Plant phenology models, especially leafing models, play critical roles in evaluating the impact of climate change on the primary production of temperate plants. Existing models based on temperature alone could not accurately simulate plant leafing in arid and semi-arid regions. The objective of the present study was to test the suitability of the existing temperature-based leafing models in ari...

Studies of rainfall variation generally focus on large areas. For example, in India, the area average monsoon rainfall series of the whole country or meteorological subdivisions are used. This would be of no use for local agriculture, particularly in places where rainfall is very high or very low, especially for crops like small cardamom and vanilla which are very sensitive to soil moisture and...

Abstract Geochemical data and their various approaches are useful to evaluate the climatic control on depositional environments. This study aims paleoweathering plaeoclimate condition that have controls environments of Miocene Pliocene siliciclastic sequence at Al-Rehaili area, north Jeddah. To achieve this aim, selected sandstone samples were geochemically (major trace elements analysis) petro...

Visual obstruction as a method to quantify herbaceous biomass in southern African semi-arid savannas Dave Joubert, Larkin A Powell & Walter H Schacht To cite this article: Dave Joubert, Larkin A Powell & Walter H Schacht (2015) Visual obstruction as a method to quantify herbaceous biomass in southern African semi-arid savannas, African Journal of Range & Forage Science, 32:3, 225-230, DOI: 10.2...

Vegetation stripes ("tiger bush") are a characteristic feature of semi-arid environments. The stripes typically lie along the contours of gentle slopes, and some authors report a gradual uphill migration. A previous mathematical model (Klausmeier, Science, 284:1826, 1999) has shown that this phenomenon can be explained relatively simply by the downhill flow of rainwater coupled with the diffusi...

In this paper we present results of an agent-based model of foraging of hominids. The model represents foraging activities in a landscape that is based on detailed measurements of food availability in the modern East African environments. These current landscapes are used as a model for the environment of the hominids one million years ago. We use the model to explore possible rankings of food ...

Locating additional long-term groundwater resources in semi-arid regions of developing countries with growing populations is an expensive undertaking. Simple geographic information system (GIS) techniques can be utilised to facilitate efficient application of expensive geophysical techniques and test-drilling by functioning as an interdisciplinary integration and decision-making tool, especiall...

abstract earthworms are an important component of soil fauna, and play a crucial role in the improvement of soil properties. however, very little is known of the interactive influence of earthworms and organic materials on soil enzyme activities, particularly in arid and semi-arid soils. the low organic matter content and the significant role of earthworms in stimulating microbiological and bio...