This study is designed to demonstrate use of free remote sensing data to analyze response of water resources and grassland vegetation to a climate change induced prolonged drought in a sparsely gauged semi-arid region. Water resource changes over Hulun Lake region derived from monthly Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) products were an...

Changes in the distribution and abundance of bird and small mammal species at urban-wildland edges can be caused by different factors. Edges can affect populations directly if animals respond behaviorally to the edge itself or if proximity to edge directly affects demographic vital rates (an ‘‘ecotonal’’ effect). Alternatively, urban edges can indirectly affect populations if edges alter the ch...

Mounds originating from wind-blown sediment accumulation beneath vegetation (nebkhas) often indicate land degradation in dry areas. Thus far, most nebkha research has focused on individual plants. Here, we aimed to explore population-scale processes (up to scales of about 100 m) that might explain an observed nebkha landscape pattern. We mapped the Rhazya stricta Decne. population in a 3 ha stu...

Increasing trends of urbanization lead to vegetation degradation in big cities and affect the urban thermal environment. This study investigated (1) the cooling effect of urban green space spatial patterns on Land Surface Temperature (LST); (2) how the surrounding environment influences the green space cool islands (GCI), and vice versa. The study was conducted in two Asian capitals: Beijing, C...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important component of the global carbon cycle yet is rarely quantified adequately in terms of its spatial variability resulting from losses of SOC due to erosion by water. Furthermore, in drylands, little is known about the effect of widespread vegetation change on changes in SOC stores and the potential for water erosion to redistribute SOC around the landscape...

BACKGROUND Liao River basin in Jilin Province is the place of origin of the Dongliao River. This study gives a comprehensive analysis of the vegetation coverage in the region and provides a potential theoretical basis for ecological restoration. METHODS The seasonal variation of vegetation greenness and dynamics based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in major land cover ty...

~ Riparian lands are among the most productive ecosystems on earth. They occupy only a small proportion of the landscape but frequently support a greater variety and abundance of animal life than adjacent habitats. ~ Important habitat components include vegetation (often taller, denser, more diverse, and more complex in riparian lands), food, standing water, shelter from predators, sites for ne...

Drylands cover 41% of the terrestrial surface and support > 36% of the world’s population. However, the magnitude of dryland degradation is unknown at regional and global spatial scales and at 15–30-yr temporal scales. Historical archives of > 30 yr of Landsat satellite imagery exist and allow local to global monitoring and assessment of a landscape’s natural resources in response to climatic e...

The ‘rain use efficiency’ (RUE) may be defined as the ratio of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) to annual precipitation, and it is claimed to be a conservative property of the vegetation cover in drylands, if the vegetation cover is not subject to non-precipitation related land degradation. Consequently, RUE may be regarded as means of normalizing ANPP for the impact of annual preci...

The effects of grazing rest on rangelands are different in different climates and knowledge of these effects is necessary to apply correct management. For this purpose, this study was carried out on the percent vegetation cover (PVC) and forage production (FP) of range species at the Nir Range Research Station in Yazd province as a model of steppe rangelands of Iran. In the study area, differen...