The phenology and routes of long-distance migrations European Nightjars are well described for Western individuals migrating within the East Atlantic Mediterranean flyways, while little is known about populations from other parts Eurasian breeding range. We describe route choice timing in eastern Mongolia, Asia–East Africa flyway to reach wintering destinations South-East Africa. After covering...

The atmospheric conditions above Dome A, a currently unmanned location at the highest point on the Antarctic plateau, are uniquely suited to astronomy. For certain types of astronomy Dome A is likely to be the best location on the planet, and this has motivated the development of the Plateau Observatory (PLATO). PLATO was deployed to Dome A in early 2008. It houses a suite of purpose-built site...

Despite recognition that nearly one-third of the 6300 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, our understanding of the general ecology and population status of many amphibians is relatively poor. A widely-used method for monitoring amphibians involves injecting captured individuals with unique combinations of colored visible implant elastomer (VIE). We compared VIE identification to a...

Groundwater plays a key role in maintaining the ecology and environment in the hyperarid Qaidam Basin (QB). Indirect evidence and data from sparse observation wells suggest that groundwater in the QB is increasing but there has been no regional assessment of the groundwater conditions in the entire basin because of its remoteness and the severity of the arid environment. Here we report changes ...

Abstract The Turkish-Iranian Plateau and the Zagros highlands are among most prominent physiographic features in Middle East were formed as a result of continental collision between Arabian Eurasian plates. To better understand nature lithospheric mantle origin observed seismic anomalies this region, we investigated attenuation uppermost by detailed measurements quality factor Sn phase (Sn Q). ...

The genus Melilotus contains altogether some 20 species (WIERSEMA et al. 1990) in the world which mostly distributed in Europe, Central and SW. Asia and N. Africa (HUCHINSON 1964). BOISSIER (1872) listed 13 species of Melilotus in which 6 of them are found in the Iranian flora. PARSA (1948) following Boissier’s work referring some new collections made by other workers, listed the same species n...