Biocrusts benefit from plant removal.

Premise Of The Study: Productivity in drylands may depend on the sensitivity of interactions between plants and biocrusts. Given future climate variability, it is essential to understand how interactions may be context-dependent with precipitation regime. Furthermore, little is known about the additional interactions of these producers with the belowground biota (e.

Response to Comments on "Evidence for mesothermy in dinosaurs".

D'Emic and Myhrvold raise a number of statistical and methodological issues with our recent analysis of dinosaur growth and energetics. However, their critiques and suggested improvements lack biological and statistical justification.

Dinosaur physiology. Evidence for mesothermy in dinosaurs.

Were dinosaurs ectotherms or fast-metabolizing endotherms whose activities were unconstrained by temperature? To date, some of the strongest evidence for endothermy comes from the rapid growth rates derived from the analysis of fossil bones. However, these studies are constrained by a lack of comparative data and an appropriate energetic framework. Here we compile data on ontogenetic growth for extant and fossil vertebrates, including all major dinosaur clades.