Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important component of the global carbon cycle yet is rarely quantified adequately in terms of its spatial variability resulting from losses of SOC due to erosion by water. Furthermore, in drylands, little is known about the effect of widespread vegetation change on changes in SOC stores and the potential for water erosion to redistribute SOC around the landscape...

the purpose of the present research was to study the properties of natural habitats and growth status of the genus tamarix in miankangi, sistan province, south-eastern iran. selective sampling was used to examine the natural stands structure. then, the one ha-rectangular sample plots were stablished in the stands and surrounding bare lands as control plots. quantitative variables of stands viz....

Areas affected by land degradation in Sub-Saharan West Africa between 1982 and 2012 are identified using time-series analysis of vegetation index data derived from satellites. The residual trend (RESTREND) of a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series is defined as the fraction of the difference between the observed NDVI and the NDVI predicted from climate data. It has been wid...

1. After near-extirpation in the early 20th century, beaver populations are increasing throughout many parts of North America. Simultaneously, there is an emerging interest in employing beaver activity for stream restoration in arid and semi-arid environments (collectively, ‘drylands’), where streams and adjacent riparian ecosystems are expected to face heightened challenges from climate change...

The evolution of central Asian drylands during the Cenozoic is a hot topic in paleoclimate research, but underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we investigate this with climate modeling based on six key geological periods. Our results indicate that have existed since early Eocene, after which they move northward and become narrower. Although changed land-sea distribution decreased atmosphe...

1 Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Forest Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Vienna, Austria 2 Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel 3 Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Dr...

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Ramon Science Center, PO Box 194, 80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Researc...

We discuss a simplifed, conceptual model for the dynamics of the soil-vegetation system in drylands. The model considers the different dynamical processes taking place in vegetated and non-vegetated soil and it distinguishes between the upper soil layer, where rapid evaporation dominates, and the deeper root layer where only plant transpiration takes place. We explore the role of rainfall inter...