BACKGROUND Although semi-arid and arid regions account for about 40% of terrestrial surface of the Earth and contain approximately 10% of the global soil organic carbon stock, our understanding of soil organic carbon dynamics in these regions is limited. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A field experiment was conducted to compare soil organic carbon dynamics between a perennial grass community ...

The USA’s federally funded Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has largely been successful in restoring many critical ecosystem functions to millions of acres through the conversion of vulnerable croplands to diverse perennial plant communities—primarily to perennial grass and forb plantings. CRP contracts, however, on as much as 6.5 million hectares (ha) are now expiring. Aside from leaving the...

Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed) is recognized as a threat to wetland habitats throughout much of the western United States, but its role in tidal marshes has not been explored. Over three seasons in three regions of San Francisco Estuary (Suisun, San Pablo, and South San Francisco bays), we characterized locations in tidal marshes where monotypic stands of L. latifolium are replacing...

This study compared the cephalometric features of a group of one hundred children aged from six to sixteen years suffering from chronic perennial allergic rhinitis of differing grades of severity with those of 99 control subjects of similar age. Both samples were drawn from a Children's Hospital which has a large population of patients with chronic perennial allergic rhinitis attending the Alle...

Even in the 21st century when the modern medicine has made tremendous progress in development of promptly acting medicines and precise diagnostic equipments the total health is still a challenge to medical science. Since many decades the utility of the Traditional Medicines/Wholistic medicine throughout the world has been felt immensely and the World Health Organization have also accepted the v...

Problems associated with annual grain agriculture, such as soil erosion and water and air pollution, indicate that reliance on annual grain production is a fundamental problem of current agricultural practice (23). Annual plant roots are less efficient micromanagers of water, soil, and soil nutrients than their perennial counterparts, resulting in nutrient and pesticide contamination of water s...

Based on a study of a perennial herb Anemone patens L. (Ranunculaceae) in a variety of natural habitats in Saskatchewan, Canada, eight life stages (seed, seedling, juvenile, immature, vegetative, generative, subsenile, and senile) are distinguished and characterized in detail. The species ontogenetic growth patterns are investigated. A. patens has a long life cycle that may last for several dec...

Establishment of perennial grass seedlings is critical for repairing rangeland ecosystems in the Western United States. Mineral N in the soil may be one of the controlling factors for seedling establishment and may improve the competitive ability of perennial grasses compared to the annual grass, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.). A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effects o...