1) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60607, USA (e-mail: [email protected]) 2) Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84 990, Israel (e-mail: [email protected]) 3) Department of Live Sciences and Mitrani Department of Desert Ecol...

Heterothermy plays an important role in lowering the costs of thermoregulation in endotherms by reducing water and energy requirements. We tested predictions that birds in arid habitats should express fine-scale variation in their thermoregulatory patterns as a function of prevailing climatic conditions. We assessed effects of air temperature (Tair) and water vapor pressure deficit (D) on body ...

Desert roses are gypsum crystals that consist of intersecting disks. We determine their geometrical structure using computer assisted tomography. By mapping the geometrical structure onto a graph, the topology of the desert rose is analyzed and compared to a model based on diffusion limited aggregation. By comparing the topology, we find that the model gets a number of the features of the real ...

Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray analyses of desert varnish reveal that microorganisms concentrate ambient manganese that becomes greatly enhanced in brown to black varnish. Specific characteristics of desert varnish and of varnish bacteria support a microbial origin for manganese-rich films. Varnish microbes can be cultured and produce laboratory manganese films. Accord...

In recent years telecommunications services in remote Australia have received considerable attention, with services for indigenous desert communities a key focus. This project, known as Desert Interactive Remote Television (DIRT), uses existing community rebroadcast TV infrastructure to provide low cost multimedia messaging services for remote desert communities. The system architecture, key ap...

The adaptive significance of mechanisms of energy and water conservation among species of desert rodents, which avoid temperature extremes by remaining within a burrow during the day, is well established. Conventional wisdom holds that arid-zone birds, diurnal organisms that endure the brunt of their environment, occupy these desert climates because of the possession of physiological design fea...

Desert dust is one of the most important atmospheric ice-nucleating aerosol species around the globe. However, there have been very few measurements of ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations in dusty air close to desert sources. In this study we report the concentration of INPs in dust laden air over the tropical Atlantic within a few days’ transport of one of the world’s most important a...

Aboriginal mobility and the sustainability of communities: Case studies from northwest Queensland and eastern Northern Territory Aboriginal mobility and the sustainability of communities: Desert Knowledge CRC Working Paper #5 Information contained in this publication may be copied or reproduced for study, research, information or educational purposes, subject to inclusion of an acknowledgement ...

OBJECTIVES The study aims to analyse the physiological characteristics of top level off-road motocross, enduro, and desert rally motorcyclists to facilitate the design of a specific training program. METHODS Twenty seven off-road top level riders participated in this study which measured anthropometric data, maximum aerobic power with incremental tests of both arms and legs, isokinetic dynamo...