• Title/Summary/Keyword: desert

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Complexities of interpreting aeolian linear dune depositional history using luminescence chronology: a case study from the Kalahari

  • Munyikwa, Kennedy
    • Proceedings of the KGS Conference
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    • 2003.05a
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    • pp.39-45
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    • 2003
  • Linear dunes are the most ubiquitous of all desert dune types ( Lancaster, 1982: Pye and Tsoar, 1990; Bristow et al., 2000) and occur as aeolian bedforms that cover no less than 40 % of the world's desert sand dune areas (Bullard et al., 1995). Despite their omnipresence, however, their origin and long-term development remain inadequately understood (Tseo, 1993; Bullard et al., 1995; Bristow et al., 2000, Wang et al., 2002). (omitted)

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Livestock grazing and trampling effects on plant functional composition at three wells in the desert steppe of Mongolia

  • Narantsetseg, Amartuvshin;Kang, Sinkyu;Ko, Dongwook
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.42 no.3
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    • pp.103-110
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    • 2018
  • Backgrounds: In arid grasslands, wells are subject to heavy trampling and grazing pressure, which can increase vulnerability to local land degradation. To investigate trampling and grazing, we surveyed plant communities at three well sites in the desert steppe of Mongolia, using 1600-m line transects from the wells. The sites (Bshrub, Sshrub, and shrubL) differed by concomitant shrub type (big shrub, small shrub, and shrub-limited) and livestock pressure (light, medium, and heavy). A plant classification scheme based on edibility and morphology (rosette or creeping type) was used to separate grazing and trampling effects on plant communities. Results: Edible plants were dominant at all sites but a fraction of grazing- and trampling-tolerant plants increased in the order Bshrub, Sshrub, and shrubL, following livestock pressure. Clear transition zones from inedible to edible plant groups were recognized but at different locations and ranges among the sites. Trampling-tolerant plants explained 90% of inedible plants at Sshrub with camels and horses, but grazing-tolerant plants prevailed (60%) at shrubL with the largest livestock number. Plant coverage increased significantly along the transects at Bshrub and Sshrub but showed no meaningful change at shrubL. Herbaceous plant biomass showed significant positive and negative trends at Bshrub and shrubL, respectively. Conclusions: Both grazing and trampling can produce larger fractions of inedible plants; in this, camel and horses can have considerable effects on desert-steppe plant communities through trampling.

Changes of Mass Loss and Nitrogen Content during Root Decomposition in the Chihuahuan Desert (치화화사막에서 뿌리의 분해과정에 따른 질소함량의 변화)

  • ;W.G.Whitford
    • The Korean Journal of Ecology
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.311-318
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    • 1994
  • We examined spatial and temporal patterns of root decomposition for three and half years, from October 1986 to April 1990, in semi-arid Chihuahuan Desert. Decomposition of roots occurred in a two-phased pattern: an early period of rapid mass loss followed by a period of slower loss. The rate of root decomposition had a high negative correlation with the initial lignin concentration in roots (r=-0.84, p<0.05). Annual mass loss rate of Baileya multiradiata, a herbaceous annual, was the highest with the value of 0.60, while that of Panicum obtusum. a perennial grass which was restricted to playa, was the lowest with 0.13. The mass loss rate of roots in the playa was the lowest among the vegetation zones along the transect. After 42 months elapsed, fluffgrass roots in playa lost 40% of the initial mass, while in other sites it lost on average 55% of the initial mass. In all roots except for desert marigold, there was an initial release of nitrogen early in decomposition followed by net nitrogen immobilization. Nitrogen concentration of the desert marigold roots showed linear increase from the beginning. Lignin concentration of perennial grass roots were higher than those of herbaceous annual and woody perennial root.

