The vegetation cover and rangeland production are the most important factors to determine the proper planning system for effective utilization and management of rangelands. In this research, the effect of climatic factors (temperature and rainfall) were studied on vegetation cover and forage production of four species (Festuca ovina, Bromus tomentellus, Dactylis glomerata and Agropyron trichoph...

The location of possible glacial refugia of six Apostasioideae representatives is estimated based on ecological niche modeling analysis. The distribution of their suitable niches during the last glacial maximum (LGM) is compared with their current potential and documented geographical ranges. The climatic factors limiting the studied species occurrences are evaluated and the niche overlap betwe...

Increasing levels of global trade and intercontinental travel have been cited as the major causes of biological invasion. However, indirect factors such as economic development that affect the intensity of invasion have not been quantitatively explored. Herein, using principal factor analysis, we investigated the relationship between biological invasion and economic development together with cl...

BACKGROUND Many theoretical researches predicted that the larch species would decrease drastically in China under future climatic changes. However, responses of the structural and compositional changes of Gmelin larch (Larix gmelinii var. gmelinii) forests to climatic changes have rarely been reported. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Field survey was conducted to examine the structures and com...

BACKGROUND The Arctic and subarctic area are likely to be highly affected by climate change, with possible impacts on human health due to effects on food security and infectious diseases. OBJECTIVES To investigate the evidence for an association between climatic factors and infectious diseases, and to identify the most climate-sensitive diseases and vulnerable populations in the Arctic and su...