1. Editorial

   Editorial Introduction Pages: 1 - 1

2. Long-term dynamics in arid and semiarid ecosystems – synthesis of a workshop

   • Thorsten Wiegand
   • Florian Jeltsch

   OriginalPaper Pages: 3 - 6

3. Long-term growth patterns of Welwitschia mirabilis, a long-lived plant of the Namib Desert (including a bibliography)

   • Joh R. Henschel
   • Mary K. Seely

   OriginalPaper Pages: 7 - 26

4. Distinguishing signal from noise: Long-term studies of vegetation in Makhtesh Ramon erosion cirque, Negev desert, Israel

   • David Ward
   • David Saltz
   • Linda Olsvig-Whittaker

   OriginalPaper Pages: 27 - 36

5. Disturbance, drought and dynamics of desert dune grassland, South Africa

   • S.J. Milton
   • W.R.J. Dean

   OriginalPaper Pages: 37 - 51

6. Indirect effects in a desert plant community: is competition among annuals more intense under shrub canopies?

   • Katja Tielbörger
   • Ronen Kadmon

   OriginalPaper Pages: 53 - 63

7. Effect of microbiotic soil surface crusts on emergence of vascular plants

   • Rüdiger Prasse
   • Reinhard Bornkamm

   OriginalPaper Pages: 65 - 75

8. Simulated long-term vegetation response to alternative stocking strategies in savanna rangelands

   • Gerhard E. Weber
   • Kirk Moloney
   • Florian Jeltsch

   OriginalPaper Pages: 77 - 96

9. From snapshot information to long-term population dynamics of Acacias by a simulation model

   • Kerstin Wiegand
   • David Ward
   • Florian Jeltsch

   OriginalPaper Pages: 97 - 114

10. Live fast, die young: estimating size-age relations and mortality pattern of shrubs species in the semi-arid Karoo, South Africa

    • Thorsten Wiegand
    • Suzanne J. Milton
    • Guy F. Midgley

    OriginalPaper Pages: 115 - 131

11. Long-term dynamics of water and carbon in semi-arid ecosystems: a gradient analysis in the Patagonian steppe

    • Jose M. Paruelo
    • Osvaldo E. Sala
    • Adriana B. Beltrán

    OriginalPaper Pages: 133 - 143

12. Effects of long-term rainfall variability on evapotranspiration and soil water distribution in the Chihuahuan Desert: A modeling analysis

    • James F. Reynolds
    • Paul R. Kemp
    • John D. Tenhunen

    OriginalPaper Pages: 145 - 159

13. Ecological buffering mechanisms in savannas: A unifying theory of long-term tree-grass coexistence

    • Florian Jeltsch
    • Gerhard E. Weber
    • Volker Grimm

    OriginalPaper Pages: 161 - 171