Showing papers in "Journal of Arid Environments in 2012"

TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured PM 10, PM 2.5, and PM 1 concentrations from April through September 2010 using a Grimm Model 1.177 aerosol spectrometer.

TL;DR: A comprehensive review of the ecology, distribution and biodiversity impacts of Buffel grass when behaving as an invasive species is presented and foundations are laid for research into localised habitat requirements of the species that will aid in the management ofbuffel grass invasions now and into the future.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors detected significant 1954-2002 tree density declines in the western Sahel of 18 +/- 14% (P = 0.014, n = 204) and 17 +/- 13%(P =0.0009, N = 187).

TL;DR: In this article, a review of methods used for calculating bulk density (rb) and assess their prevalence is presented, where the authors show how treatment of coarse fragments (particles > 2 mm diameter) influences rb values and discuss the implications for SOC estimates in drylands.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw together evidence from different kinds of sources (archaeobotany, texts, iconography) bearing on the early history of oasis agriculture.

TL;DR: The study revealed significant variability in cereal yield response (and hence risk) with all the practices examined, and calls for more understanding of the processes and application of appropriate tree management to reduce crop yield losses while still providing products and services for long-term sustainability of the production systems in drylands of West Africa.

TL;DR: In this paper, the spatial and temporal distribution of dust storms over the Central Asian region during the last seven decades is analyzed. And the results of the analysis show a significant decrease in dust/sand storm frequency over the last decades and considerable changes in the active source areas.

TL;DR: In this paper, two Landsat images, acquired in 1987 and 2008, were analyzed to evaluate desertification processes in central North Kurdufan State (Sudan), and spectral mixture analysis (SMA) and multitemporal comparison techniques (change vector analysis) were applied to estimate the long-term desertification/regrowing of vegetation cover over time and in space.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors estimated the value of mesquite invasions in the Northern Cape Province for different scenarios, differentiating between productive floodplains and upland areas, and concluded that more effective control methods, such as biological control, are needed to prevent substantial economic losses.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored local population preferences for different land-use management options in the Nacimiento watershed (south-eastern Spain) through a choice experiment.

TL;DR: In this article, the roles of saltcedar and physical factors in salinizing the soil profile of a non-flooding terrace at sites on the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge on the Lower Colorado River, USA were investigated.

TL;DR: In this article, the spatial positions of the climate zones in southern Israel based on the innovative P/PET climatic classification approach (P = annual precipitation; PET = annual potential evapotranspiration).

TL;DR: Evidence is provided that abundant anthropogenic glades function as long-term nutrient and wildlife hotspots in black cotton soils, distinct from similar hotspot in other soil types, and that large herbivores can exert control over development and persistence of glades through their effects on plant community dynamics.

TL;DR: The concentration of the ironstone specialist taxa is largely coincidental with the most prospective areas for iron ore mining and this will provide considerable challenges in conserving these unique ecosystems.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a new methodological approach based on the participatory modelling of ecosystem services and participatory assessment of future scenarios, which is an approach to environmental assessment that is sensitive to the needs and experience of present and future stakeholders.

TL;DR: Zhang et al. as discussed by the authors trained and tested artificial neural network (ANN) models for reference evapotranspiration (ET0) using 50 years' meteorological data from three stations in northwest China.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a membership function to model the gradual transition between drought and non-drought classes, and implemented measures to quantify the areas and vagueness of vegetative drought, and to visualise its evolution in space and time.

TL;DR: This review provides a synthesis of a wide range of available information on several aspects of aloe ecology, and highlights important opportunities for future research, including aloe distribution, ecophysiology, functional role in the ecosystem, population dynamics, fire tolerance, resprouting, pollination ecology, seed biology, economic botany and conservation.

TL;DR: This paper investigated the variability in inter-annual regional precipitation dynamics pre/post the late 1970s climate shift within the Okavango-Kwando-Zambezi (OKZ) catchment in southern Africa through a descriptive spatio-temporal analysis of rainfall patterns from 1950 to 2005.

TL;DR: It is found that 50 mM NaCl resulted in optimal plant growth and alleviated the deleterious impacts on leaf growth of different osmotic stress levels induced by PEG 6000, suggesting that the positive roles of NaCl in the drought resistance of xanthoxylum might be due to the ability of the plant to accumulate high concentrations of Na+ in the leaves and use the Na+ as an osmoregulator to cope with water stress.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted real-time measurements for soil water content, soil water potential and microclimate variables notably; air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, precipitation and solar irradiance.

TL;DR: It is suggested that fire is crucial in interrupting the transition from open grassy savanna to thicket in arid savannas and managers who prevent fires at this stage are likely to experience bush thickening in the future.

TL;DR: In this paper, high-resolution palaeoclimate data from Awafi palaeolake, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the region's archaeological record from the Neolithic through to the onset of the Bronze Age was used to investigate the relationship between climate, the environment and early human populations in the region.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the changes in climate and land-use/land-cover along the livestock seasonal migration routes in El Gedaref region (eastern Sudan).

TL;DR: The results indicated that the incidence and diversity of fungal endophytes in these samples were comparable with those in other tropical plant communities and those in semiarid temperate grasslands, and supports the notion that dark septate fungalendophytes dominate semiarids grasslands worldwide.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined traditional classification and investigated the distribution of ancient agricultural systems around the Roman-Byzantine “Negev Towns” Avdat and Shivta, and across the terrain located between these sites and Makhtesh Ramon in the south.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show how archaeobotanical data can be used to reconstruct agropastoral systems in the different rainfall agriculture environments of northern Mesopotamia and central Anatolia.

TL;DR: In this paper, a prescribed fire in a Mediterranean-type coastal grassland near Irvine, California was conducted to determine how fire and drought interact to influence leaf physiological performance, community composition, aboveground net primary productivity, and component fluxes of ecosystem CO2 exchange and evapotranspiration.

TL;DR: In this paper, field observations and luminescence dating in the Negev Highlands, southern Israel, indicate that deposition of fluvio-loess sediments occurred mainly during the late Pleistocene glacial period.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted a mail survey of 767 landowners in three counties of central Texas, USA using exploratory factor analysis, which reduced motivations into six dimensions: agricultural production, profit-orientation, rural lifestyle, financial investment, mineral extraction, and wildlife enterprise.