Particulate matters have detrimental effects on human health, environment and economic. This pollutant may emit from anthropogenic or natural sources. On global scale, main proportion of natural particulate matter release to the atmosphere because of wind erosion from arid and semi-arid regions. Recently, the amount of dust coming from Arabian countries has dramatically increased, especially du...

Common ravens (Corvus corax) are a major predator on the threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus [= Xerobates] agassizii). Large numbers of juvenile tortoise shells have been found beneath known raven nests and perches; many shells that show evidence consistent with raven predation have been found sporadically throughout the range of the tortoise; significant proportional decreases in juvenile siz...

s from the 2002 Desert Symposium California State University, Desert Studies Consortium Department of Biological Science California State University, Fullerton Fullerton, California 92384

Land use and land cover change have been of great concern in global change research in recent years. Base on comparison with the remote sensing data in1982 and 2000 and field investigation, the results of land cover and land use change were obtained by the method of landscape analysis. Ten types of land use were identified: riparian woods, riparian shrubbery, desert shrubbery, desert grassland,...

Since the late 1970s, Southern Hemisphere semi-arid regions such as southern-coastal Chile, southern Africa, and southeastern Australia have experienced a drying trend in austral autumn, predominantly during April and May. The rainfall reduction coincides with a poleward expansion of the tropical belt and subtropical dry zone by around 2°-3° in the same season. This has raised questions as to w...

At a site in the northwestern Sonoran Desert the percent ground cover for the C $ subshrub Encelia farinosa was eighttimes higher on more arid 20° south-facing slopes than on 20° north-facing slopes at 820 m elevation, and was sixtimes higher on north-facing slopes at a 300-m-lower elevation, also the more arid condition. The ground cover of the C % bunchgrass Pleuraphis rigida decreased over 5...

[1] This study provides a fast and easy‐to‐apply method to estimate threshold friction velocity (TFV) of wind erosion in the field. Wind tunnel experiments and a variety of ground measurements including air gun, pocket penetrometer, torvane, and roughness chain were conducted in Moab, Utah and cross‐validated in the Mojave Desert, California. Patterns between TFV and ground measurements were ex...

s of Posters • Decision Support System (D.S.S.) for regional and national water-supply planning .............124 N. Hassid, E. Adar ZIWR, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for desert studies, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel • Mechanical strength of virgin and cleaned ultra filtration membranes ..............................128 E. Arkhangelsky, V. Gitis Unit of Environmental Engineering, Ben...

1 Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Forest Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Vienna, Austria 2 Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel 3 Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Dr...

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Ramon Science Center, PO Box 194, 80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Researc...