this study aims to identify favorable oil–gas reservoir facies in the chishan group of the wubao fault zone (gaoyou sag, subei basin, china) using the methods of outcrops and cores observation, granularity analysis, scanning electron microscope, log data, etc. the results suggest that the chishan group in the studied area mainly develops desert sedimentary system, and contains five kinds of fac...

Nature reserves are an important component of the strategy to halt biodiversity loss caused by habitat fragmentation and loss, climate change and other anthropogenic factors. In the past decades, 184 nature reserves were designed for biodiversity conservation in Inner Mongolia. However, no studies have quantified the general condition of these reserves. In this paper, we summarized the history,...

Animal species are seldom distributed evenly at either local or larger spatial scales, and instead tend to aggregate in sites that meet their resource requirements and maximise fitness. This tendency is likely to be especially marked in arid regions where species could be expected to concentrate at resource-rich oases. In this study, we first test the hypothesis that productive riparian sites i...

One of the main factors of water erosion is the natural characteristics of the soil called "erodibility" or"detachability". The present study aims to analyze the variations of soil erodibility factor in different plains and thefactors related to it. Erodibility is one the key factors in some models of erosion and sediment such as Universal SoilLoss Equation (USLE), Revised USLE (RUSLE), and Mod...

The harvester termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi (Fuller) (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), is an endemic in southern Namibia, where it collects and eats dry grass. At the eastern, landward edge of the Namib Desert, the nests of these termites are sometimes visible above ground surface, and extend at least 60 cm below ground. The termites gain access to foraging areas through underground foraging tu...

Apollo-Soyuz photographs of the Monte Desert in southeastern San Juan, Argentina, were used for a reconnaissance survey of large-scale desert landforms. The Apollo-Soyuz color photographs were helpful in distinguishing lineaments and probable faults, drainage patterns, rock types, and soil-tonal variations. These photographs were especially useful in studying the distribution of sand deposits a...

The vast expanse of the Gobi desert across the Mongolian plateau features frequent dust storms. In this isolated region remote sensing techniques can provide an effective measurement of dust storms. Brightness temperature channels 4, 5 of AVHRR/NOAA satellite data, emissive bands of MODIS/TERRA satellite data, and meteorological station measurement data were used and tested for dust and sandsto...

The desert lizards (Meroles: Lacertidae) form a small clade of ground-dwelling taxa inhabiting arid southwest Africa (Arnold, 1991). All seven species have some portion of their range in the Namib Desert, and four of the seven are Namib endemics. Their close geographic ties to the Namib are hypothesized to reflect an interesting pattern of speciation, one in which the lineage infiltrated progre...

Soil moisture is a key variable in dryland ecosystems since it determines the occurrence and duration of vegetation water stress and affects the development of weather patterns including rainfall. However, the lack of ground observations of soil moisture and rainfall dynamics in many drylands has long been a major obstacle in understanding ecohydrological processes in these ecosystems. It is al...