Sixteen cases of desert lung with cataracts were previously reported on, and an additional 14 cases have now been encountered from the same area of which 13 had cataracts. The association of cataract with desert lung was not commented on in the previous report, because it was thought to be coincidental. It now appears to be real rather than coincidental. Analysis of these 33 patients showed the...

B. Krasnov ([email protected]) and G. I. Shenbrot, Mitrani Dept of Desert Ecology, Jacob Balustein Inst. for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Sede-Boqer Campus, IL-84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel and Ramon Science Center, P. O. Box 194, IL-80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel. D. Mouillot, UMR CNRS-UMII 5119 Ecosystemes Lagunaires, Univ. Montpellier II, CC093, FR-34095 Montpellier Cedex ...

The existence of microbial communities living inside desert rocks has been reported by FRIEDMANN et al. (1967, 1976), first in rocks collected from the hot and dry Negev desert and later in rocks in the frigid Ross Desert of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The extremely inhospitable climatic conditions in both places has led to the suggestion that these organisms have very low rates of met...

Insect prey of the Namib golden mole congregate beneath clumps of grass scattered among the sand dunes of the Namib Desert. In the presence of the light winds that typically blow over the Namib Desert, these grass clumps emit low-amplitude vibrations that are transmitted through the sand. While foraging in the sand-swimming mode (a few centimeters below the surface of the sand), some moles appa...

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Institute for Dryland Environmental Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel, UMR CNRS-UM2-IFREMER-IRD 5119 Ecosystemes Lagunaires, University of Montpellier 2, CC093, FR-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Instit...

BACKGROUND The Mongolian steppe is one of the most important grasslands in the world but suffers from aridization and damage from anthropogenic activities. Understanding structure and function of this community is important for the ecological conservation, but has seldom been investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this study, a total of 324 quadrats located on the three main types of...

Relatively little research has been expended on developing plants for use in urban desert landscapes or “xeriscapes.” However, because of reduced availability and increased cost of water, water conservation needs, and concerns for our environment, increased awareness and demand for arid-adapted landscape plants have developed. An especially important need is for groundcover requiring little wat...

A better understanding of the effects of climate change and land use/cover change (LUCC) on streamflow promotes the long-term water planning and management in the arid regions of northwestern China. In this paper, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and a separation approach were used to evaluate and separate the effects of climate change and LUCC on streamflow in the Xiying River basin. ...

Vegetation phenology in temperate grasslands is highly sensitive to climate change. However, it is still unclear how the timing of vegetation phenology events (especially for autumn phenology) is altered in response to climate change across different grassland types. In this study, we investigated variations of the growing season start (SOS) and end (EOS), derived from Moderate Resolution Imagi...

Arid desert ecosystems of the western United States are particularly susceptible to climate change and climate variability. Plants and animals in this region live near their physiological limits for water and temperature stress. Slight changes in temperature or precipitation regimes or a change in the frequency and magnitude of extreme climatic events could therefore substantially alter the com...