arid and semi-arid ecosystems are very sensitivity to changes. fluctuations in climate variables and increasing human activities; result in the changes in hydrological processes of these ecosystems, and consequently, their structures degradation. in this study, hydro-climatic data of the bakhtegan basin for the period of 1972–2011, were analyzed to assess effects of climate variability and huma...

Water resources in arid and semi-arid regions are heavily influenced by climate change, water shortage, water regulations, and increased water demands. Monthly discharge is one of the most important factors in hydrological studies. Some of the basins are not equipped with adequate hydrometric equipment. In such a case, average monthly discharge could be estimated by regional monthly water balan...

Taylor, P.J., Kumirai, A., Contrafatto, G.-C. 2004. Geometric morphometric analysis of adaptive cranial evolution in southern African laminate-toothed rats (Family: Muridae, Tribe: Otomyini). Durban Museum Novitates 29: 110-122. Geometric morphometric analysis of cranial shape and size variation was carried out on laminate-toothed rats (Rodentia: Muridae: Otomyini) from southern Africa, to inve...

Microbial communities in soils may change in accordance with distance, season, climate, soil texture and other environmental parameters. Microbial diversity patterns have been extensively surveyed in temperate regions, but few such studies attempted to address them with respect to spatial and temporal scales and their correlations to environmental factors, especially in arid ecosystems. In orde...

desertification of the arid and semi-arid lands of the world has been proceeding for more than a thousand years.human-induced degradation in these areas is regularly cited as one of the principal causes of desertification.euphrates and tigris basin as the case study of this research in some aspects is almost unique in the world. but thisbasin has been confronted to progressive desertification. ...

Water storage depletion is a worsening hydrological problem that limits agricultural production in especially arid/semi-arid regions across the globe. Quantifying water storage dynamics is critical for developing water resources management strategies that are sustainable and protective of the environment. This study uses GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), GLDAS (Global Land Data A...

Accurate estimation of green aboveground biomass in arid and semiarid grassland is essential for a variety of studies, such as sustainable grassland management, fire risk assessment, climate change, and environmental degradation. A great need exists for the establishment of robust method for estimating green aboveground biomass in arid and semiarid grassland due to the influences of soil backgr...

The spatial distribution of crops and farming systems in Africa is determined by the duration of the period during which crop and livestock water requirements are met. The length of growing period (LGP) is normally assessed from weather station data—scarce in large parts of Africa—or coarse-resolution rainfall estimates derived from weather satellites. In this study, we analyzed LGP and its var...

Water availability is the most influential factor affecting plant carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N) isotope composition in arid and semi-arid environments. However, there are potential differences among locations and/or species in the sensitivity of plant δ(13)C and δ(15)N to variation in precipitation, which are important for using stable isotope signatures to extract paleo-vegetation and ...

Growth in the publication of scientific articles is occurring at an exponential rate, prompting a growing need to synthesise information in a timely manner to combat urgent environmental problems and guide future research. Here, we undertake a topic analysis of dryland literature over the last 75 years (8218 articles) to identify areas in arid ecology that are well studied and topics that are e...