Streamflow in arid and semi-arid regions tends to be dominated by rapid responses to intense rainfall events. Such events frequently have a high degree of spatial variability, coupled with poorly gauged rainfall data. This sets a fundamental limit on the capacity of any rainfall-runoff model to reproduce the observed flow. The IHACRES model is a parameterically efficient rainfall-runoff model t...

The effect of diet on barn owl (Tyto alba) breeding biology has been well studied in the temperate regions but not in the more arid Middle East. In temperate regions, barn owls are darker colored and mainly prey upon Cricetidae rodents, whereas in arid regions, they are lighter colored and prey to a larger degree upon Muridae rodents. In this study we analyzed the diet and breeding success of 2...

Climate change may significantly affect the hydrological cycle and water resource management, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, output from the Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) regional climate model were used in conjunction with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to analyse the effects of climate change on streamflow of the Xiying and Zamu ...

A brief analysis on the distribution range of some of the species dominating in the arid and extra arid regions of North Africa and Arabian Peninsula is presented. These species are belonging to three phytogeographical categories namely: Saharo-Sindian, Sudano-Deccanian and Tropical African-Indian elements. Species included for this study are either disjunct or they have a wider distribution, s...

There exists a general consensus that future climate change has the potential to severely impact fragile regions on the planet, especially the semi-arid to arid zones [1]. If adaptation strategies are absent and institutions are not in place for mitigation, economies will suffer and intraand interstate conflicts over the allocation of scarce resources will potentially ensue. These developments,...

Nomadic and transhumant livestock comprise the normative mode of production in the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa. By adopting management practices with high human labor and informational input, pastoral societies have adapted to innately high environmental variability. The Western veterinary model, which developed under sedentary conditions of production, has been unable to address herd ...

The arid zone encompasses land that has an imbalance between precipitation and losses through evaporation. Globally, arid zones comprise large part of many countries in the mid-latitudes in both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres. Both Australia and Iran are countries with a large arid zone. This negative water balance in the arid zone affects the type of land use in these countries. At ...

The integration of phylogenetics, phylogeography and palaeoenvironmental studies is providing major insights into the historical forces that have shaped the Earth's biomes. Yet our present view is biased towards arctic and temperate/tropical forest regions, with very little focus on the extensive arid regions of the planet. The Australian arid zone is one of the largest desert landform systems ...

Retrieval of eco-hydrological variables/parameters from the orld’s cold and arid regions using remote sensing is more chalenging compared to other regions, and less research work on uantitative remote sensing has been carried out in these specific egions. This is because: (1) Cold and arid regions are most likely o be located in theworld’s remote and relatively under-developed reas, where conve...