Plant-plant interactions are driven by environmental conditions, evolutionary relationships (ER) and the functional traits of the plants involved. However, studies addressing the relative importance of these drivers are rare, but crucial to improve our predictions of the effects of plant-plant interactions on plant communities and of how they respond to differing environmental conditions. To an...

Varnish microlamination (VML) dating is a correlative age determination technique that can be used to date and correlate various geomorphic features in deserts. In this study, we establish a generalized late Quaternary (i.e., 0–300 ka) varnish layering sequence for the drylands of western USA and tentatively correlate it with the SPECMAP oxygen isotope record. We then use this climatically corr...

Drylands occupy 6 15 billion hectares (Bha) or 47 2% of the world's land area Of this, 3 5 to 4 0 Bha (57%65%) are e~ther deserl~fied or prone to deserlificat~on Desp~te the low soil organic carbon (SOC) concentratlon, total SOC pool of soils of the drylands IS 241 Pg (1 Pg = petagram = 10" g = I billion metrlc ton) or 15 5% of rhe world's rota1 of 1550 Pg to 1 -meter depth Desertification has ...

Absorbing aerosols can strongly absorb solar radiation and have a profound impact on the global and regional climate. Black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and dust are three major types of absorbing aerosols. In order to deepen the overall understanding of absorbing aerosols over East Asia and provide a basis for further investigation of its role in enhanced warming in drylands, the spatial-t...

Plant water use in drylands can be complex due to variation in hydrologic, abiotic and biotic factors, particularly near ephemeral or intermittent streams. Plant use of groundwater may be important but is usually uncertain. Disturbances like fire contribute to complex spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Improved understanding of how such hydrologic, abiotic, and biotic factors affect plant water use ...

Abstract Numerous permanent and temporary wetlands occur throughout the world’s drylands. Although characterised by diverse water inundation frequencies, durations depths, these in drylands are typically hotspots of biological activity productivity. The healthy functioning even existence many drylands, however, is threatened desiccation resulting from a combination climate change human disturba...

Aim Fungi are major drivers of ecosystem functioning. Increases in aridity known to negatively impact fungal community composition dryland ecosystems globally; yet, much less is on the potential influence other environmental drivers, and whether these relationships linear or nonlinear. Time period 2017–2021. Location Global. Major taxa studied Fungi. Methods We re-analysed multiple datasets fro...