Water is an important resource for plant life. Since climate scenarios for Switzerland predict an average reduction of 20% in summer precipitation until 2070, understanding ecosystem responses to water shortage, e.g. in terms of plant productivity, is of major concern. Thus, we tested the effects of simulated summer drought on three managed grasslands along an altitudinal gradient in Switzerlan...

The ongoing debate on water policies in Spain is characterised by a traditional paradigm, dominated by the intervention on hydrological systems through the construction and management of infrastructure, which is progressively being abandoned but is currently still strong while the emergence of new management approaches. Climate change and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) are, in addition, th...

This paper describes the application of data mining techniques in a Geo-spatial Decision Support System, which focuses on drought risk management. Association rule discovery is one of the widely used approaches in data mining. This paper highlights the rule discovery algorithms that we have developed and used for discovering useful patterns in ocean parameters and climatic indices to monitor dr...

This paper describes the application of data mining techniques in a National Drought Decision Support System, which focuses on drought risk management. Association rule discovery is one of the widely used approaches in data mining. This paper highlights the rule discovery algorithms that we have developed and used for discovering useful patterns in ocean parameters and climatic indices.

Drought is a complex, slow-onset phenomenon that affects more people than any other natural hazard and results in serious economic, social, and environmental impacts. Although drought affects virtually all climatic regimes and has significant consequences in both developed and developing countries, its impacts are especially serious in developing countries where dryland agriculture predominates...

Introduction: Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is an important cereal of traditional farming systems that has the natural ability to withstand various abiotic stresses such as drought, which is one of the most important manifestations of abiotic stress in plants. These plants have however evolved mechanisms that allow them to adapt and survive prolonged periods of water deficit at some level o...

In recent decades, the area and proportion of planted forests have increased; thus, understanding the responses of planted and natural forests to drought are crucial because it forms the basis for forest risk assessments and management strategies. In this study, we combined the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) enhanced vegetation index (EVI), meteorological aridity indices,...

Climate change is increasing the risk of drought to forested ecosystems. Although drought impacts are often anecdotally noted to occur in discrete patches of high canopy mortality, the landscape effects of drought disturbances have received virtually no study. This study characterized the landscape configuration of drought impact patches and investigated the relationships between patch characte...