plant diversityis essential to maintain the health of planet's ecosystems. conservation of biodiversity is necessary for the ecological stability and productivity in natural ecosystems. the aim of this research was to study the biodiversity and richness of plant species (including trees, shrubs and grasses) related to the environmental factors (soil and physiography) in the forests of zagros, w...

CARMA (CAse-based Range Management Adviser) is a system that integrates case-based reasoning with model-based reasoning for rangeland pest management. CARMA’s predictions of rangeland forage loss by grasshoppers were compared to predictions by 15 expert entomologists using either global or case-specific adaptation weights. Under both conditions, CARMA’s predictions were more accurate than CARMA...

Enclosure and Acacia shade availability to plants are basic variable in arid and semi-arid rangelands. the aim of this study was investigation the impact of patch enclosure and Acacia shade using four treatments which are Inside Enclosure Under Acacia shade (IEUA), Inside Enclosure Without Acacia shade (IEWA), Outside Enclosure Under Acacia shade (OEUA) and Outside Enclosure W...

Fires in mountain big sagebrush [Artemisia tridentata spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle] plant communities historically shifted dominance from woody to herbaceous vegetation. However, fire return intervals have lengthened with European settlement, and sagebrush dominance has increased at the expense of herbaceous vegetation in some plant communities. Management actions may be needed to decrease sage...

This paper evaluated the capacity of SPOT VEGETATION time-series to monitor herbaceous fuel moisture content (FMC) in order to improve fire risk assessment in the savanna ecosystem of Kruger National Park in South Africa. In situ herbaceous FMC data were used to assess the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Vegetation Dryness Index (VDI), Im...

Growth of herbaceous plants responds sensitively and rapidly to climate variability. Yet, little is known regarding how climate warming influences the growth of herbaceous plants, particularly in semi-arid sites. This contrasts with widely reported tree growth decline and even mortality in response to severe water deficits due to climate warming around the world. Here, we use the relatively nov...

Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis ssp. occidentalis Hook) encroachment into mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle) steppe has reduced livestock forage production, increased erosion risk, and degraded sagebrush-associated wildlife habitat. Western juniper has been successfully controlled with partial cutting followed by prescribed burning the next fall, ...

Woody plant encroachment has degraded grassland and savanna ecosystems worldwide by decreasing herbaceous production and diversity, and altering these physiognomies toward woodlands. This study evaluated the long-term efficacy of fire and herbicide restoration strategies used in the southern Great Plains to reduce Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) dominance, restore a grassland/savanna physi...