The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is among the cornerstone policies created to increase U.S. energy independence by using biofuels. Although greenhouse gas emissions have played a role in shaping the RFS, water implications are less understood. We demonstrate a spatial, life cycle approach to estimate water consumption of transportation fuel scenarios, including a comparison to current water wi...

Water harvesting is the collection of runoff for productivity purposes, instead of runoff being left to cause erosion. In arid and semi-arid drought-prone areas, micro-catchments are widely used as a water harvesting method to improve rangeland condition. The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of micro-catchment on ecological indices of rangeland health in Ghick-Sheikhha, Jirof...

This investigation was done in order to study the response of grain yield and yield components of bread wheat cultivars to drought stress in western Iran in 2008-2009. The main plots were levels of drought stress (full irrigation, stress at early stem elongation, flowering and grain filling stages) and subplots were five cultivars (Chamran, Dez and Verinak). The results indicated that the effec...

drought is a climatological hazard and is a part of the climate of a region. this climatological phenomenon has some properties that distinguish it from other natural disasters. drought is a gradual phenomenon and when the amount of moisture and precipitation become less than normal value in a certain period, its damages are non- structural in this condition and it is said that drought has occu...

Genus Salsola, a genus of annual semi-dwarf to dwarf shrubs and woody tree species, is widely distributed across the arid and semi-arid areas of the world. Several features like high fodder value, abundant seed production, tolerance to extreme climatic conditions like high temperature and prolonged drought conditions contributed significantly towards its success as a potential forage species in...

In the Northeastern U.S., drought is expected to increase in frequency over the next century, and therefore, the responses of trees to drought are important to understand. There is recent debate about whether land-use change or moisture availability is the primary driver of changes in forest species composition in this region. Some argue that fire suppression from the early twentieth century to...

Although drought impacts on water quantity are widely recognized, the impacts on water quality are less known. The Zayandehrud River basin in the west-central part of Iran plateau witnessed an increased contamination during the recent droughts and low flows. The river has been receiving wastewater and effluents from the villages, a number of small and large industries, and irrigation drainage s...