although the geographic and climatic conditions of the desert itself is not really growing, knowing about the iranian desert is important. what expands the deserts is the relationship of the desert areas with of the natural environment itself. degradation of water resources, soil and especially vegetation in the desert belt of iran provided conditions caused desertification and their spread on ...

Common raven (Corvus corax) populations in Mojave Desert regions of southern California and Nevada have increased dramatically over the past five decades. This growth has been attributed to increased human development in the region, as ravens have a commensal relationship with humans and feed extensively at landfills and on road-killed wildlife. Ravens, as a partially subsidized predator, also ...

Dust storms and sandy dust events originating in arid and semi-arid areas can transport particulate material, pollutants, and potential transport long distances from their sources. Exposure to desert dust particles is generally acknowledged to endanger human health. However, most studies have examined anthropogenic particulate sources, with few studies considering contributions from natural des...

Sixteen cases of desert lung with cataracts were previously reported on, and an additional 14 cases have now been encountered from the same area of which 13 had cataracts. The association of cataract with desert lung was not commented on in the previous report, because it was thought to be coincidental. It now appears to be real rather than coincidental. Analysis of these 33 patients showed the...

B. Krasnov ([email protected]) and G. I. Shenbrot, Mitrani Dept of Desert Ecology, Jacob Balustein Inst. for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Sede-Boqer Campus, IL-84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel and Ramon Science Center, P. O. Box 194, IL-80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel. D. Mouillot, UMR CNRS-UMII 5119 Ecosystemes Lagunaires, Univ. Montpellier II, CC093, FR-34095 Montpellier Cedex ...

The existence of microbial communities living inside desert rocks has been reported by FRIEDMANN et al. (1967, 1976), first in rocks collected from the hot and dry Negev desert and later in rocks in the frigid Ross Desert of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The extremely inhospitable climatic conditions in both places has led to the suggestion that these organisms have very low rates of met...

Insect prey of the Namib golden mole congregate beneath clumps of grass scattered among the sand dunes of the Namib Desert. In the presence of the light winds that typically blow over the Namib Desert, these grass clumps emit low-amplitude vibrations that are transmitted through the sand. While foraging in the sand-swimming mode (a few centimeters below the surface of the sand), some moles appa...

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Institute for Dryland Environmental Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel, UMR CNRS-UM2-IFREMER-IRD 5119 Ecosystemes Lagunaires, University of Montpellier 2, CC093, FR-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Instit...

BACKGROUND The Mongolian steppe is one of the most important grasslands in the world but suffers from aridization and damage from anthropogenic activities. Understanding structure and function of this community is important for the ecological conservation, but has seldom been investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this study, a total of 324 quadrats located on the three main types of...