Overgrazing affects plant communities, and is a significant disturbance factor in arid and semi-arid regions. The immediate changes of plant communities after overgrazing in the disturbed arid ecosystems of Iran have been poorly studied. We recorded data from 100 random samples before and after overgrazing in the Golbahar plain located in the northeastern Iran to determine the changes in the pl...

Quantitative study of species diversity across different land use units and districts is important to document status of local plant biodiversity, to evaluate impact of management and for planning future management. This study aimed at determining impacts of land use units on species diversity and spatial distribution of species in two districts of Borana zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. Stratification ...

Determination of the amount of sugar in sugar beet is usually accomplished by polarimetric method in sugar industry. This method is not accurate due to impurities such as sodium, potassium and amino-nitrogen that are present and might cause some errors in the evaluation of the technical quality of sugar beet. In this research, 7309 samples of sugar beet from two semi- arid county, Isfahan and C...

Climate change may significantly affect the hydrological cycle and water resource management, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, output from the Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) regional climate model were used in conjunction with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to analyse the effects of climate change on streamflow of the Xiying and Zamu ...

Arid areas play a significant role in the global nitrogen cycle. Dry and wet deposition of inorganic nitrogen (N) species were monitored at one urban (SDS) and one suburban (TFS) site at Urumqi in a semi-arid region of central Asia. Atmospheric concentrations of NH3, NO2, HNO3, particulate ammonium and nitrate (pNH4 (+) and pNO3 (-)) concentrations and NH4-N and NO3-N concentrations in precipit...

Small−holder farming in semi−arid areas is being forced to change to compensate for the needs of more people living under conditions of increasingly variable rainfall. As more land is used for agriculture, rangeland areas are reduced, so limiting the availability of animal fodder. The length of fallow periods where soil fertility may be restored is also reduced. This has forced herders and farm...