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Analysis of Land Cover Change Around Desert Areas of East Asia (식생 자료를 이용한 동아시아 사막 주변의 토지피복 변화 분석)

  • Ryu, Jae-Hyun;Han, Kyung-Soo;Pi, Kyoung-Jin;Lee, Min-Ji
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.105-114
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    • 2013
  • Desertification of the East Asia area induced by human's indiscriminate activities and natural causes has gradually expanded and demanded scientific research for monitoring and predicting land cover condition. Therefore, this research classified land types which were compared to MODIS land cover and analyzed the extent of barren zone effecting Korea through yellow dust using S10-DAY MVC NDVI from SPOT between 1999 and 2011. This study used unsupervised classification after processing NDVI Correction and Water Mask for eliminating noise values included in the data for enhancement of classification accuracy. The results of analysis are that there are active variations near the borders of desert, especially the Mongolian steppe and the Gobi Desert in central Asia. In addition, the extent of entire desert has been decreased in the middle of the last decade, although desertification is in going on in East Asia.

Enhancing liquid-chilled storage and cryopreservation capacities of ram spermatozoa by supplementing the diluent with different additives

  • Rateb, Sherif A.;Khalifa, Marwa A.;El-Hamid, Ibrahim S. Abd;Shedeed, Hesham A.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.33 no.7
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    • pp.1068-1076
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    • 2020
  • Objective: In the present study, we determined efficiency of incorporating caffeine, melatonin or omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid in the diluent on mitigating consequences of (a) liquid chilled- and (b) cryo-storage of ram spermatozoa. Methods: In the first experiment, ejaculates (n = 30) were collected from 5 adult rams and were pooled, diluted (1:10) with Tris-citric acid (base diluent) and were split into 4 aliquots assigned for: control (untreated), caffeine (0.1 mM), melatonin (0.3 mM) or omega-3 fatty acids (0.3 mM) (T0). The diluted specimens were stored at 4℃ for 48 h, during which sperm physical and cytological properties were evaluated along with oxidative stress indices (T24, T48). In the second experiment, 15 ejaculates (3 per male) were pooled, diluted with glycerolized base diluent (4% glycerol, v/v) and were split corresponding to the same previous treatment groups before being processed for cryopreservation. Post-thaw physical and kinematic sperm properties were assessed by a computer-assisted sperm analysis system. Results: The results clarified superiority of both melatonin and omega-3 supplementation on maintaining (p<0.05) sperm properties, while reducing (p<0.05) lipid peroxidase reaction and enzymatic activities of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase in preservation medium, compared to caffeine either during liquid-chilled storage or cryopreservation of spermatozoa. Conclusion: Melatonin and omega-3 are regarded efficient alternatives to caffeine when processing ram spermatozoa for application of artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization.

Ecological Studies of Plants for Control of Environmental Pollution, III -The Studies on the Content and Contamination of Heavy Metals and Vegetation of Roadside- (환경오염 방지를 위한 식물의 생태학적 연구(III) -도로변 식생과 중금속 함량 및 오염에 관한 연구)

  • 차종환
    • Journal of Plant Biology
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.158-162
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    • 1974
  • Some ecological attributes of perennial plants and Pb contamination were analyzed for study plots near an entrance of Nevade Test Site at Mercury Valley, Nye County, Nevada. The surface of the desert pavement soil was composed of stones (1 to 4cm diameter). The underside of each stone was coated with coarse and fine sand (about 90%). The profiles of soil were constituted with the A-horizon and C-horizon only. The soil pH at the plots ranges from 7.6 to 8.5, C/N was 13 and cation exchange capacity showed 15me/100g. Nine species and 42 number of individuals were found in all plots. Franseria dumosa and Larrea divaricata were dominant species. The discrete clumps of vegetation were consisted of 9 species of common perennials and these were covered about 25% on desert pavement, on the other words, bare area without vegetation was about 75%. The size and spacing of the plants was irregular. Community coefficient as comparison between shrub species in these study area and those in near the low elevation desert indicated a low degree of similarity. Density, cover and productivity in the study plots as compared with those in the nearest study areas in Mercury Valley showed a higher value. The soils in the studied area involved high heavy metal contents in the plant tissue was higher than those of its soil. The leavds of Lycium andersonii tended to accumulate more Zn and Mo than those of the other species. Larrea divaricata leaves accumulated very high leaves of Fe and Ephedra nevadensis were generally high in Mn. Lead contamination was apparent in foliage of desert vegetation collected alongside the roadway, reflecting the variation in traffic volume. Lead contents greater than fifteen-fold of normal (low traffic) were found in plant foliage alongside the heavily traveled roadway. Lead content of old foliage by the heavily traveled roadway was as much as 129 ppm but that of new foliage 17 ppm only.

