The Hengduan Mountains, with a distinct altitudinal differentiation and strong vertical vegetation zonation, occupy an important position in southwestern China as a global hotspot of biodiversity. Pollen analysis of lake sediments sampled along an altitudinal gradient in this region helps us to understand how this vegetation zonation arose and how it has responded to climate change and human im...

By comparing the sex-specifically inheritedX chromosome to the autosomes in ancient genetic samples,we (1) studied sex-specific admixture for two prehistoric migrations. For each migration we used several admixture estimation procedures—including ADMIXTURE model-based clustering (2)—to compare X-chromosomal and autosomal ancestry in contemporaneous Central Europeans and we interpreted greater a...

Grassland biomass is essential for maintaining grassland ecosystems. Moreover, biomass is an important characteristic of grassland. In this study, we combined field sampling with remote sensing data and calculated five vegetation indices (VIs). Using this combined information, we quantified a remote sensing estimation model and estimated biomass in a temperate grassland of northern China. We al...

The Loess Plateau region of northwestern China has unique geological and dry/semi-dry climate characteristics. However, knowledge about ectomycorrhizal fungal (EMF) communities in the Loess Plateau is limited. In this study, we investigated EMF communities in Populus simonii and Pinus tabuliformis patches within the forest-steppe zone, in pine forests within the forest zone, and the transitiona...

Rangelands in Saudi Arabia extend over more than 175 m.ha. (about 75% of country land area) while woodland forests occupy only 2.7 m.ha. and are limited to the south western highlands. The diversity in landscape has been reflected in terrestrial plant species diversity. Range vegetation as well as forest understory vegetation has long history of grazing by livestock and wildlife herbivores. In ...

West Nile virus has undergone an unprecedented rate of infection in North America, sweeping from New York to California in four years. It attacked an exceptionally broad range of hosts/vectors over a broad geographic area. In 2004, the California Department of Health Services received approximately 98,000 reports of dead birds, representing tens of millions of birds killed by West Nile virus in...

Article history: Received 6 July 2005 Received in revised form 11 October 2005 Accepted 21 October 2005 Available online 4 January 2006 Global Climate Change (GCC) can bring about changes in ecosystems and consequently in their services value. Here we show that the urban population in Israel values the green landscape of rangelands in the mesic Mediterranean climate region and is willing to pay...

PURPOSE: Yellow starthistle is one of most problematic invasive species in grass and rangelands in the western United States. It has expanded its distribution since the 1950’s threatening native species’ diversity and reducing the utility of rangelands for livestock. Control of yellow starthistle has relied heavily on the use of picloram and clopyralid. Although these herbicides have been widel...

In this review, the author discusses how pastoralism, and its many constituent components, is increasingly being recognised as in tune with the changing political and ecological nature of rangelands. He describes ways in which the literature reflects this changing attitude, outlines how rangelands respond to changes in climate and explores the evolving use of livestock resources. In addition, h...

Global or regional environmental changes in climate or land use have been increasingly implied in shifts in boundaries (ecotones) between adjacent ecosystems such as beech or oak-dominated forests and forest-steppe ecotones that frequently co-occur near the southern range limits of deciduous forest biome in Europe. Yet, our ability to detect changes in biological communities across these ecosys...