Search

We present eight metatranscriptomic datasets of light algal and cyanolichen biological soil crusts from the Mojave Desert in response to wetting. These data will help us understand gene expression patterns in desert biocrust microbial communities after they have been reactivated by the addition of water.

There are two ways, broadly speaking, that one might conceive of meritocratic education. On a standard, ‘narrow’ conception, a meritocratic approach to education is one which distributes certain educational goods and opportunities according to merit. On a second, ‘broader’ conception, however, meritocratic education is an educational system suited to a commitment to meritocracy – where ‘meritocracy’ refers to a particular conception of distributive justice. In this article, I argue that these two conceptions are incompatible with each other, and so the standard ‘narrow’ conception of meritocratic education is, in fact, incompatible with a commitment to meritocracy, at least given the typical way of understanding meritocracy. Of particular importance is that while meritocracy, as a view of distributive justice, requires a commitment to equality of opportunity principles, the narrowly meritocratic conception of education does not. The reason has to do with differences in the underlying justifications of the merit-based principles in each: Meritocracy appeals to moral desert, while the educational desert that is grounded by one’s merits is best thought of as a kind of institutional desert. Thus, I will argue, while meritocracy (and so the broad conception of meritocratic education) is constrained by a fair equality of opportunity requirement, narrowly meritocratic education is not. Recognizing the relationships between meritocracy, meritocratic education, and equality of opportunity, I argue, sheds considerable light on disagreements in the debate over equality of opportunity in education.

The article discusses the thermal adaptation strategies of desert locusts in the Sahara Desert, focusing on mate-guarding behavior that helps ovipositing females avoid overheating in extremely hot conditions. Male locusts act as parasols for females by mounting them during daytime oviposition, reducing their body temperatures significantly. This mate-guarding behavior may serve as a defensive strategy to cool females and expand their ecological niches. The study suggests that understanding these thermoregulatory strategies could aid in environmentally conscious pest control and help desert locusts adapt to future climate change. [Extracted from the article]

Harry Clifton's family connection to Chile on his mother's side is well known, not least through poems like 'A Gulf Stream Ode' from his award-winning collection Secular Eden (2007) and 'The Rain Shadow' and 'Mother Tongue' from The Winter Sleep of Captain Lemass (2012). However, in Gone Self Storm (2023), Clifton searches more extensively for what he has called his 'lost origins'. This essay seeks to interpret that ante-natal quest and elucidates Clifton's geographical imagination in drawing together Latin America and Ireland in a 'Gulf Stream of energy, tragic knowledge'. The elegies for his mother are read in terms of the parched emotional climate of mid-century Ireland alongside the 'waterless deserts' of northern Chile. The essay further explores the valedictory timbre of Clifton's latest poems suggesting that the Keatsian motif of 'gone self storms' is part of Clifton's endeavour to distil the essence of his and his contemporaries' lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountains play a crucial role in shaping the climate of an area and subsequently, the environments and species that are suited to those particular conditions. Understanding the relationships between environmental conditions and their influence on the occurrence of a species is necessary to make informed decisions when conserving relevant habitats. This study evaluated and compared the potential for different interactions between climatic variables to describe the environmental preferences and the range of the Ladakh urial, a narrowly distributed sub‐species of Ovis vignei, in the arid Himalayas. Species distribution models were created from spatially thinned presence‐only occurrence data of 50 locations using a Maximum Entropy (Maxent) model. For this, we subdivided the modeled distribution into environmental categories with varying degrees of suitability. We identified a high cold precipitation to annual precipitation ratio typical of cold desert climates well suited to describe the highest quality environments for urial. The inverse, low warm precipitation to annual precipitation ratio was found to better describe the urial's range at the lower end of potential habitat. In this comparison, we observed that with the exclusion of unsuitable cold steppe habitat with a higher warm precipitation to annual precipitation ratio, we were able to refine the extent of this species range but at a trade‐off to the accurate description of high‐quality environments. This study demonstrated the strong potential of cold arid climatic conditions to describe the distribution of urial in India, which have implications for identifying important areas for the conservation and management of the species in the high altitude rangelands of Ladakh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic carbon is an important component of soil carbon stocks, exerting a profound influence on climate change and ecosystem functioning. Drylands account for approximately 80% of the global soil inorganic carbon (SIC) pool within the top 200 cm. Despite its paramount importance, the components of SIC and their contributions to CO2 fluxes have been largely overlooked, resulting in notable gaps in understanding its