and Malahy designed a study that was focused on the Cross Timbers ecotone in Oklahoma—the boundary between the eastern deciduous forest and the Great Plains grasslands.
