the purpose of this study was to evaluate the species-environment relationships in arid and semi-arid rangelandsof nodushan, yazd. the plant species cover and the environmental variables were measured at 9 sites. soil sampleswere taken for measurement of 12 attributes in 0-10 cm and 10-80 cm layers. vegetation was classified using twowayindicator species analysis (twinspan). data was analyzed u...

The contribution of understorey vegetation (UVEG) to forest ecosystem biomass and carbon (C) across diverse forest types has, to date, eluded quantification at regional and national scales. Efforts to quantify UVEG C have been limited to field-intensive studies or broad-scale modelling approaches lacking field measurements. Although large-scale inventories of UVEG C are not common, speciesand c...

Determining the key factors affecting the reproductive success of nesting birds is crucial in order to better understand the population dynamics of endangered species and to introduce effective conservation programmes for them. Inhabiting a variety of wetland habitats, aquatic birds actively select safe nesting sites so as to protect their nests against predators. The main aim of the present wo...

digital elevation model (dem) is increasingly used these days as an effective tool to extract elevation data in quantitative environmental and land management studies. the improvement of sensors and land resource satellites has made it possible to generate dem from remotely sensed data. dems which are produced from these data are applied not only in the two dimensional (2d) but also in the thre...

in different regions, precipitation takes place with different persistencies and every persistency supplies a share of rainfall days and precipitation. therefore, the importance of rainfall persistence could be evaluated in all places. iran is located in mid-latitude of an arid region, in which the mean rainfall is 250 mm and it has dramatic tempo-spatial changes. rainfalls with short persisten...

Light limitation caused by dense vegetation is one of the greatest threats to plant survival in natural environments. Plants detect such neighboring vegetation as a reduction in the red to far-red ratio (R:FR) of the incoming light. The low R:FR signal, perceived by phytochromes, initiates a set of responses collectively known as the shade avoidance syndrome, intended to reduce the degree of cu...

—We assessed the precision of visual estimates of vegetation and substrate along transects in 15 shallow, natural Nebraska lakes. Vegetation type (submergent or emergent), vegetation density (sparse, moderate, or dense), and substrate composition (percentage sand, muck, and clay; to the nearest 10%) were estimated at 25–70 sampling sites per lake by two independent observers. Observer agreement...

Impacts of livestock grazing in arid and semiarid environments are often concentrated in and around wetlands where animals congregate for water, cooler temperatures, and green forage. We assessed the impacts of winter-spring (November-May) cattle grazing on marsh vegetation cover and occupancy of a highly secretive marsh bird that relies on dense vegetation cover, the California Black Rail (Lat...