• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2022

Background: Plant vegetation appears in heterogeneous and patchy forms in arid and semi-arid regions. In these regions, underneath the plant patches and the empty spaces between them are covered by biological soil crusts (moss, lichen, cyanobacteria, and fungi). Biological soil crusts lead to the formation and development of fertile islands in between vegetation patches via nitrogen and carbon fixation and the permeation of runoff water and nutrients in the soil. Results: The present study has investigated the association of biological soil crusts, the development of fertile islands, and the formation of plant patches in part of the Takht-e Soltan protected area, located in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. Three sites were randomly selected as the working units and differentiated based on their geomorphological characteristics to the alluvial fan, hillslope, and fluvial terrace landforms. Two-step systematic random sampling was conducted along a 100-meter transect using a 5 m² plot at a 0-5 cm depth in three repetitions. Fifteen samplings were carried out at each site with a total of 45 samples taken. The results showed that the difference in altitude has a significant relationship with species diversity and decreases with decreasing altitude. Results have revealed that the moisture content of the site, with biocrust has had a considerable increase compared to the other sites, helping to form vegetation patterns and fertile islands. Conclusions: The findings indicated that biological crusts had impacted the allocation of soil parameters. They affect the formation of plant patches by increasing the soil's organic carbon, nitrogen, moisture and nutrient content provide a suitable space for plant growth by increasing the soil fertility in the inter-patch space.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.7-10
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• 2011

The semi-arid and arid regions comprise almost 40 percent of the world's land surface. The low and erratic precipitation pattern is the single most significant contributor for limiting crop production in such regions where rainfall is the source for surface, soil and ground water. In a changing climate, the semi-arid and arid regions would increasingly face the challenge of water scarcity. According to the relevant literature; under the assumption of a doubling of the current atmospheric CO2 concentration, irrigation demand was estimated to increase for wheat and to decrease for second crop maize in a Mediterranean environment of Turkey in the 2070s. Crop evapotranspiration would decrease due to stomata closure. Reference evapotranspiration and potential soil evaporation were projected to increase by 8.0 and 7.3%, respectively, whereas actual soil evaporation was predicted to decrease by 16.5%. Drainage losses below 90 cm soil depth were found to decrease mainly due to lesser rainfall amount in the future.

• Forest Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.153-159
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• 2018

Seedlings of Pterocarpus indicus were grown in both well-watered and drought stress conditions in phytotron. Seedlings grown under well-watered and drought stress conditions were exposed to either combined or without ozone of 200 ppb for one month. First, the physiological responses to elevated ozone levels indicated a decreased biomass. The seedlings grown in arid soil and exposed to ozone showed less biomass than those grown in arid soil but not exposed to ozone. Moreover, all the seedlings except the well-watered and unexposed ones showed a significantly lower photosynthetic rate ($P_N$) over time. However, with the accumulation of ozone injuries, the antioxidant enzyme activities increased overall. In the study results, when exposed to ozone, the well-watered seedlings exhibited more antioxidative enzyme activity than did the seedlings grown in arid soil. Generally, P. indicus in arid soil suffered less damage from elevated ozone than did the well-watered plants.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 1988

A field experiment was conducted in the arid interior of British Columbia, Canada to assess the seasonal soil temperature and moisture regimes in an American ginseng garden. As a consequence of the man-modified microclimate (elevated shade canopy and surface covering of mulch), the growing environment of the crop was fundamentally altered when compared to adjacent agricultural growing environments. In the ginseng garden, soil temperatures were found to remain low throughout the growing season whereas soil moisture remained high when compared with the outside garden environment. These results indicate that even in the hot, arid environment of the interior of British Columbia, the growing of ginseng is undertaken in sub-optimal conditions for the major part of the growing season. This poses challenges for the producers of the crop to modify the architecture of the gardens to enhance the soil regime without creating a deleterious aerial environment.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.227-239
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• 2018

Background: Predicting the potential habitat of plants in arid regions, especially for medicinal ones, is very important. Although Pergularia tomentosa is a key species for medicinal purposes, it appears in very low density in the arid rangelands of Iran, needing an urgent ecological attention. In this study, we modeled and predicted the potential habitat of P. tomentosa using maximum entropy, and the effects of environmental factors (geology, geomorphology, altitude, and soil properties) on some characteristics of the species were determined. Results: The results showed that P. tomentosa was absent in igneous formation while it appeared in conglomerate formation. In addition, among geomorphological units, the best quantitative characteristics of P. tomentosa was belonged to the conglomerate formation-small hill area (plant aerial parts = 57.63 and root length = 30.68 cm) with the highest electrical conductivity, silt, and $CaCO_3$ content. Conversely, the species was not found in the mountainous area with igneous formation. Moreover, plant density, length of roots, and aerial parts of the species were negatively correlated with soil sand, while positive correlation was observed with $CaCO_3$, EC, potassium, and silt content. The maximum entropy was found to be a reliable method (ROC = 0.91) for predicting suitable habitats for P. tomentosa. Conclusion: These results suggest that in evaluating the plant's habitat suitability in arid regions, contrary to the importance of the topography, some environmental variables such as geomorphology and geology can play the main role in rangeland plants' habitat suitability.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.331-352
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• 2021

