Variability in seasonal soil moisture (SM) and temperature (T) can alter ecosystem/atmosphere exchange of the trace gases carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4). This study reports the impact of year-round SM status on trace gas fluxes in three semiarid vegetation zones, mesquite (30 g organic C kg soil), open/ forb (6 g organic C kg soil), and sacaton (18 g organic C kg s...

In spite of substantial introduction of new sorghum and millet cultivars in semiarid SubSaharan Africa, there has been minimum aggregate impact on yields (FAO and ICRISAT, 1996: The World Sorghum Economies: Facts, Trends and Outlook. FAO, Rome, Italy and ICRISAT, Andhra Pradesh, India) in contrast with other crops, such as cotton and maize. Only where inorganic fertilizers and improved water re...

Quantifying the effects of nutrient additions on soil microbial respiration (R m) and its contribution to soil respiration (R s) are of great importance for accurate assessment ecosystem carbon (C) flux. Nitrogen (N) addition either alone (coded as LN and HN) or in combination with phosphorus (P) (coded as LN + P and HN + P) were manipulated in a semiarid alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau si...

505 Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 76:505–514 Posted online 6 Feb. 2012 doi:10.2136/sssaj2011.0284 Received 12 Aug. 2011 *Corresponding author ([email protected]). © Soil Science Society of America, 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recordi...

abstract one of the methods for improving soil physical quality of arid and semiarid regions is the application of cheap organic conditioners such as sewage sludge. this research was conducted in large pots (50 cm diameter, 25 cm height) to study the effects of tabriz petrochemical biological sludge at 4 rates (25, 50, 75 and 100 tons/ha) on organic carbon (oc), mean weight diameter (mwd) of ag...

Changes in climate, land management and fire regime have contributed to woody species expansion into grasslands and savannas worldwide. In the USA, Pinus ponderosa P.&C. Lawson and Juniperus virginiana L. are expanding into semiarid grasslands of Nebraska and other regions of the Great Plains. We examined P. ponderosa and J. virginiana seedling response to soil water content, one of the most im...

[1] Groundwater is an important component of the hydrologic cycle, and its anomaly will result in variations of soil moisture, water, and energy balances between the land surface and atmosphere, which ultimately influence climate. In this study, we implement a groundwater model into the regional climate model RegCM3, which is called RegCM3_GW, and investigate the effects of water table dynamics...

[1] Water scarcity is a critical issue in semiarid regions; however, regional groundwater monitoring is extremely limited. This study evaluates the ability of the GRACE satellites to monitor groundwater storage in the semiarid High Plains aquifer, United States (450,000 km area), which is subjected to intense irrigation. GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage (TWS) is highly correlated with th...

6 [1] Soil moisture is a critical element in the hydrological cycle especially in a semiarid 7 or arid region. Point measurement to comprehend the soil moisture distribution 8 contiguously in a vast watershed is difficult because the soil moisture patterns might 9 greatly vary temporally and spatially. Space-borne radar imaging satellites have been 10 popular for they may exhibit all-weather ob...