distribution, composition, and responses to environmental factors across ecosystems, especially in deserts and temperate grasslands. Utilizing a dataset of 6011 samples from 173 sites across 224 million hectares, the data revealed that deserts and grasslands in northwestern China contain 20 ± 2.5 and 5 ± 1.3 petagrams of SIC in the top 100 cm, representing 5.5 and 0.76 times the corresponding soil organic carbon stock, respectively. Pedogenic carbonates (PIC), formed by the dissolution and re‐precipitation of carbonates, dominated in grasslands, accounting for 60% of SIC with an area‐weighted density of 3.4 ± 0.4 kg C m−2 at 0–100 cm depth, while lithogenic carbonates (LIC), inherited from soil parent materials, prevailed in deserts, constituting 55% of SIC with an area‐weighted density of 7.1 ± 1.0 kg C m−2. Soil parent materials and elevation determined the SIC stocks by regulating the formation and loss of LIC in deserts, whereas natural acidification, mainly induced by rhizosphere processes including cation uptake and H+ release as well as precipitation, reduced SIC (mainly by PIC) in grasslands. Overall, the massive SIC pool underscores its irreplaceable role in maintaining the total carbon pool in drylands. This study sheds light on LIC and PIC and highlights the critical impact of natural acidification on SIC loss in grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horticultural Expos are second-tier expositions sanctioned by the Bureau International Des Expositions (BIE) and the latest event was held in Doha, Qatar from October 2023 to March 2024. Organized around the theme of “Green Desert, Better Environment,” Expo 2023 included pavilions from about 80 countries and organizations, and aimed to entice 3 million visitors to Qatar. Although Horticultural Expos are smaller and receive less attention than top-tier World’s Fairs, they are nonetheless important sites for host countries to engage in cultural diplomacy. Drawing from an event ethnography at the Expo in December 2023, this article shows how the Qatari hosts adapted nationalist scripts about the desert and local identity – to cement the state-led storyline that Qatar is committed to a sustainable and globally-engaged path to future development – in crafting its cultural diplomacy discourse for the event. Though cultural diplomacy works differently at second-tier global events, the case of Qatar’s Expo 2023 still has concrete effects that must be understood and evaluated on their own terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Hurka’s recursive account of value appeals to certain intuitions to expand the class of intrinsic values, placing concepts of virtue and desert within the realm of second and third order intrinsic goods, respectively. This is a formalization of a tradition of thought extending back to Aristotle and Kant via the British moralists, G. E. Moore, and W. D. Ross. However, the evidential status of such intuitions vis a vis the real, intrinsic value of virtue and desert is hostage to alternative explanations. If there is a plausible competing explanation for these intuitions, then the (putative) fact that desert and virtue are intrinsic (rather than instrumental or derivative) goods seems a much less obvious choice for the best explanation. As it turns out, there are plausible evolutionary explanations for these intuitions about desert and virtue. These evolutionary explanations suggest that it is adaptive to value desert and virtue separately from their instrumentality for other goods. Consequently, these explanations debunk intuitions about the intrinsic value of desert and virtue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper argues that people can deserve the option to give. Discussions of desert tend to focus on the benefits and burdens that people might, in some sense, receive, like wealth and jobs. But intuitively, people can also deserve the ability to decide what to do with their wealth or to select who gets a job. Shaping distributive policies and outcomes in accordance with desert is more complicated than philosophers have realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report is dedicated to an ancient Georgian graffito from Nessana in the Negev, an important pilgrimage hub of the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. The graffito was discovered and documented by the inspector of the British Mandatory Department of Antiquities, P.L.O. Guy and was later lost. The only documentation for this graffito was found in the archival materials of the Department and was never published. The inscription is palaeographically dated to a relatively late period, the ninth–tenth centuries CE, and together with other recently discovered epigraphic finds from the region, testifies to the continuation of the Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Sinai well into the early Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nature, microbes do not thrive in seclusion but are involved in complex interactions within- and between-microbial kingdoms. Among these, symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are namely known to improve plant health, while providing resources to benefit other microbial members. Yet, it is not clear how these microbial symbionts interact with each other or how they impact the microbiota network architecture. We used an extensive co-occurrence network analysis, including rhizosphere and roots samples from six plant species in a natural desert in AlUla region (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and described how these symbionts were structured within the plant microbiota network. We found that the plant species was a significant driver of its microbiota composition and also of the specificity of its interactions in networks at the microbial taxa