GRASSLAND TO WOODLAND TRANSITIONS: INTEGRATING CHANGES IN LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY.

The article presents a study which measures the intensity of changes in plant and soil carbon and nitrogen pools in a subtropical landscape undergoing succession from grassland to thorn woodland in southern Texas. The process-based ecosystem model to a transition matrix model used in the study is stated. It is inferred that replacement of savannas and grasslands by woodlands in the bioclimatic region results to important increases in landscape-scale ecosystem carbon stocks in a short time.