BACKGROUND To convert deserts into arable, green landscapes is a global vision, and desert farming is a strong growing area of agriculture world-wide. However, its effect on diversity of soil microbial communities, which are responsible for important ecosystem services like plant health, is still not known. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied the impact of long-term agriculture on deser...

The success of non-native, invasive species may be due to release from natural enemies, superior competitive abilities, or both. In the Sonoran Desert, Erodium cicutarium has increased in abundance over the last 30 years. While native species in this flora exhibit a strong among-species trade-off between relative growth rate and water-use efficiency, E. cicutarium seems to have a higher relativ...

BACKGROUND This ecological study examines the relationship between food desert prevalence and academic achievement at the school district level. DESIGN AND METHODS Sample included 232 suburban and urban school districts in New York State. Multiple open-source databases were merged to obtain: 4(th) grade science, English and math scores, school district demographic composition (NYS Report Card...

Introduction Conclusions References

Soil erosion is a growing challenge for agricultural production in Northern China. To explore the effect of variation in stubble height and mulching biomass on soil erosion caused by wind, we conducted a field experiment using a quadratic rotation combination design. Results showed that the quantity of straw mulch was the dominant factor affecting soil erosion, and stubble height was of seconda...

The natural environment affects the construction of desert highways. Conversely, highway construction affects the natural environment and puts the ecological environment at a disadvantage. To satisfy the variety and hierarchy of desert highway construction and discover the spatio-temporal distribution of the natural environment and its effect on highway construction engineering, an assessment o...

nature reserve in the Saudi Arabian desert. It has been a dry winter, with virtually no rain since the previous spring.The hoopoe larks are quiet this year. Occasionally a male whistles his song and dances vertically up and down in the air – about 5 metres up, then, after a somersault , back to the ground or the bush that he started from. In some years, every territory contains a dancing male. ...

components to changes in precipitation mediate productivity response in a desert ecosystem Lara G. Reichmann* and Osvaldo E. Sala USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, 808 E. Blackland Rd., Temple, Texas, 76502 USA; Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, C0930 Austin, Texas, USA; School of Life Sciences and School of Sustainability, Arizona S...

BACKGROUND The often dramatic effects of urbanization on community and ecosystem properties, such as primary productivity, abundances, and diversity are now well-established. In most cities local primary productivity increases and this extra energy flows upwards to alter diversity and relative abundances in higher trophic levels. The abiotic mechanisms thought to be responsible for increases in...

Fifteen Iranian wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) were compared for salt (NaCl & Na2SO4 in 1:1 ratio) tolerance using three treatments: 1.26 (control), 6.8 and 13.8 dSm in a green house. During vegetable growth, shoot Na, K, K: Na ratio and agronomic traits such as 1000-grain weight, grain yield, biological yield, number of tillers, number of fertile tillers, spike length, salinity suscept...