level. Despite this specificity, a motif was conserved across all networks, i.e., mycorrhizal fungi highly covaried with other mycorrhizal fungi, especially in plant roots—this pattern is known as assortativity. This structural property might reflect their ecological niche preference or their ability to opportunistically colonize roots of plant species considered non symbiotic e.g., H. salicornicum, an Amaranthaceae. Furthermore, these results are consistent with previous findings regarding the architecture of the gut microbiome network, where a high level of assortativity at the level of bacterial and fungal orders was also identified, suggesting the existence of general rules of microbiome assembly. Otherwise, the bacterial symbionts Rhizobiales and Frankiales covaried with other bacterial and fungal members, and were highly structural to the intra- and inter-kingdom networks. Our extensive co-occurrence network analysis of plant microbiota and study of symbiont assortativity, provided further evidence on the importance of bacterial and fungal symbionts in structuring the global plant microbiota network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connection between language and the desert is a crucial aspect of Edmond Jabès' writing. Born in Cairo but forced into exile in Paris, Jabès' reflections on the desert in Le Livre des Questions evoke the memories of his youth in Egypt, the loss provoked by his exile, and it echoes the biblical story of the Exodus, of the Jews wandering the desert after leaving Egypt. Beyond its biographical and religious dimensions, in Jabès' work the abyssal space of the desert is also the preeminent metaphor for writing itself, where words emerge from the blank page like marks in the sand. The desert highlights the abyssal quality of language: like a desert mirage, the phantasmatic presence of language never materializes as a fixed object, even as the promise of its realization never dissipates. For Jabès, these different registers of the desert are interconnected: the desert is a textual space which unites the figures of the Jew, the writer, and the exile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desert is important in Jabès' work, because it is for him the place for poetic speech to emerge: speech (midbar in Hebrew) comes from the desert (midbar also). This is to be understood at the beginning of the first Livre des questions (1963) from the autobiographical episode of the risk of death in the Sinai Desert. This episode is rewritten at the very end of Jabès' last book, Le Livre de l'hospitalité (1991); but this time an element takes a special role: the fact that the poet has been saved from death by a nomad of the desert. This fact opens to new developments about the ethics of the desert, which is an ethics of hospitality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I study Guy Debord's critical discourse, particularly his landmark essay The Society of the Spectacle. He underlines here the symbolic desert produced by modern societies. I stress the uniqueness of his perspective, to the extent that such desert stems from a situation of overabundance and excess, and not from a specific void or absence. This desert constitutes a space saturated with images and signs: it asserts the rule of the superfluous and the inconsequential. Moreover, this discourse was rooted in the Glorious Thirties, which were characterized by a strong economic growth. It must therefore be placed within a historical and social context that is quite different from twenty first Century French society. Contemporary France is marred by contrast by unemployment and precariousness as well as by huge socio-economic inequalities. The endless production of media images contradicts therefore the deep shortcomings of social reality. Finally, the concept of the Spectacle, for Debord, did not include yet the overwhelming power of new technologies. These technologies have greatly expanded the influence of images within the social and cultural sphere by making them instantaneous and readily available. The same process has also increased significantly the potential alienation and isolation of man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the eschatological influence of the American desert on the metanarrative structure of Tanguy Viel's novel La Disparition de Jim Sullivan (2013). Dwayne, the character en abyme, fantasizes about desert adventures but as he progresses towards the arid place, the boundaries between the two diegetic levels vanish. The notion of hyperreality, pervading the novel, reflects Dwayne's ethnocentric posture. He is absorbed in his fantasies and unable to contemplate his environment without artifice. Bearing on the notion of desertification, I demonstrate that the desert, long considered an empty space to be filled, reclaims its rights over humanity with agency. In the last chapter, Dwayne commits suicide in the desert, and the arid place absorbs the character in its turn. The desert is no longer perceived as an archaic space of un-culture, but as the new place where anxieties about the future of humankind crystallize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Manzanar Project," initiated in the 1980s by late Dr. Gordon Hisashi Sato, brought new approaches to restoring ecosystem services in coastal regions. Although initially controversial, these innovative practices culminated with the planting of approximately 700,000 mangrove trees on the muddy coast of Eritrea and helped restore mangrove ecosystems on the Mauritanian side of the Senegal River Delta. Moreover, it formulated the daring proposal in early 2011 that irrigating the deserts with seawater and growing mangroves trees and S partina grasses could be a giant step in combating hunger and poverty in many parts of