Dry Land Asia is the largest arid and semi-arid region in the northern hemisphere that suffers from land desertification. Over the period 1982–2011, there were both overall improvement and regional degeneration in the vegetation NDVI. We analyze future climate changes in these area using two ensemble-average methods from CMIP5 data. Bayesian Model Averaging shows a better capability to represen...

Climate change and water availability in the Middle East are important in understanding human adaptive capacities in the face of long-term environmental changes. The key role of water availability for sedentary and nomad populations in these arid to semiarid landscapes is understood, but the millennium-scale influence of hydrologic instability on vegetation dynamics, human occupation, and histo...

Arid ecosystems are liable to undergo sudden discontinuous transitions from a vegetated to a desert state as a result of human pressure and climate change. A predictive framework about the conditions under which such transitions occur is lacking. Here, we derive and analyze a general model describing the spatial dynamics of vegetation in arid ecosystems considering local facilitation as an esse...

Underutilised crops represent an important component of agro-biodiversity with potential to contribute to climate change adaptation, food security and sovereignty in poor rural areas. However, despite emerging research interest, they continue to occupy the peripheries of mainstream agriculture. There is a need to consolidate the gains made and propose a coherent strategy for translating underut...

Droughts can have a severe impact on the dynamics of animal populations, particularly in semi-arid and arid environments where herbivore populations are strongly limited by resource availability. Increased drought intensity under projected climate change scenarios can be expected to reduce the viability of such populations, yet this impact has seldom been quantified. In this study, we aim to fi...

1Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran 2School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 3Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 4Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad...

Khadijeh Mirzaii, Shadan Nessari Ashkezari, Talaat Khadivzadeh. Associated Professor, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; MSc in Midwifery, Students Research Committee, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Assistant Professor, Department of Mid...

Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and semi-arid areas. Nowadays, lack of water and desertification are extreme problems for plant survival and growth in the arid and semi-arid areas of the world. It becomes increasingly important as to how to let the plant absorb moisture more effectively for keeping growth strong. We synthesized superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) with carbohydrate...