The relationship of both heavy metals and major elements in soil, plants, and groundwater was studied in a hyper-arid area and depends completely on the groundwater to cover its all needs. The study reviles that 27.3% of the studied groundwater was strongly acidic and has very low pH values (

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels and types of nitrogen fertilizer on seedlings and soil chemical properties in a semi-arid area, Mongolia. 2-year-old Populus sibirica and 4-year-old Ulmus pumila seedlings were planted in May 2014. Six treatments with three levels of nitrogen (low-level: urea $5g\;tree^{-1}$; medium-level: urea $15g\;tree^{-1}$, ammonium sulfate $33g\;tree^{-1}$, urea $15g\;tree^{-1}$ with potassium phosphate $10g\;tree^{-1}$; high-level: urea $30g\;tree^{-1}$) were applied and for the medium-level of nitrogen, different types of fertilizer were treated. Survival rate, root collar diameter (RCD) growth rate, leaf nitrogen concentration of seedlings, and soil chemical properties were determined in August 2014. The seedling survival rate of both species decreased as the level of nitrogen increased. This result can be explained by water stress caused by nitrogen fertilization in arid regions. The RCD growth rate of P. sibirica was significantly decreased by the treatment of high-level of nitrogen due to excessive nitrogen fertilization, and was increased by the treatment of ammonium sulfate due to sulfur which might promote nitrogen uptake. The leaf nitrogen concentration of P. sibirica did not change by the treatment of low-level of nitrogen, and was increased by the treatment of medium-level of nitrogen. There were no significant differences in the RCD growth rate and the leaf nitrogen concentration of U. pumila among the six treatments. None of soil chemical properties was affected by nitrogen fertilization. Overall, the low-level of nitrogen showed no effect on seedlings and soil chemical properties, except on survival rate of U. pumila and the high-level of nitrogen was considered excessive fertilization. Continuous monitoring of medium-level nitrogen fertilization including the ammonium sulfate, which increased early growth of seedlings, would be needed to elucidate the effect of fertilization on seedling growth and soil properties in a semi-arid region.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.251-273
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• 2020

Soil degradation has become a major worldwide environmental problem, particularly in arid and semi-arid climate zones due to irregular rainfall and the intensity of storms that frequently generate heavy flooding. The main objective of this study is the use of geographic information system and remote sensing techniques to quantify and to map the soil losses in the Wadi Saida watershed (624 ㎢) through the revised universal soil loss equation model and a proposed model based on the surface erosive runoff. The results Analysis revealed that the Wadi Saida watershed showed moderate to moderately high soil loss, between 0 and 1000 t/㎢/year. In the northern part of the basin in the region of Sidi Boubkeur and the mountains of Daia; which are characterized by steep slopes, values can reach up to 3000 t/㎢/year. The two models in comparison showed a good correlation with R = 0.95 and RMSE = 0.43; the use of the erosive surface runoff parameter is effective to estimate the rate of soil loss in the watersheds. The problem of soil erosion requires serious interventions, particularly in basins with disturbances and aggressive climatic parameters. Good agricultural practices and forest preservation areas play an important role in soil conservation.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.3-6
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• 2007

Chickpea wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris(FOC) is the most destructive disease in India. It is seed-borne as well as soil-borne pathogen. The role of seed-borne FOC in introducing and establishing wilt in FOC free soils is unknown. Using seeds of FOC infected chickpea cultivar K 850, we provided an evidence of establishing wilt disease in the FOC free soils within three crop cycles or seasons. In the first cycle, typical wilt symptoms were observed in 24 pots in 41 days after sowing. These 24 pots were used for second and third cycles without changing the soil. These 24 pots were sown with seeds collected from healthy plants of a susceptible cultivar JG 62, one seed per pot and development of wilt symptom was recorded. Wilt symptoms appeared in all the pots 26 days after sowing in second cycle and in 16 days after sowing in third cycle. On selective medium, all of the wilted plants yielded FOC in all the three cycles indicating that the mortality was due to wilt. FOC propagules on selective medium were 172, 1197, and 2280 $g^{-1}$ soil at the end of the first, second, and third cycles, respectively. These studies indicated that Fusarium wilt of chickpea is seed-borne and seeds harvested from wilted plants when mixed with healthy seeds can carry the wilt fungus to new areas and can establish the disease in the soil to economic threshold levels within three seasons.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.311-324
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• 1992

Polymeric substances in organic matter of soils aggregate soil particles into a crumb structure which greatly influences such properties as water movement, aeration and heat transfer. Poorly-structured soils may be improved by the incorporation of synthetic polymers where the main objects are : promoting germination or establishing crops, improving drainage, combating wind and water erosion, and reducing evaporation from the surface of soil under arid condition.