the world. Subsequent field work at Nouakchott Autonomous Seaport, Mauritania, suggested the truthfulness of the proposal. Through trial and error at an inland sabkha (supratidal mudflat or generally flat salt-encrusted desert) in Nouakchott, we learned to grow mangrove trees on a sabkha without any irrigation water inputs. Moreover, we grew other halophyte species in the desert (Sesuvium portulacastrum , Nitraria retusa , Spartina maritima), and demonstrated that deserts can be converted into mangrove forests and grassy meadows. Based on the success of these projects, we believe large desert areas can be afforested using simple technology with a minimum carbon footprint. This paves the way for new initiatives to curb climate change and could constitute a major solution for providing key ecosystem services such as carbon storage, soil erosion control, water conservation, and wood production in desert areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The dynamics of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in soils determine their fertility and crop growth in agroecosystems. These dynamics depend on microbial metabolism, which in turn depends on nutrient availability. Farmers typically apply either mineral or organic fertilizers to increase the availability of nutrients in soils. Phosphorus, which usually limits plant growth, is one of the most applied nutrients. Our knowledge is limited regarding how different forms of P impact the ability of microbes in soils to produce the enzymes required to release nutrients, such as C, N and P from different substrates. Methods: In this study, we used the arable layer of a calcareous soil obtained from an alfalfa cropland in Cuatro Cienegas, México, to perform an incubation experiment, where five different phosphate molecules were added as treatments substrates: three organic molecules (RNA, adenine monophosphate (AMP) and phytate) and two inorganic molecules (calcium phosphate and ammonium phosphate). Controls did not receive added phosphorus. We measured nutrient dynamics and soil microbial activity after 19 days of incubation. Results: Different P molecules affected potential microbial C mineralization (CO2-C) and enzyme activities, specifically in the organic treatments. P remained immobilized in the microbial biomass (Pmic) regardless of the source of P, suggesting that soil microorganisms were limited by phosphorus. Higher mineralization rates in soil amended with organic P compounds depleted dissolved organic carbon and increased nitrification. The C:N:P stoichiometry of the microbial biomass implied a change in the microbial community which affected the carbon use efficiency (CUE), threshold elemental ratio (TER), and homeostasis. Conclusion: Different organic and inorganic sources of P affect soil microbial community structure and metabolism. This modifies the dynamics of soil C, N and P. These results highlight the importance of considering the composition of organic matter and phosphate compounds used in agriculture since their impact on the microbial activity of the soil can also affect plant productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, deserts are considered as fragile and unique biomes. They not only have the capacity to provide various ecosystem services, and possess great tourism potential and scientific value, but also are susceptible to modifications or alterations in their geomorphology. Despite the strategic importance of these ecosystems at a global level, there is limited specialized research directed towards the study of deserts in Ecuador. The purpose of this research is to determine the susceptibility to degradation and carrying capacity of environmental units to support tourist and recreational activities, thereby offering the community a sustainable resource over time. The delimitation of environmental units was carried out based on the identification of land use and land cover through the supervised classification method. Multicriteria analysis was used to obtain the areas susceptible to degradation, where the environmental units were evaluated through expert evaluation. Once the results of the previousmethodologieswere obtained, areas with environmental and tourist potential were identified using the hosting capacity matrix, which is based on anthropic activities developed in the area. Subsequently, a proposal for conservation strategies and activities at the national and local levels was formulated. Five categories of land use and land coverwere identified, resulting in 11 environmental units represented in spatial data. It was determined that approximately 31% of the territory is more susceptible to degradation, while the remaining 69% is less susceptible. Based on the susceptibility of these areas, 7 activities and 2 tourist routes were designated to help reduce anthropogenic pressure. Additionally, the community was provided with 5 proposals for conservation strategies at the national level, 4 at the local level, and 4 activities to be developed based on the findings identified during the investigation. This highlights the significant potential that the Palmira Desert has to become a conservation area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid oasis ecosystems are susceptible and fragile ecosystems on Earth. Studying the interaction between deserts, oases, and impervious surfaces is an essential breakthrough for the harmonious and sustainable development of people and land in drylands. Based on gridded data such as land use and NDVI, this article analyzes the interaction characteristics between oases, deserts, and impervious surfaces in northern Egypt and examines their dynamics using modeling and geographic information mapping methods. The results show the following: In terms of the interaction between