Background: Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. It helps regulate other hormones and maintains the body’s daily rhythm, telling us when to fall asleep and when to wake up. Ever since we developed electricity and the lightbulb, we have been decreasing our body’s secretions of melatonin by being exposed to bright light after it is dark. Jet lag, shift work and poor v...

AIM The global spread of woody plants into grasslands is predicted to increase over the coming century. While there is general agreement regarding the anthropogenic causes of this phenomenon, its ecological consequences are less certain. We analyzed how woody vegetation of differing cover affects plant diversity (richness and evenness) and multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) in gl...

arid and semi-arid areas, due to the sensitive, have variable ecosystems, so continuous assessment and monitoring of the environment is required for most of managerial and adjustment practices. vegetation is one of the most important assessment tools and used as a criterion for evaluation and monitoring of ecosystem functions. in this study, for the first time in the country, we have evaluated ...

In a laboratory experiment seedlings of 24 perennial herbaceous prairie species were offered to the omnivorous cricket Acheta domestica in an extended feeding trial. Leaf damage was monitored daily allowing an index of palatability to be calculated for each plant species. The index of palatability successfully predicted relative abundance within the same set of species in an independently-condu...

AIM Geographic, climatic, and soil factors are major drivers of plant beta diversity, but their importance for dryland plant communities is poorly known. This study aims to: i) characterize patterns of beta diversity in global drylands, ii) detect common environmental drivers of beta diversity, and iii) test for thresholds in environmental conditions driving potential shifts in plant species co...

Increasing the current precision of nutrient management will need analytical tools that aid in collecting site specific data. A technology with potential is hyperspectral remote sensing. Modern, portable spectroradiometers permit reflectance data in the spectral region between 350 and 2500 nm to be collected quickly. With the limited sampling, handling, and processing required the technology al...

abstract. the purpose of this study was to investigate vegetation dynamics and range conditions considering the climatic conditions and soil properties in haftooman, khoor and biabanak deserts, iran. for this purpose, after determining vegetation types and the associated species, the type of rangeland utilization, grazing season, the livestock type, the other relevant information, vegetation da...

abstract background: fertility rate apparently is a non-interventional behavior, but in practice, it is infl uenced by social values and norms in which culture and traditional beliefs play a signifi cant role. in this regard, some studies have shown that gender roles can be associated with reproductive behaviors. with regard to the importance of annual reduction of population growth rate and it...