Agave is a good source of polysaccharides for the production of fermentable sugars as sustainable bioenergy feedstock solutions for semi-arid and arid lands. This plant grows in arid areas, which correspond to a large territory in northern Mexico. Having lignocellulose as the polysaccharide of interest, the information for the enzymatic saccharification of this kind of material is limited. Agav...

This paper reports a practical application of digitally enhanced Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data coupled with principal component analysis (PCA) and spectral angle mapping (SAM) techniques to assess changes in vegetation and land condition within the U.S. Army installation at Fort Bliss, Texas. Fort Bliss is located in a semi-arid desert environment wh...

Arid and semi-arid zones account for one third of the earth's surface land area and cover most parts of the developing nations in the world including Latin America, Africa, and parts of India and South East Asia. Nevertheless, these ecosystems are not exclusive of developing countries because they also exist in developed nations such as United States of America, Spain, Australia, and Israel, am...

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between job burnout and neuroendocrine indicators in soldiers living in a harsh environment. Three hundred soldiers stationed in the arid desert and 600 in an urban area were recruited. They filled in the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire. One hundred soldiers were randomly selected from each group to measure their levels o...

What does a horticulturist or landscape architect strive to attain when choosing plants for a naturalistic animal exhibit in any major zoo? Should visitors come upon bananas and tropical figs complementing an exhibit featuring giraffes or zebras that naturally roam the hot, arid Serengeti? Let’s hope not. Likewise, they should not be confronted by trees that resemble the acacias of arid Kenya a...

The feral cat (Felis catus) is recognised as a significant threat to fauna conservation in Western Australia, particularly in arid and semi arid regions of the State. Not only do feral cats prey on native fauna and have the potential to spread diseases, but they have proven to be an obstacle to fauna reintroduction programs. Western Shield fox baiting strategies have been ineffective against fe...

Many biological invasions do not occur as a gradual expansion along a continuous front, but result from the expansion of satellite populations that become established at 'invasion hubs'. Although theoretical studies indicate that targeting control efforts at invasion hubs can effectively contain the spread of invasions, few studies have demonstrated this in practice. In arid landscapes worldwid...