Seasonal and spatial variation in soil nematode communities was investigated in a field study conducted on a loessial plain in the northern Negev Desert, Israel. Soil samples from 0- to 50-cm depths were collected seasonally during 2001 under the canopy of Atriplex halimus and Hammada scoparia, and between shrubs (control). Total population abundance ranged from 8 to 887 individuals per 100 g s...

Sealed microsomal membrane vesicles were prepared from leaves of a 250 millimolar NaCl-grown halophyte (Atriplex gmelini C. A. Mey). The vesicles exhibited ATP-dependent proton-transporting activity which was inhibited 60% by NO(3) (-) (50 millimolar) but not by vanadate (100 micromolar) and 23% by oligomycin (10 micrograms per milliliter), suggesting that tonoplast-derived vesicles were the ma...

Soil nutrients in arid systems are supplied to plants in brief pulses following precipitation inputs. While these resource dynamics have been well documented, little is known about how this temporal heterogeneity inXuences competitive interactions. We examined the impacts of the temporal pattern of N supply on competitive intensity and ability in an N-limited desert shrub community. At our Weld...

The Cecidomyiidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) fauna of Egypt is poorly known. Investigations in northern Egypt in 2013 revealed the presence of seven species of gall midges on three host plant species: Atriplex halimus L., Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (Moric.) and Suaeda pruniosa Lange (all Chenopodiaceae). Among the gall midges, Baldratia salicorniae  Kieffer and Stefaniella trinacriae De Stefani a...

This work addresses the issue of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr accumulation in wildgrown plants in the context of their possible use for the sanitation of sludge and waste substrates. The highest contents of heavy metals were noted in Lactuca serriola, Chenopodium album, Artemisia vulgaris and Atriplex nitens. Assuming maximum crop production which is to be obtained from sludge and waste substrates...