Showing papers in "Journal of Arid Environments in 1999"

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of artificial sources of water on native flora and fauna in arid and semi-arid zones, with emphasis on Australia but drawing on information from other countries where possible, are reviewed.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed an interpretation and understanding of the geochemical processes and characteristics of the Kuwait Group and Dammam limestone aquifers, and the suitability of the brackish ground-water for irrigation has been studied through the determination of exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), boron, adjusted sodium adsorption ratio (adj. SAR), nitrate and several trace metals.

TL;DR: Foraging pits produced by a variety of mammals are relatively short-lived features that trap plant litter and seeds that are rapidly buried, and these form nutrient-rich germination sites as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: The distribution of fleshy-fruited plants in the Kalahari is dynamic and tied to the distribution of large trees such as Acacia erioloba, and more frugivorous bird species and individuals were seen on mature than sapling or dead trees.

TL;DR: Ecological data bases were searched for citations dealing with burrows, burrowing vertebrates, and the environmental impacts of this phenomenon, divided into categories with artificial boundaries depending on the primary focus of the cited paper.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of grazing by livestock on soil surface features, bulk density and chemical properties were studied at the completion of a 4-year grazing experiment carried out in SadoreH, Niger.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between morphological groups of lichens and bryophytes associated with soil crusts, and their roles in ecosystem processes in rangelands.

TL;DR: In this paper, the ability of NDVI and MVC to predict green vegetation cover, cumulative rainfall and annual rainfall is poorer for raw data than for averaged, outlier-removed data, and it is recommended that the standard error of the raw data predictions are used to indicate the fundamental error in these relationships.

TL;DR: The hypothesis that prairie dogs and their activities enhance regional species diversity, and thus are an important component of the grassland ecosystem, is supported.

TL;DR: In this paper, a measurement program was carried out within a sand dune area situated in the north-western Negev Desert, Israel, to acquire data on daily dew deposition amounts as well as related data of the micro-meteorological conditions during dew formation and the drying process.

TL;DR: Results from the germination tests indicated that seeds of the legumes require pre-sowing treatments to give a rapid, uniform and improved germination and intervention through artificial regeneration should be employed to improve the density and capacity of those species with hampered regeneration at both systems.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted two experiments to assess dew contribution to the annual water balances in semi-arid desert valleys, and found that dew contributed about 14 mm to the average annual water balance of the semi arid desert valley in central Utah, U.S.A.

TL;DR: In this article, the influence of water resource development on the ecology of the arid regions of north-west China is discussed, and the Hei River basin served as a case study.

TL;DR: In this paper, micro-organisms and nutrients were determined in soil samples (top 20 cm) collected underneath and outside the canopy of Adesmia bedwellii in mid fall (April 1997), after 8 months of drought, and in mid spring (October 1997) after heavy winter rains associated with the 1997-ENSO in a Chilean coastal desert site.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the composition of the soil seed bank and growing annual plant community in sheep-grazing exclosures and concluded that grazing exclusion of the order of a decade is not enough to reverse changes produced by longterm grazing.

TL;DR: Coeval δ13C shifts recorded in buried soils at both piedmont slope and basin floor sites in the northern Chihuahuan Desert indicate a major shift from C4grasses to C3desert scrub between 7 and 9 ka as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this article, a remotely-sensed degradation assessment technique based on the measurement of landscape heterogeneity (a key determinant of degradation status) is presented. And the Moving Standard Deviation Index (MSDI) is derived by passing a moving standard deviation filter across the Landsat TM band 3 (red band).

TL;DR: In this article, the authors explain how topographical factors and soil erosion affect plant community patterns in the gypsum hills of the Middle Ebro Basin (NE Spain) in order to explain how tall perennial grasses dominate the valley bottoms, and scrub vegetation the hillsides and hilltops.

TL;DR: Greater invertebrate abundance in severely degraded areas may compound the effects of overgrazing, because further degradation of habitat may hinder recruitment by palatable perennials.

TL;DR: Summer and winter annual plants were significantly more abundant, and summer annual plant species richness and diversity were significantly higher on burn plots.

TL;DR: In this article, simulated rainstorms of 15 min duration and average intensity 148 mm h −1 were applied to seven creosotebushes to quantify the process of differential splash that contributes to the build-up of mounds beneath desert shrubs, and improves the understanding of the development of islands of fertility in desert ecosystems.

TL;DR: The similarities and differences in seed bank structure across four locations in the North American deserts (Curlew Valley, Utah in the Great Basin; Rock Valley, Nevada in the Mojave Desert; Silverbell, Arizona in the Sonoran Desert; and Jornada, New Mexico in the Chihuahuan Desert) were compared using published data.

TL;DR: Porcupine dig densities peaked at > -031 dig m −2, impacting up to 4% of soil surfaces as mentioned in this paper, and new digs averaged about 8 cm in depth, and 400 cm 2 and 940 cm 3 in surface area and volume, respectively.

TL;DR: In this article, two annual tree-ring width chronologies were developed for northern Jordan (Pinus halepensis and Quercus aegilops ), one chronology for Carmel Mountain, Israel ( Pinus Halepensis ), and one timeline for southern Jordan (Juniperus phoenicia ), and the results showed that the northern site chronologies are significantly correlated but the northern and southern sites are not.

TL;DR: The flowering sequence of the species belonging to the families Brassicaceae, Liliaceae, Onagraceae, and Asteraceae matched closely the sequences described for temperate plant communities, suggesting that this phenological character is phylogenetically determined.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the inter-annual effects of patch-level defoliation with the broader effects of grazing history on Sahelian rangeland vegetation.

TL;DR: In this article, annual and seasonal evapo-transpiration (ET) were compared among Mojave Desert shrubs with different leaf phenologies over a 3-year period during which annual precipitation varied from well below average to more than twice average.

TL;DR: The effects of flood and drought on the intensity of infestation of Lemaea cyprinacea in a fish community were analysed during a hydrological cycle in an intermittent stream of the Brazilian semi-arid region.

TL;DR: The capacity of Callitris seeds for incremental germination is likely to increase overall germination success in a low rainfall environment and appears to retain the physiological changes induced by short-term hydration.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of provision of perennial water supply, as a management strategy to enhance game viewing, on herbaceous vegetation and found that herbaceous composition change since 1980 revealed significant deterioration in range condition.