deserts and oases, the primary manifestation was the expansion of oases and the reduction of deserts. During the study period, the oases in the Nile Delta and Fayoum District increased significantly, with the area of oases in 2020 being 1.19 times the area in 2000, which shows a clear trend of advance of people and retreat of sand. The interaction between oases and impervious surfaces was mainly observed in the form of the spread of impervious surfaces on arable land into oases. During the study period, the area of impervious surfaces increased 2.32 times. The impervious surface expanded over 1903.70 km2 of arable land, accounting for 66.67% of the expanded area. The central phenomenon between the impervious surface and the desert was the encroachment of the covered area of the impervious surface into the desert, especially around the city of Cairo. Population growth and urbanization are the two central drivers between northern Egypt's oases, deserts, and impervious surfaces. The need for increased food production due to population growth has forced oases to move deeper into the desert, and occupation of arable land due to urbanization has led to increasing pressure on arable land, creating a pressure-conducting dynamic mechanism. Finally, countermeasures for sustainable regional development are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set in Algeria, France, and the Arabian Peninsula in the early twelfth and the late twentieth centuries, L'Invention du désert is about an author who reexamines his life and his craft while writing a history of the Almoravid dynasty that ruled Andalusia and a large portion of the Maghreb from 1056 to 1152 CE. Accordingly, the novel is made of two basic narrative strands. The first focuses on the private musings and reminiscences of the narrator, moving forwards and backwards in space and time and going all the way to his childhood. The second narrative strand recounts the life, rise to power, and downfall of Mohamed ibn Toumert, the religious scholar and zealot whose followers brought down the Almoravids and founded the Almohad dynasty that lasted from 1152 to 1269 CE. The two major story-lines that constitute the novel are brought together by the narrator's reflection on history and archiving for the purpose of problematizing the way Algerian history is conceived and used to address two major social and political concerns confronting Algerians: religious fundamentalism and national identity. The purpose of this article is to examine how Djaout uses the desert both as a topography and a metaphor to challenge the logocentrism of religious fundamentalism and narrow and essentialist definitions of Algerianess. The paper at the same time shows how the understanding and critique of historical logocentrism that are advanced in L'Invention du désert parallel Jacques Derrida's philosophy put forward in Of Grammatology (Derrida in Of grammatology, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1976) and other early works. Because the manuscripts, critical of Islam as practiced under Almoravid rule, Ibn Toumert carries with him function as archives, the paper also engages with some of the themes Derrida developed later in Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression (Derrida in Archive fever: a Freudian impression, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1996). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective irrigation planning is crucial for sustainable agricultural development and ecosystem restoration projects in arid regions. With respect to ambitious greening initiatives, Saudi Arabia is establishing a national strategy toward a more sustainable and eco-friendly future not only for itself but also for the broader Middle East region. Thus, comprehensively understanding the water cycle in the region is essential to identify the most suitable target locations for afforestation and reforestation while considering the potential role of irrigation. Herein, in addition to traditional pedoclimatic factors, we introduce a complementary consideration—“irrigation recycling.” Building on the well-established concept of atmospheric moisture recycling and taking advantage from an atmospheric trajectory dataset, we track the path of evaporated water from current or potential irrigated sites to the location where the evaporated water eventually falls as precipitation. Our analysis offers two key benefits. First, it helps pinpoint the regions in which and the periods during which water recycling is maximum within the country, aiding more precise calculations of the investment return value for irrigation infrastructures. Second, it helps identify the land-use change patterns that contribute to international efforts such as drought mitigation in East Africa as an example. We found that one-third of the actual precipitation in the current Saudi irrigated sites originated from evapotranspiration over land, mainly from Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries. Interestingly, most of the evapotranspiration from these irrigated sites will eventually fall somewhere over land (primarily in Iran). Controlling the seasonality and spatial distribution of the future irrigation expansion will allow controlling the atmospheric moisture recirculation in Saudi Arabia and nearby drought-prone regions such as Eastern Africa. The outcomes of this study will be the subject of future integrated assessments to account for the climatic feedbacks of the land-use change scenarios. At present, they provide crucial insights to support the decision-making process surrounding the Saudi and Middle East Green Initiatives. Further, the presented methodology offers a pragmatic framework that can be applied to similar greening projects for other regions, making it a viable and