since renaissance, the natural ecosystems have fallen into a complete state ofdisarray due to the rise in the amount of carbon dioxide. soil, the unsparing stuff, is one of themajor sources of carbon storage, and plays a paramount role in the global equilibrium ofcarbon as well as carbon sequestration. given that iran is benefiting from vast steppes, therate of carbon sequestration in them dese...

This essay, which is the 6(th) in the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Ethnobiologists and Their First Time in the Field", is a personal reflection by the researcher on his first field experiences with ethnobiology. Author writes on how Hungarian herders in the Hortobágy salt steppes and Csángó people in the Carpathian mountains changed his views on landscape, vegetation, lo...

This paper tests predictions derived from the non-equilibrium theory of rangeland science. Data were collected in livestock enclosures situated in the relatively moist desert steppes of the Gobi Gurvan Saykhan region of southern Mongolia from 2000 to 2003. Plant community composition and species’ richness in enclosures showed clear differences between years, but these were equally strong in ung...

Grassland ecosystems play a critical role in regulating CO2 fluxes into and out of the Earth's surface. Whereas previous studies have often addressed single fluxes of CO2 separately, few have addressed the relation among and controls of multiple CO2 sub-fluxes simultaneously. In this study, we examined the relation among and controls of individual CO2 fluxes (i.e., GEP, NEP, SR, ER, CR) in thre...

Global climate change projections suggest an increasing frequency of droughts and extreme rain events in the steppes of the Eurasian region. Using the eddy covariance method, we measured carbon and water balances of a meadow steppe ecosystem in Northeast China during 2 years which had contrasting precipitation patterns in spring seasons in 2007 and 2008. The meadow steppe sequestrated only 64Ð2...

OBJECTIVE In order to improve fermentation quality of natural grasses, their silage preparation and fermentation quality in meadow steppe (MS) and typical steppe (TS) were studied. METHODS The small-scale silages and round bale silages of mixed natural grasses in both steppes were prepared using the commercial lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculants Chikuso-1 (CH, Lactobacillus plantarum) and c...

Andrew Sherratt included horseback riding and chariotry in his conception of the Secondary Products Revolution, but his emphasis on the role of horses in warfare and on a Near Eastern influence in the earliest episode of horse domestication is viewed here as as an important shortcoming in his understanding of the process of horse domestication. Current evidence indicates that horses were domest...

The landscapes of Inner Mongolia are widely known for the vast Stipa krylovii steppes. However, overgrazing and other improper land uses have extensively degraded the Stipa krylovii steppe ecosystem in recent decades. Knowledge about the soil seed banks and the remaining vegetation in these damaged ecosystems is crucial for guiding the restoration efforts. Using a germination method, this study...