Interest in arid ecosystems as a source of food supply for rapidly increasing population of the world, on the one hand, and the problems pertaining to the climatic characteristics, water shortages and soil sensitivity for the inhabitants in such areas, on the other have prompted efforts at both national and international levels to develop a better understanding of these problems as well as to f...

drought is the most significant constraint for crop production in arid and semi-arid regions. in order to assess drought tolerance in fifteen rapeseed (brassica napus) cultivars using yield-based drought tolerance indices, two experiments were conducted at the research station of college of agriculture, shiraz university, shiraz, iran during 2009-2010 growing season. the cultivars were arranged...

Overgrazing affects plant communities, and is a significant disturbance factor in arid and semi-arid regions. The immediate changes of plant communities after overgrazing in the disturbed arid ecosystems of Iran have been poorly studied. We recorded data from 100 random samples before and after overgrazing in the Golbahar plain located in the northeastern Iran to determine the changes in the pl...

the micromorphology of pedogenic carbonate features in calcareous soils of arid and semiarid regions of kohgilouye province, southwestern iran, has been studied to determine their genesis and distribution in different climatic regions. eight representative pedons (from a total number of 24 pedons) were studied in aridic-ustic (minimum rainfall), ustic and xeric (maximum rainfall) soil moisture ...

Evaporation, as a major component of the hydrologic cycle, plays a key role in water resources development and management in arid and semi-arid climatic regions. Although there are empirical formulas available, their performances are not all satisfactory due to the complicated nature of the evaporation process and the data availability. This paper explores evaporation estimation methods based o...