In the transition between Mediterranean forest and the arid subtropical shrublands of the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, humans have transformed habitat since ancient times. Understanding the role of the original mosaic landscapes in wildlife species and the effects of the current changes as pine forest plantations, performed even outside the forest ecological boundaries, are important conserv...

In this paper, we explore the resilience and vulnerability of livelihoods within two different socio-ecological dryland contexts of Botswana over the last 30 years. We draw on primary field data sources, including oral histories, livelihood surveys, ecological surveys, as well as documented evidence of environmental, socioeconomic and institutional dynamics, to identify a broad range of activit...

BACKGROUND Various studies have shown that the population densities of a number of forest vertebrates, such as orangutans, are higher on Sumatra than Borneo, and that several species exhibit smaller body sizes on Borneo than Sumatra and mainland Southeast Asia. It has been suggested that differences in forest fruit productivity between the islands can explain these patterns. Here we present a l...

Ensuring the sustainability of cultivated soils is an ever-increasing priority for producers in the Lower Mississippi River Valley (LMRV). As groundwater sources become depleted and environmental regulations become more strict, producers will look to alternative management practices that will ensure the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of their production systems. This study was conducted ...

Maize is the New World’s preeminent grain crop and it provided the economic basis for human culture in many regions within the Americas. To flourish, maize needs water, sunlight (heat), and nutrients (e.g., nitrogen). In this paper, climate and soil chemistry data are used to evaluate the potential for dryland (rainon-field) agriculture in the semiarid southeastern Colorado Plateau and Rio Gran...

Spain is one of the countries with the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the EU-27. Consequently, mitigation strategies need to be reported and quantified to accomplish the goals and requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. In this study, a first estimation of the carbon (C) mitigation potential of tillage reduction in Mediterranean rainfed Spain is presented. Results from eight studies ...

1 Despite general agreement on the adaptive importance of plasticity, evidence 2 regarding the role of environmental resource availability is scarce, at least in plants. The 3 main hypothesis was the traditional interspecific trade-off hypothesis applied to dryland 4 species; those most tolerant to drought have lower potential growth, and therefore also 5 have the lowest plasticity -here specif...