[1] We conducted a modeling study to evaluate how soil hydrological properties regulate water and carbon dynamics of grassland ecosystems in response to multifactor global change. We first calibrated a process-based terrestrial ecosystem (TECO) model against data from two experiments with warming and clipping or doubled precipitation in Great Plains. The calibrated model was used to simulate re...

[1] Using a simple dynamic vegetation model coupled to an intermediate complexity climate model Kleidon [2004] suggests that an optimum stomatal conductance exists at which vegetation productivity is maximized. It is suggested that this maximum is the result of two competing processes: 1) the increased supply of CO2 with increased stomatal conductance and 2) increased cloud cover, associated wi...

Many engineered barriers are expected to function for hundreds of years or longer. Over the course of time, it is likely that some barriers will experience infiltration to the point of breakthrough. This study compares the recovery from breakthrough of two storage-evapotranspiration type engineered barriers. Replicates of test plots comprising thick soil and capillary-biobarrier covers were wet...

Increasing crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE) in dryland farming requires a quantitative understanding of relationships between crop yield and the water balance over many years. Here, we report on a long-term dryland monitoring site at the Loess Plateau, Shanxi, China, where winter wheat was grown for 30 consecutive years and soil water content (0-200 cm) was measured every 10 days. The ...

Evapotranspiration represents the combined loss of soil water from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere through evaporation of water from the soil or plant surfaces and transpiration via stomates of the plant. In agricultural production systems these two losses of water represent a major component of the water balance of the crop. If we examine evapotranspiration over time throughout a growing...

The diplopods Cingalobolus bugnioni and Aulacobolus excellens possess an epicuticle formed of lipoproteins. But unlike in insect cuticles, the epicuticle lades an outer lipid layer. The epicuticle is found only in the animals collected in summer months. At the commencement of the rainy season the new cuticle that is formed following moulting is without an epicuticle. The periodical presence of ...

The diplopods Cingalobolus bugnioni and Aulacobolus excellens possess an epicuticle formed of lipoproteins. But unlike in insect cuticles, the epicuticle lades an outer lipid layer. The epicuticle is found only in the animals collected in summer months. At the commencement of the rainy season the new cuticle that is formed following moulting is without an epicuticle. The periodical presence of ...