Following a study of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic interactions associated with the recent Northeast drought, smaller-scale manifestations of this drought are studied with the help of records from New York Central Park Observatory. The long-period records of this Observatory (since 1869) are then studied statistically in relation to dry periods. Among the most interesting facts brought ou...

Droughts negatively impact forests by reducing growth and increasing defoliation leading to forest dieback as the climate becomes warmer and drier. However, the timing and severity of droughts determine how differently or intensively water shortage affects primary (shoot and leaf formation) and secondary growth (stem radial growth based on tree-ring widths). We compare the impact of two severe ...

ABSCISIC ACID-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING PROTEIN1 (AREB1) (i.e., ABF2) is a basic domain/leucine zipper transcription factor that binds to the abscisic acid (ABA)-responsive element (ABRE) motif in the promoter region of ABA-inducible genes. Here, we show that expression of the intact AREB1 gene on its own is insufficient to lead to expression of downstream genes under normal growth conditions....

There is increasing evidence that evolution can occur rapidly in response to selection. Recent advances in sequencing suggest the possibility of documenting genetic changes as they occur in populations, thus uncovering the genetic basis of evolution, particularly if samples are available from both before and after selection. Here, we had a unique opportunity to directly assess genetic changes i...

Article history: We review the evidence th Received 29 February 2008 Accepted 26 May 2008 Available online 19 October 2008 at connects drought and desertification in the Sahel with climate change past, present and future. Advances in climate modeling point to the oceans, not land, as the cause of the recent persistence of drought in the Sahel. The current generation of global climate models rep...

Ascorbate-glutathione (ASA-GSH) cycle is a major pathway of H2O2 scavenging and an effective mechanism of detoxification in plants. The differences in photosynthesis, chlorophyll content (Chl), relative water content (RWC), antioxidants and antioxidative enzyme activities involved in ASA-GSH metabolism were measured between the flag leaves and spike bracts (glumes and lemmas) during grain filli...

The development of paleoclimate streamflow reconstructions in the conterminous United States (CONUS) has provided water resource managers with improved insights into multi-decadal and centennial scale variability that cannot be reliably detected using shorter instrumental records. Paleoclimate streamflow reconstructions have largely focused on individual catchments limiting the ability to quant...

Of late, decrease in mineral oil supplies has stimulated research on use of biomass as an alternative energy source. Climate change has brought problems such as increased drought and erratic rains. This, together with a rise in land degeneration problems with concomitant loss in soil fertility has inspired the scientific world to look for alternative bio-energy species. Euphorbia tirucalli L., ...