@misc{Koechy2006,
  author    = {K{\"o}chy, Martin},
  title     = {Opposite trends in life stages of annual plants caused by daily rainfall variability},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-14699},
  pages     = {347 -- 357},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Global Circulation Models of climate predict not only a change of annual precipitation amounts but also a shift in the daily distribution. To improve the understanding of the importance of daily rain pattern for annual plant communities, which represent a large portion of semi-natural vegetation in the Middle East, I used a detailed, spatially explicit model. The model explicitly considers water storage in the soil and has been parameterized and validated with data collected in field experiments in Israel and data from the literature. I manipulated daily rainfall variability by increasing the mean daily rain intensity on rainy days (MDI, rain volume/day) and decreasing intervals between rainy days while keeping the mean annual amount constant. In factorial combination, I also increased mean annual precipitation (MAP). I considered five climatic regions characterized by 100, 300, 450, 600, and 800 mm MAP. Increasing MDI decreased establishment when MAP was >250 mm but increased establishment at more arid sites. The negative effect of increasing MDI was compensated by increasing mortality with increasing MDI in dry and typical Mediterranean regions (c. 360-720 mm MAP). These effects were strongly tied to water availability in upper and lower soil layers and modified by competition among seedlings and adults. Increasing MAP generally increased water availability, establishment, and density. The order of magnitudes of MDI and MAP effects overlapped partially so that their combined effect is important for projections of climate change effects on annual vegetation. The effect size of MAP and MDI followed a sigmoid curve along the MAP gradient indicating that the semi-arid region (≈300 mm MAP) is the most sensitive to precipitation change with regard to annual communitie},
  subject      = {Klima{\"a}nderung},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{Koechy2006,
  author    = {K{\"o}chy, Martin},
  title     = {Photodegradation of grass litter in semi-arid grasslands : a global perspective},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-12006},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {In a recent contribution in Nature (vol. 442, pp. 555-558) Austin \& Vivanco showed that sunlight is the dominant factor for decomposition of grass litter in a semi-arid grassland in Argentine. The quantification of this effect was portrayed as a novel finding. I put this result in the context of three other publications from as early as 1980 that quantified photodegradation. My synopsis shows that photodegradation is an important process in semi-arid grasslands in South America, North America and eastern Europe.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{Koechy2006,
  author    = {K{\"o}chy, Martin},
  title     = {Stochastic time series of daily precipitation for the interior of Israel},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-13155},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {This contribution describes a generator of stochastic time series of daily precipitation for the interior of Israel from c. 90 to 900 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP) as a tool for studies of daily rain variability. The probability of rainfall on a given day of the year is described by a regular Gaussian peak curve function. The amount of rain is drawn randomly from an exponential distribution whose mean is the daily mean rain amount (averaged across years for each day of the year) described by a flattened Gaussian peak curve. Parameters for the curves have been calculated from monthly aggregated, long-term rain records from seven meteorological stations. Parameters for arbitrary points on the MAP gradient are calculated from a regression equation with MAP as the only independent variable. The simple structure of the generator allows it to produce time series with daily rain patterns that are projected under climate change scenarios and simultaneously control MAP. Increasing within-year variability of daily precipitation amounts also increases among-year variability of MAP as predicted by global circulation models. Thus, the time series incorporate important characteristics for climate change research and represent a flexible tool for simulations of daily vegetation or surface hydrology dynamics.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{KoechyTielboerger2006,
  author    = {K{\"o}chy, Martin and Tielb{\"o}rger, Katja},
  title     = {Hydrothermal time model of germination : parameters for 36 Mediterranean annual species based on a simplified approach},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-12406},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Germination rates and germination fractions of seeds can be predicted well by the hydrothermal time (HTT) model. Its four parameters hydrothermal time, minimum soil temperature, minimum soil moisture, and variation of minimum soil moisture, however, must be determined by lengthy germination experiments at combinations of several levels of soil temperature and moisture. For some applications of the HTT model it is more important to have approximate estimates for many species rather than exact values for only a few species. We suggest that minimum temperature and variation of minimum moisture can be estimated from literature data and expert knowledge. This allows to derive hydrothermal time and minimum moisture from existing data from germination experiments with one level of temperature and moisture. We applied our approach to a germination experiment comparing germination fractions of wild annual species along an aridity gradient in Israel. Using this simplified approach we estimated hydrothermal time and minimum moisture of 36 species. Comparison with exact data for three species shows that our method is a simple but effective method for obtaining parameters for the HTT model. Hydrothermal time and minimum moisture supposedly indicate climate related germination strategies. We tested whether these two parameters varied with the climate at the site where the seeds had been collected. We found no consistent variation with climate across species, suggesting that variation is more strongly controlled by site-specific factors.},
  language  = {en}
}