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Detection of Land Cover Change Using Landsat Image Data in Desert Area (Landsat 영상자료를 이용한 사막지역의 토지피복 변화 분석)

  • M, Erdenechimeg;Choi, Byoung-Gil;Na, Young-Woo;Kim, Tae-Hoon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.471-476
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    • 2010
  • This study aimed at monitoring, mapping, and assessing the land degradation in the desert area. In this research, the Landsat TM and ETM+ imageries to assess the extent of land degradation for study area during the period from 1991 to 2007. Were used to study supervized, unsupervized classfication and NDVI land cover changes in the desert area in Mongolia. The classified map consists of five classes of water, vegetation, slight desertification, middle desertification and sever desertification. It shows that for determination classfication methods and NDVI, desertification map of the study area are prepared. The result showed accounting for a clear deterioration in vegetative cover, an increase of sever desertification and a decrease in middle desertification and slight desertification respectively of the total study area.

Studies on the setting a restricted area and recreation fishing management of Jeju special self-governing province (제주특별자치도의 낚시관리 및 통제구역 설정에 관한 연구 -관련법 분석 및 설문조사-)

  • Koo, Myung-Sung;Kim, Suk-Jong
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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    • v.50 no.3
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    • pp.385-395
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    • 2014
  • This study is one of the research series for providing basic data that would contribute to the development of the field of fishing industry through the systematic fishing management, protection of fishery resources and healthy fishing culture with safety measures for fishermen in Jeju island according to the implementation of "Fishing Management and Support Act". As a result of analyzing the related acts, the contents of this study are related with provisions of "Fishing management and Support Act" on acts on fishing management, fish bait management, support for fishing and fishing related industries and with provisions of "Act of the preservation and management of desert island" on the preservation, use and development of desert island (use and development in a desert island, behavior in usable desert island). As a result of the survey, the rocks on the seashore showed the highest popularity with 52.6% for fishermen and the seawall was the highest with 47.1% for Maritime police as their fishing place in the fishing related activity data. And as the survey result about the awareness of "Fishing management and Support Act", 65.2% of general fishermen, 36.0% of maritime police and 70.5% of fishing related agencies answered that they knew the act. It was also surveyed whether they consider its contribution to fishing related industry development and positive result was shown by general fishermen and maritime police with 46.8%, 48.0% respectively whereas fishing-related enterprises showed negative answer with 47.7%. In the survey of fishing related regulation standard, general fishermen, maritime police and fishing related agencies all showed different opinions regarding the regulation standard. It is recommended that regulation standard needs to be set up after detailed review.

The impact of cardinal temperature variation on the germination of Haloxylon aphyllum L. seeds

  • Taghvaei, Mansour;Ghaedi, Masoumaeh
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.33 no.3
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    • pp.187-193
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    • 2010
  • Seed germination is a biological process that is affected by a variety of genetic and environmental factors. The cardinal temperature and thermal time are required for germination. The principal objective of this study was to identify and characterize variations in the base, optimum, and maximum germination temperatures of Haloxylon aphyllum L. from two seed sources, in order to establish models for use in predicting seeding dates. Mature H. aphyllum seeds were germinated at temperatures between 5 and $35^{\circ}C$. The germination behavior of H. aphyllum seeds to different temperature regimens in light was evaluated over a temperature range of $5-35^{\circ}C$ at intervals of $5^{\circ}C$. The rate of germination increased between base and optimum thermal conditions, and decreased between optimum and maximum thermal conditions; the germination rate varied in a linear fashion at both sub-optimal and supra-optimal temperatures. The linear regression fit the range of germination rates at $5^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$ to $30^{\circ}C$, and thus the base temperature, optimum temperature, and maximum temperature for the germination of H. aphyllum were measured to be $0.6^{\circ}C$, $25.69^{\circ}C$, $37.90^{\circ}C$, and $1.76^{\circ}C$, $21.56^{\circ}C$, $37.90^{\circ}C$ for Qom and the Fars dune desert respectively.