The worldwide phenomenon of shrub encroachment in grass-dominated dryland ecosystems is commonly associated with desertification. Studies of the purported desertification effects associated with shrub encroachment are often restricted to relatively few study areas, and document a narrow range of possible impacts upon biota and ecosystem processes. We conducted a study in degraded Mediterranean ...

Soil moisture plays a key role in vegetation restoration and ecosystem stability in arid and semiarid regions. The response of soil moisture to rainfall pulses is an important hydrological process, which is strongly influenced by land use during the implementation of vegetation restoration. In this study, vertical soil moisture variations of woodland (Pinus tabulaeformis), native grassland (Sti...

BACKGROUND The Mongolian steppe is one of the most important grasslands in the world but suffers from aridization and damage from anthropogenic activities. Understanding structure and function of this community is important for the ecological conservation, but has seldom been investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this study, a total of 324 quadrats located on the three main types of...

Comparison of the Diversity Weed Types in Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plantations that have not been replanted and after replanting PTPN II, North Sumatra.". This study aims to determine composition, structure weed vegetation comparison diversity oil palm before replanting. used a quadratic method with purposive sampling weeds where plots were 1 x m size total 9 plots. The results this f...

in order to sustainable use of rangelands, it is necessary to recognize water, soil, and vegetation cover and analyze their relationships. physical and chemical properties of soil are effective in distribution of plant species in local area. to determine the effects of some soil properties on species distribution of eurotia ceratoides and stipa barbata in baghedar summer region of bafgh, three ...

We have compared the effect of toxic Cu and Cd concentrations on growth, metal accumulation, and chloroplast ultrastructure of willow (Salix purpurea L.) and reed [Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.]. After a 10-day treatment, both species have tolerated to some extent the lowest concentration of both metals; however, plant growth was strongly reduced at the highest Cu and Cd concentra...