Showing papers in "Journal of Arid Environments in 2011"

TL;DR: Fourteen propositions distil the argument that most features of the Australian deserts are explicable in terms of two dominant physical and climatic elements: rainfall variability, leading to extended droughts and occasional flooding rains; and widespread nutrient poverty.

TL;DR: In this article, a review of the characteristics, behaviour and influence of cyanobacterial EPS in dryland soils is presented, and recommendations for further research are made for further investigation.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the methods and data describing runoff generation and water erosion, synthesising the key processes involved, rates, thresholds and controlling factors from a scale-dependent perspective, identifying the major gaps in current knowledge to provide recommendations for further research towards solutions that reduce the negative impacts of erosion.

TL;DR: The growing body of research on BSCs available from semi-arid areas of Spain is reviewed, highlighting its importance for increasing the authors' knowledge on this group of organisms and how it can be use to guide management and restoration efforts.

TL;DR: A comprehensive view of the mycorrhizal potential to improve the composition, diversity, structure and functionality of drought-adapted plant communities in the Region is lacking.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of precipitation changes on plant communities in semi-arid environments was studied. But the authors focused on the effects of rainfall changes on different ecosystem processes at the species and community level, concluding that this plant community exhibited great resilience to changes in rainfall availability.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of aboveground primary production responses to N fertilization across arid to sub-humid ecosystems to quantify N limitation, using the effect-size index R which is the ratio of ANPP in fertilized to control plots.

TL;DR: This paper investigated spatio-temporal changes in vegetation growth and their responses to a changing climate by biome and bioregion, using satellite-sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from 1982 to 2003, along with corresponding climate data.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors use the contingent valuation method to identify community perception and economic values of different ecosystem services provided by semi-arid ecosystems in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula.

TL;DR: A review of plant-plant interactions in semi-arid ecosystems can be found in this paper, with a focus on the nurse effect and the balance of interactions and environmental, ontogenic, temporal and spatial gradient.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of grazing on vegetation structure, herbaceous biomass, basal and bare ground covers, together with soil nutrient concentrations in two locations in an Ethiopian semi-arid savanna was studied.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review recent advances in the restoration of semi-arid vegetation cover in the Iberian southeast, discuss future challenges and suggest two key steps towards increasing the consistency and efficiency of restoration programs: emphasis on ecosystem services, and implementation of participative and adaptive management practices.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented characteristics of droughts simulated by global climate models (GCMs) under enhanced greenhouse gases conditions, and used a drought index called the reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) which takes both rainfall and potential evapotranspiration into account to investigate variations of Droughts among 12 regions in Australia.

TL;DR: In this article, a compilation and summary of the principal results obtained from various studies on semiarid saline streams in the Iberian southeast is presented, highlighting the physical and ecological singularity of these environments, and their high conservation value.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the extent to which S. sabulicola relies on water supply by fog harvesting and find that fog harvest occurs mainly via stem flow with subsequent absorption by the root system and therefore represents a substantial water source for this species.

TL;DR: In this article, cattle trampling without forage consumption at stocking densities of 0.03 −1.4 cows −1 was simulated on two dry-season rangelands in Kenya.

TL;DR: In this article, the root structure of Jatropha curcas has been investigated for controlling soil erosion by water and wind on arid land, where the lateral roots could decrease soil erodibility through additional soil cohesion, while the taproot and sinkers may enable exploitation of subsurface soil moisture and thus enhance vegetative cover.

TL;DR: In this article, detailed studies of vegetation and process interactions were undertaken within an ephemeral channel in SE Spain at three scales (channel network, reach and patch) by repeat surveys and mapping after floods.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess whether there has been any changes in the start, end and length of growing season and the pattern of 14 and 21 day dry spells during the season.

TL;DR: In this paper, the vegetation dynamics of semi-arid rangelands, in particular the Sahel, and the subsequent implications for the interpretation of remote sensing images are analyzed and a regression analysis of NPP versus rainfall data is carried out.

TL;DR: In this article, the plant communities of the central Tibetan highlands are described on the basis of 189 plot-based floristically complete vegetation records and five grazing-related plant functional traits are introduced.

TL;DR: In this paper, a combined documentary-sedimentary-instrumental 500 years comprehensive register of climatic data (rainfall and flooding) was collated for analysing the decadal to centennial scale hydrological response.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed and tested four methods for shrub height measurements with airborne LiDAR data in a semiarid shrub-steppe in southwestern Idaho, USA.

TL;DR: In this article, the salinity status of a highly productive agricultural area, under a semiarid climate, was assessed by collecting soil samples from the surface horizon, and topsoil samples, soil profiles, water samples and salt precipitates on aggregates.

TL;DR: The results suggest that both indirect changes in litter quality through shifts of species composition/dominance and direct changes in soil nutrient availability under nutrient addition conditions could affect litter decomposition and consequently C and nutrient cycling of grassland ecosystems.

TL;DR: In this article, the vegetation response to a spatial precipitation gradient, interannual rainfall variability, and grazing pressure in Mongolia was examined, and the authors compared species richness among six sites.

TL;DR: In this paper, the relationship between vegetation and soil surface characteristics and the soil infiltration rate was determined by using rainfall simulations on runoff plots (0.60 × 1.67 m) in three plant communities of northeastern Patagonia: grass (GS), degraded grass with scattered shrubs (DGS), and degraded shrub steppes (DSS).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the relationship between buffelgrass abundance and native plant cover and found a strong negative relationship between cover and fire behavior, indicating that buffels are more intense than fires in surrounding ecosystems, even in communities with comparable fuels.

TL;DR: This paper examined climate change sensitivity for desert tortoises, Gopherus agassizii, and common chuckwallas, Sauromalus ater, two large-bodied reptiles that occur across the Mojave-Sonoran Desert interface.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the impact afforestation has on the topsoil of salinized degraded cropland in regards to salinity, aggregate stability and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in Uzbekistan, Central Asia.