BACKGROUND Biological soil crusts are common components of desert ecosystem; they cover ground surface and interact with topsoil that contribute to desertification control and degraded land restoration in arid and semiarid regions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To distinguish the changes in topsoil affected by biological soil crusts, we compared topsoil properties across three types of succe...

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and its sister conventions, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, all aim to halt or mitigate the deterioration of the ecological processes on which life depends. Sustainable land management (SLM) is fundamental to achieving the goals of all three Conventions. Changes in land ...

Horqin Sandy Land is a fragile, seriously desertified region located in Inner Mongolia of China. Overgrazing is one of the primary drivers of desertification in this region. We investigated whether the establishment of grazing exclosures in areas with active sand dunes enhances soil carbon (C) sequestration and benefits soil recovery. The results showed that soil organic C storage was 1.4, 1.9,...

Desertification is recognized as a serious environmental threat in Iran because of its climatic-geomorphologicconditions. Desertification and land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid regions, is a globalenvironmental problem. Accurate assessment of the status and trend of desertification is instrumental in developingglobal strategies to prevent and reverse this problem. The goal o...

More than one-third of the earth is characterized by arid and semi-arid climate and desertification phenomenon in these areas has been intensified in recent decades. This study aims to investigate the trend of desertification using vegetation indices and Iranian Model of Desertification Potential Assessment (IMDPA) in Abarkooh Plain, Yazd province, Iran. The satellite images (Landsat images in ...

In recent years, the topic of desertification has been discussed in different ways in scientific areas. This event occurred globally, regionally and nationally and many steps were taken to stop it. Desertification is challenged universally and its destructive effects are unavoidable and its consequences do endanger the life of inhabitants. The identification of sensitive regions and prevention ...

The results of studies substantiating the possibility maintaining high quality pasture forage during 46-year use grass stands are presented. feed was assessed by protein and energy nutrition, as well content mineral elements in different technological systems management (technogenic — without fertilizers, integrated against background P45K90, technogenic-mineral backgrounds N60–180P45K90–120, t...