Abstract
Energy in the form of solar radiation is the basic driving force of the vegetation system. A small fraction of this energy is utilized in photosynthesis. Much is utilized in changing the state of water in the system, that is, in evapotranspiration. Since evapotranspiration depends upon temperature and daylength, there is a gradient of evapotranspiration decreasing from south to north in the contiguous 48 United States with some minor modifications according to changes in elevation.
Supported by National Science Foundation grants GB 13096 and GB 31862X to the Grass land Biome US/IBP.
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© 1974 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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French, N., Sauer, R.H. (1974). Phenological Studies and Modeling in Grasslands. In: Lieth, H. (eds) Phenology and Seasonality Modeling. Ecological Studies, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51863-8_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51863-8_20
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