valuable approach for global sustainability programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of natural groundwater outflows depends on many factors, such as lithology, geological structure, and climate. Areas with particularly poor crenological recognition are arid and semi-arid regions, primarily due to rarity of groundwater outflows in these locations. The article presents the hydrographic and hydrochemical characteristics of selected groundwater outflows in arid and semi-arid areas. In addition to hydrographic mapping, basic physical parameters of water were measured in selected springs, such as temperature (T, °C), electrolytic conductivity (EC, μS∙cm–1), and reaction (pH, –). Laboratory analyses determined the major cations and anions in water: Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, NH4+, SO42−, Cl−, NO3−, Br−, PO43−,. The analyses were performed using an ion chromatograph Metrohm 850 Professional IC. Twenty-four natural groundwater outflows in South America, Africa, and Asia were selected for research. It was found that the vast majority of outflows are transit sources. Their supply area may be far from discharge points. The supply source is rainwater or meltwater from high mountain massifs. Other types of outflow are springs of alluvial fans and braided rivers. They are fed by waters from glacial rivers, which infiltrate alluvial deposits and flow back to the surface. Hydrochemical analysis has shown that the physicochemical properties of water in dry areas vary significantly. Still in the hydrochemical type, there is a predominance of sulphate, chloride, and sodium ions. This distinguishes the spring waters from these areas in temperate latitudes, which are dominated by bicarbonate and calcium ions.

Globally, deserts are considered as fragile and unique biomes. They not only have the capacity to provide various ecosystem services, and possess great tourism potential and scientific value, but also are susceptible to modifications or alterations in their geomorphology. Despite the strategic importance of these ecosystems at a global level, there is limited specialized research directed towards the study of deserts in Ecuador. The purpose of this research is to determine the susceptibility to degradation and carrying capacity of environmental units to support tourist and recreational activities, thereby offering the community a sustainable resource over time. The delimitation of environmental units was carried out based on the identification of land use and land cover through the supervised classification method. Multicriteria analysis was used to obtain the areas susceptible to degradation, where the environmental units were evaluated through expert evaluation. Once the results of the previous methodologies were obtained, areas with environmental and tourist potential were identified using the hosting capacity matrix, which is based on anthropic activities developed in the area. Subsequently, a proposal for conservation strategies and activities at the national and local levels was formulated. Five categories of land use and land cover were identified, resulting in 11 environmental units represented in spatial data. It was determined that approximately 31% of the territory is more susceptible to degradation, while the remaining 69% is less susceptible. Based on the susceptibility of these areas, 7 activities and 2 tourist routes were designated to help reduce anthropogenic pressure. Additionally, the community was provided with 5 proposals for conservation strategies at the national level, 4 at the local level, and 4 activities to be developed based on the findings identified during the investigation. This highlights the significant potential that the Palmira Desert has to become a conservation area.

Abstract In nature, microbes do not thrive in seclusion but are involved in complex interactions within- and between-microbial kingdoms. Among these, symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are namely known to improve plant health, while providing resources to benefit other microbial members. Yet, it is not clear how these microbial symbionts interact with each other or how they impact the microbiota network architecture. We used an extensive co-occurrence network analysis, including rhizosphere and roots samples from six plant species in a natural desert in AlUla region (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and described how these symbionts were structured within the plant microbiota network. We found that the plant species was a significant driver of its microbiota composition and also of the specificity of its interactions in networks at the microbial taxa level. Despite this specificity, a motif was conserved across all networks, i.e., mycorrhizal fungi highly covaried with other mycorrhizal fungi, especially in plant roots—this pattern is known as assortativity. This structural property might reflect their ecological niche preference or their ability to opportunistically colonize roots of plant species considered non symbiotic e.g., H. salicornicum, an Amaranthaceae. Furthermore, these results are consistent with previous findings regarding the architecture of the gut microbiome network, where a high level of assortativity at the level of bacterial and fungal orders was also identified, suggesting the existence of general rules of microbiome assembly. Otherwise, the bacterial symbionts Rhizobiales and Frankiales covaried with other bacterial and fungal members, and were highly structural to the intra- and inter-kingdom networks. Our extensive co-occurrence network analysis of plant microbiota and study of symbiont assortativity, provided further evidence on the importance of bacterial and fungal symbionts in structuring the global plant microbiota network.

