In arid regions, C3 vegetation is assumed to be more sensitive to precipitation and CO2 fertilization than C4 vegetation. In this study, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is used to examine vegetation growth in the arid Lower Heihe River Basin, northwestern China, for the past three decades. The results indicate that maximum NDVI (MNDVI) of the area increases over the years and is s...

We will exaiuiue the hopes arid dreams of a decade ago wlreu there was a lot of exciteiueiit in the COIIIIIIUiiity about what could be accomplished with niodelbased visioii ill robotics. Mauy of those dreams have iiot yet materialized because of a lack of availability of “visioil“ itiodcls (as opposed to CAD models): difficulty of coiistructiug vision models, iuadequate robustness of model-base...

The rapid expansion of deserts in recent decades as a result of human actions combined with climatic disasters has highlighted the necessity to understand biological processes in arid environments. Whereas physical processes and the biology of flora and fauna have been relatively well studied in marginally used arid areas, knowledge of desert soil micro-organisms remains fragmentary. This chapt...

Irrigation is crucial to agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas and significantly contributes to crop development, food diversity and the sustainability of agro-ecosystems. For a specific crop, the separation of its irrigated and rainfed areas is difficult, because their phenology is similar and therefore less distinguishable, especially when there are phenology shifts due to various factors, ...

Application of existing and novel management techniques can alter traditional livestock grazing patterns and significantly improve the sustainability of arid rangelands. Livestock often congregate and heavily graze riparian areas and other sensitive rangeland, while abundant forage remains in other areas. Increasing the uniformity of grazing can help protect fisheries, wildlife habitat, and oth...

Current global changes are putting both biodiversity and the processes that depend on it at risk. This is especially true for semi-arid regions and the flagship groups that inhabit them, such as amphibians and reptiles. Semi-arid regions are often thought to have lower biodiversity and thus have been overlooked, resulting in the underestimation of their biological richness. Therefore, the aim o...

100-150 words) Remote sensing methods for locating and monitoring temporary ponds over large areas in arid lands were tested on a study site in Northern Senegal. Three main results are presented, validated with field data and intended to highlight different spectral, spatial and temporal characteristics of the methods: 1) Among several water indices tested, two Middle InfraRed-based indices (MN...

100-150 words) Remote sensing methods for locating and monitoring temporary ponds over large areas in arid lands were tested on a study site in Northern Senegal. Three main results are presented, validated with field data and intended to highlight different spectral, spatial and temporal characteristics of the methods: 1) Among several water indices tested, two Middle InfraRed-based indices (MN...

The integration of phylogenetics, phylogeography and palaeoenvironmental studies is providing major insights into the historical forces that have shaped the Earth's biomes. Yet our present view is biased towards arctic and temperate/tropical forest regions, with very little focus on the extensive arid regions of the planet. The Australian arid zone is one of the largest desert landform systems ...

In recent years , tritium (the radioactive isotope of hydrogen) has been increasingly used as a r e search tool in chemistry, physics, biology, meteorology and hydrology. In a variety of investigations, such as the study of biological and metabolic processes, tritium or a chemical compound with tritium as one of the constituents can be used as a tracer. It is also useful in studying the effects...