Biogeochemical factors contributing to enhanced carbon storage following afforestation of a semi-arid shrubland J. M. Grünzweig, I. Gelfand, and D. Yakir Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel Department of Environmental Sciences and Energ...

Castor bean is one of the crops with potential to provide raw material for production of oils for biodiesel. This species possess adaptive mechanisms for maintaining the water status when subjected to drought stress. A better understanding these mechanisms under field conditions can unravel the survival strategies used by this species. This study aimed to compare the physiological adaptations o...

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Developing cultivars with traits that can enhance and sustain productivity under climate change will be an important climate smart adaptation option. The modified CSM-CERES-Pearl millet model was used to assess yield gains by modifying plant traits determining crop maturity duration, potential yield and tolerance to drought and heat in pearl millet cultivars grown at six locations in arid (Hisa...

Meteorological satellite data from 1982 to 1990 were used to identify areas of significant association between tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) and remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) anomalies, here taken as a surrogate for rainfall anomalies. During this period, large areas of arid and semi-arid Africa, Australia and South America experienced NDVI anoma...

Cactaceae represents one of the most species-rich families of succulent plants native to arid and semi-arid ecosystems, yet the associations Cacti establish with microorganisms and the rules governing microbial community assembly remain poorly understood. We analyzed the composition, diversity, and factors influencing above- and below-ground bacterial, archaeal, and fungal communities associate...

Pollen data from 30 sites in arid and semi-arid regions of China were reviewed to document regional patterns of Holocene vegetation and climate change and to understand the large-scale controls on these changes. Vegetation at most sites in eastern Inner Mongolia switched between forest, forest steppe, and typical steppe, showing maximum moisture conditions before 6 ka (1 ka 1⁄4 1000 cal yr BP) ...

Semi-arid soils cover a significant area of Earth's land surface and typically contain large amounts of inorganic C. Determining the effects of biochar additions on CO2 emissions from semi-arid soils is therefore essential for evaluating the potential of biochar as a climate change mitigation strategy. Here, we measured the CO2 that evolved from semi-arid calcareous soils amended with biochar a...