Kogan and Trahtman [2003. The moisture from the air as water resource in arid region: hopes, doubts and facts. Journal of Arid Environments 53, 231–240] analysed the functioning of a passive dew condenser built by F.I. Zibold in 1912 in Feodosia, and proposed a model to explain how thousands of litres of condensed water might be generated per day based on Zibold’s design. In a previous publicat...

This research examines the simultaneous retrieval of surface soil moisture and salt concentrations using hyperspectral reflectance data in an arid environment. We conducted laboratory and outdoor field experiments in which we examined three key soil variables: soil moisture, salt and texture (silty loam, clay and silty clay). The soil moisture content models for multiple textures (M_SMC models)...

Livestock fodder needs in nearly all developing countries now exceed the sustainable yield of rangelands and other forage resources. In Africa, overgrazing has reduced range productivity virtually everywhere. It is important to provide animals with adequate nutrition to ensure the high productive and reproductive performance. Meanwhile, it is necessary to avoid the deterioration of the pasturel...

Kenyan Maasai is a pastoral society that lives in arid and semi-arid lands across the Kenya — Tanzania border. The society has a barracks-like institution called the Murran system where male youths are formally trained in preparation for community life. The study was conducted among the Maasai of Narok District, Kenya. Being a qualitative study, its data was collected through respondent intervi...

The Mongolian Plateau (MP), which is situated in the interior of Asia and possesses a typical continental climate, experienced harsh climatic conditions during the Quaternary glacial fluctuations. Although these events likely had huge impacts on the local animal populations, the current effects have hardly been explored. To investigate whether the MP supported a refugium along an oceanic-contin...

BACKGROUND Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of honey have been largely recognized by various studies. Almost all of the potential benefits are associated with polyphenol content. Honey varieties from the arid region are reported to be rich in polyphenols, but data related to its bioactivity in vitro is greatly lacking. This study aimed at establishing the antioxidant and anti-inflam...

Climate change is generally predicted to increase net primary production, which could lead to additional C input to soil. In arid central Asia, precipitation has increased and is predicted to increase further. To assess the combined effects of these changes on soil CO2 efflux in arid land, a two factorial manipulation experiment in the shrubland of an arid region in northwest China was conducte...

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...

for a suitable irrigation programming and an efficient management, crop coefficient determination for different plant growth stages are necessary. in this investigation water requirement, single and dual crop coefficient of rosmarinus officinalis l. was determine by drainable lysimeter in a semi-arid climate condition. by using of drainable lysimeter, the exact water requirement and also kc val...