The arid valley is a unique type of ecological fragile landscape in the Hengduan Mountain Area, China. The boundary of the arid valley is one of the response indicators to mountainous climate change. Based on the meteorological data from 1999 to 2013 and the SPOT remote sensing images in 1999 and 2013 this study explored the response characteristics of the arid valley boundary to regional clima...

Arid and semi-arid zones account for one third of the earth's surface land area and cover most parts of the developing nations in the world including Latin America, Africa, and parts of India and South East Asia. Nevertheless, these ecosystems are not exclusive of developing countries because they also exist in developed nations such as United States of America, Spain, Australia, and Israel, am...

soil alkalinity and salinity are serious problems in arid and semi-arid regions, and therefore monitoring of soil ph and electrical conductivity (ec) is necessary in any region. the present study aimed to properly interpolate soil ph and ec as soil quality indices in a semi-arid mountainous area with annual precipitation of 342.4 mm. the study area is the karimabad rangelands in hamadan provinc...

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between job burnout and neuroendocrine indicators in soldiers living in a harsh environment. Three hundred soldiers stationed in the arid desert and 600 in an urban area were recruited. They filled in the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire. One hundred soldiers were randomly selected from each group to measure their levels o...

What does a horticulturist or landscape architect strive to attain when choosing plants for a naturalistic animal exhibit in any major zoo? Should visitors come upon bananas and tropical figs complementing an exhibit featuring giraffes or zebras that naturally roam the hot, arid Serengeti? Let’s hope not. Likewise, they should not be confronted by trees that resemble the acacias of arid Kenya a...

The feral cat (Felis catus) is recognised as a significant threat to fauna conservation in Western Australia, particularly in arid and semi arid regions of the State. Not only do feral cats prey on native fauna and have the potential to spread diseases, but they have proven to be an obstacle to fauna reintroduction programs. Western Shield fox baiting strategies have been ineffective against fe...

Many biological invasions do not occur as a gradual expansion along a continuous front, but result from the expansion of satellite populations that become established at 'invasion hubs'. Although theoretical studies indicate that targeting control efforts at invasion hubs can effectively contain the spread of invasions, few studies have demonstrated this in practice. In arid landscapes worldwid...

the importance of groundwater as a source of water supply in arid, semi –arid areas in recent years due to the uncontrolled exploitation of groundwater have been doubled. uncontrolled exploitation has been caused a drop in the water table in many areas of the country, including this region. with replace methods of modern irrigation instead of traditional irrigation methods can prevent drop the ...

palynological analyses from exposed palaeolacustrine deposits located at the flanks of damavand volcano, in the central alborzmountains in northern iran, provide a broad idea of the temporal variation of vegetation according to climate changes during a rangeof limited time intervals during the quaternary period. this research reveals that the regional vegetation of the study area had been asemi...

................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface...................................................................................................................................................... 1 Background ..............................................................................