Intensive industrial development in the form of metallurgical plants and quarries for mining of mineral resources in the vicinity of the city of Yazd resulted in significant dustiness of the ground layer of atmosphere and accumulation of industrial dust on the soil surface. At the locations of alloy steel production facilities, dust composition was dominated by particulate matter less than 1 μm (PM1), while near sand quarries, dust particles less than 10 μm (PM10) were predominant. The dust from these sources also differs in chemical composition (iron/silicon content ratio, pH). Registration with a pyranometer with a dark green filter with transmittance at a wavelength of 550 nanometers with a time interval of 20 seconds at a speed of 30 km/h during the movement along the specified routes allowed authors to identify zones with a stable increased content of particles of different sizes in the near-surface atmosphere. Sampling soil pits in these zones confirmed the presence on their surface of layers of dust deposits with a thickness of more than 5 cm, which allows them to be attributed to Technosols in accordance with the WRB soil classification. The soil map of the research area was compiled at a scale of 1 : 25 000 with the reflection of Technosols participation in the soil patterns. According to the map, more than three quarters of the study area are soil complexes including Technosols. Arid climatic conditions of the region lead to the accumulation of dust on the soil surface, which are practically not transformed and not removed from the soil, which results in their degradation and deterioration of the environmental conditions. Dust accumulation on the soil surface affects the state of vegetation cover of the region, which serves as a basis for indirect satellite indication of dusting zones. The method of revealing the dust layer on the soil surface based on the assessment of dustiness of the near-surface atmosphere using pyranometer can serve as a good complement to remote sensing methods.

Abstract A combined multiscale approach using ground, drone and satellite surveys can provide accurate landscape scale spatial mapping and monitoring. We used field observations with drone collected imagery covering 70 ha annually for a 5‐year period to estimate changes in living and dead vegetation of four widespread and abundant arid zone woody shrub species. Random forest classifiers delivered high accuracy (> 95%) using object‐based detection methods, with fast repeatable and transferrable processing using Google Earth Engine. Our classifiers performed well in both dominant arid zone landscape types: dune and swale, and at extremes of dry and wet years with minimal alterations. This highlighted the flexibility of the approach, potentially delivering insights into changes in highly variable environments. We also linked this classified drone vegetation to available temporally and spatially explicit Landsat satellite imagery, training a new, more accurate fractional vegetation cover model, allowing for accurate tracking of vegetation responses at large scales in the arid zone. Our method promises considerable opportunity to track vegetation dynamics including responses to management interventions, at large geographic scales, extending inference well beyond ground surveys.

