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When I first read this I wondered what is new about this? The role of fire in regeneration of grasslands is very well understood amongst the restoration ecology community, as well is the role of disturbance in creating colonization/regeneration sites. Also, I grew up in a little town just south of the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site which is located at the ecotone of short-grass and long-grass prairies, the Chihuahuan desert, and pinion-juniper forest. It has an annual rainfall of 250mm (~10in). An annual precipitation of 380mm (~15in) is nowhere near the edge at which plants can survive, much less grasslands or savana like forests. So unless the 380mm is a typo and it is actual 38mm (which is less than the what death valley receives at ~50mm/year) then there appears to be seriously flawed generalities. The Journal of Ecology is such a good pub that the above summary must be over generalization of the article. I'll look into this and report back if there is anything substantive to report.