This study addresses the adaptation of Nitraria sphaerocarpa to blown sand at the edge of a desert oasis with regard to the aspects of soil seed banks, seedlings, and population. Horizontally, the total number of seeds per unit area decreased from the shrub canopy center to intershrub areas, and most seeds were found under shrub canopies. Vertically, the highest proportion of seeds was found at...

The natural environment affects the construction of desert highways. Conversely, highway construction affects the natural environment and puts the ecological environment at a disadvantage. To satisfy the variety and hierarchy of desert highway construction and discover the spatio-temporal distribution of the natural environment and its effect on highway construction engineering, an assessment o...

Animals often move in a variety of complex habitats and they often exhibit morphological variation that can be explained, at least in part, by the habitat in which they live. The habitats of animals are often generally categorised based on dominant structures. Although this scheme can be fruitful, it ignores the intricacies of the microhabitat and the actual habitat utilisation of an animal. Th...

sand dune habitats in desert regions have harsh conditions for plant establishment and survival. ammodendron persicum, an psamophyte shrub plant belongs to leguminosae family, which grows over the desert sand dunes of zirkohgaen, gezik and khash  along east part of iran. recognizing the adaptive features of the plant species may help towards its conservation and introducing to other sand dune h...

As one of the most important biological factors that maintain the stability of the largest fixed and semi-fixed desert in China, the Gurbantunggut Desert, the biological soil crusts (BSCs) develop well and play critical ecological roles in the desert ecosystem. In this paper, we briefly summarize our research findings since 2002 including species composition, distribution pattern and ecological...

Chinese academy of sciences) SMOS is a satellite dedicated to measuring soil moisture(SM) and sea surface salinity (SSS) continuously at a resolution around 50km from space for the first time in the history. It is also the first spaceborne mission that carries a synthetic aperture radiometer at L band. CAL/VAL is a big challenge to this kind of mission considering its frequency, resolution scal...

Relations of landform types to wind regimes, bedrock composition, sediment supply, and topography are shown by field studies and satellite photographs of the Western Desert of Egypt. This desert, which lies at the core of the largest hyperarid region on earth, provides analogs of Martian wind-formed features. These include sand dunes, alternating light and dark streaks, knob 'shadows,' and yard...

The jumping spider Habronattus dossenus Griswold 1987 (Salticidae) communicates using seismic signals during courtship and can be found on rocks, sand and leaf litter. We examined the filtering properties of, and tested the efficacy of male courtship signals on, these natural substrates. These substrates have drastically different filtering properties at the distances at which the males court. ...

Extreme nature of climate and topographical conditions may affect soil properties at cold desert high altitude. Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to know altitudinal variations in soil physico-chemical properties at cold desert high altitude region. For this, agriculture soils were collected from different altitude viz. site I (1000011000 ft), site II (11000-12000 ft) and site III...