Current research has determined that traits involved in reproductive strategies and processes of seed dynamics should be studied together, and under varying environments, in order to clarify their roles in the ecology of plant communities. Here, we analyzed reproductive traits (allocation to reproduction, efficiency of seed production, and seed size) at the community level and their relationshi...

semiarid regions with their exceptional weather conditions, low precipitation, and high evapotranspiration pose a great challenge to water resources managers. one possible way to face this challenge is the conjunctive use of both surface water and groundwater resources in these regions. this paper proposes a conjunctive use model which has been implemented in najafabad plain in central iran. th...

Some endemic shrubs in arid and semiarid ecosystems are in danger of extinction, and yet they can play useful roles in maintaining or restoring these ecosystems, thus practical efforts are needed to conserve them. The shrubs Amygdalus pedunculata Pall., Amygdalus mongolica (Maxim.) Ricker and Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (Maxim. ex Kom.) Cheng f. are endemic species in arid and semiarid regions of...

Ecohydrol. 2016; 1–10 wileyonlinelibrary.com/jou Abstract Forest fuel moisture is an important factor for wildland fire behavior. Predicting future wildfire trends and controlled burned conditions is essential to effective natural resource management, but the associated effects of forest fuel moisture remain uncertain. This study investigates the responses of dead forest fuel moisture to climat...

Abstract Climate zones fundamentally shape the patterns of terrestrial environment and human habitation. How global warming alters their current distribution is an important question that has yet to be properly addressed. Using root-layer soil moisture as indicator, this study investigates potential future changes in climate with perturbed parameter ensemble projections by HadGEM3-GC3.05 model ...

The effects of geological conditionwere assessed on density of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) and Nitrogen (N)in a sequence of hillslope landscape, derived from different lithology i.e. loess deposit, reworked loess, marl with mixed siltstone and shale, reddish brown clay deposits and older loess in the semiarid area of northern Iran. However, other factors can influence SOC and N density such as la...

Quantifying environmental controls on vegetation is critical to predict the net effect of climate change on global ecosystems and the subsequent feedback on climate. Following a non-linear Granger causality framework based on a random forest predictive model, we exploit the current wealth of multi-decadal satellite data records to uncover the main drivers of monthly vegetation variability at th...

States of ecological maturity and temporal trends of drylands in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia north of 28 ̋N are reported for 1998–2008. The input data were Normalized Difference Vegetation Index databases and corresponding climate fields, at a spatial resolution of 1 km and a temporal resolution of one month. States convey opposing dynamics of human exploitation and ecological succession. They ...