An area of saline sodic soil was intensively drained and treatments of gypsum (31 t/ha) or sulphur (6 t/ha) were applied, while control plots received no ameliorants. Physical and chemical soil analyses showed gypsum to have an ameliorative effect slightly superior to that of sulphur. Both treatments were more beneficial than the control but differences were not always as great as expected. For...

The monitoring of irrigation requirements at district or regional scale can be based on the use of ecological process-based models and remote sensing data. The former simulates the time evolution (usually at daily scale) of the main biophysical variables which determine crop photosynthesis and water consumption rates; the latter allows to provide the spatial distribution of these variables over...

Regional analysis of water use efficiency (WUE) is a relevant method for diagnosing the performance of irrigation systems in water-limited environments. In this study, we investigated the potential of FORMOSAT-2 images to provide spatial estimates of WUE over irrigated wheat crops cultivated within the semi-arid Yaqui Valley, in the northwest of Mexico. FORMOSAT-2 provided us with a unique data...

Loss of biodiversity caused by impact of elephants (Loxodonta africana) on African woodlands may require a management response, but any action should be based on an understanding of why elephants choose to utilise trees destructively. Comprehension of elephant feeding behaviour requires consideration of the relative value of the plant groups they may potentially consume. Profitability of availa...

In semi-arid ecosystems, vegetation is heterogeneously distributed, with plant species often associating in patches. These associations between species are not constant, but depend on the particular response of each species to environmental factors. Here, we investigated how plant species associations change in response to livestock grazing in a semi-arid ecosystem, Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural P...

The experiment was conducted on farmer’s field at District Lakki Marwat (NWFP) during Rabi (spring) 2007-08, in order to study the response of wheat to different soil treatments irrigated with poor quality irrigation water. The treatments including control, tillage, gypsum and sulphuric acid were applied before sowing of the wheat crop. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete bloc...

Above-ground cosmic-ray neutron measurements provide an opportunity to infer soil moisture at the subkilometer scale. Initial efforts to assimilate those measurements have shown promise. This study expands such analysis by investigating (1) how the information from aboveground cosmic-ray neutrons can constrain the soil moisture at distinct depths simulated by a land surface model, and (2) how c...