The inhabitants of the arid plain of northwest San Luis harvest rainwater in impoundments (small dams) to support cattle and goat production in native forests. This ancient technology has been complemented, in the last two decades, by aqueducts that transport water from the central mountains of San Luis (Nogolí dam). In this study, we 1) present an approach to social perceptions and local knowledge about impoundments; 2) implement technological improvements in six of them to increase the efficiency of water harvesting and storage, and 3) characterize the temporal dynamics of the regional water resource (impoundments and Nogolí dam). To achieve this, we conducted surveys with impoundment users, installed water level sensors, hired road machinery for improvements, and analyzed existing databases. The survey results showed that the impoundments, far from being mere water reservoirs, constitute the cultural heritage of rural families. The application of technological improvements significantly increased the maximum average water level of the enhanced impoundments, from 144 to 220 cm (P<0.05), resulting in a 113% increase in the average maximum stored volume, reaching 1282 m³ (P<0.05). The daily water level of the improved impoundments was higher than control ones (on average, 110 vs. 62 cm, respectively; P<0.01). The water supply from the impoundments exhibited complementarities concerning the temporal dynamics of the Nogolí dam in terms of the speed of response to rainfall and the time lag between filling and emptying. This study provides key knowledge to achieve ‘water sovereignty’ in the arid plain of northwest San Luis by proposing the enhancement of existing impoundments and the use of the aqueduct as a complement to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deserts are unique ecosystems that provides suitable habitats to many floral and faunal species and that are beneficial to human beings in many ways. Desert ecosystems are affected by several natural and anthropogenic factors, resulting in the degradation of ecosystem goods and services provided by them. Thus, there is a need to monitor them. Accordingly, the ecological status of 34 major non-polar deserts of the world have been monitored for a period of four decades. We have used (i) vegetation cover and NDVI (vegetation density/vigour) as indicators of ecological conditions, and (ii), long term rainfall and temperature patterns to monitor the extent and the effect of climatic variations. Among the 34 deserts, Taklimakan has consistently the lowest NDVI, while Tanami has the highest NDVI during the entire monitoring period. The Asian Kavir and Kharan deserts have the lowest vegetation cover; Tanami has the highest vegetation cover. Out of 34 deserts, Gobi, Kalahari, Margo, Mu Us, Simpson, Strzelecki, Taklimakan and Thar deserts have shown an increasing trend in vegetation cover. While, Chalbi, Patagonian and Sonoran deserts have shown a decreasing trend. Thar, Sechura and Sahara have shown an increasing trend in precipitation, while Namib has shown an opposite trend. 31 deserts have shown an increasing trend in the temperature. Present study is important as changes in the ecological conditions of the deserts have a profound impact on the land surface albedo, surface energy balance, regional climate, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and global dust emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Rapid climate change has profoundly altered the spatial distribution of terrestrial plants especially in arid and semi‐arid biomes. However, it remains poorly documented how climate shapes the current and future patterns of plant diversity within and across these vulnerable vegetation types. Location: Parts of Mongolia, southeastern Russia, and northern China (94.78°–126.78°E, 34.60°–54.27°N). Methods: Using a random forest model trained by a comprehensively compiled database on vascular plant species richness (i.e., the number of species within a defined plot area) and corresponding climate variables, soil conditions and vegetation types (forest, grassland, desert), we assessed the current pattern of vascular plant species richness across a typical forest–grassland–desert transect in East Asia. We further predicted future changes in vascular plant species richness under three climate scenarios (SSP1‐2.6, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP5‐8.5). Results: Vascular plant species richness generally showed a decrease from northeast to southwest across the transect, mainly explained by spatial variations in growing‐season precipitation and the minimum temperature of the coldest month. More than half of the transect area will likely experience a loss in vascular plant species richness in 2041–2070 under all three scenarios. The decrease in vascular plant species richness will likely occur in a smaller area under the low‐emission scenario (SSP1‐2.6). We also predict distinct changes in vascular plant species richness for different vegetation types, including a slight increase in forests but an overall decrease in both grasslands and deserts. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a dominant role of growing‐season precipitation in shaping the spatiotemporal patterns of vascular plant species richness across the forest–grassland–desert transect and highlight a risk of plant diversity loss in the regional dryland ecosystems in response to future climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of non‐native herbivores on ecosystems and diversity has become a global concern in conservation. Management challenges associated with non‐native free‐roaming equids have existed for decades in a wide range of ecosystems yet have been difficult to resolve. Although much of the challenge is associated with non‐biological considerations, empirical ecological research is crucial for guiding sound management decisions. We conducted a field study on the associations between feral burros (Equus asinus) and elements of the Sonoran Desert ecosystem in Arizona, USA, during 2017–2019. We identified areas with and without established burro herds, and collected data on vegetation, ungulate sign, small mammals, birds, and herpetofauna at multiple, randomly selected grids within these areas, while accounting for vegetation community and distance to water. We predicted that burros would be associated with differences in vegetation metrics such as lower ground cover, smaller perennial plant size, and lower plant density, foliage density, recruitment, and species richness among perennial native plants susceptible to burro foraging or trampling. We further predicted that these differences would be accompanied by lower density or relative abundance and lower species richness of small mammals, birds, and herpetofauna. Finally, because burro distribution has been documented to be associated with water in this arid landscape, we predicted that effects would be most pronounced near water. The results of our study did not consistently support our predictions, perhaps because of small sample sizes or, in several cases, inherent complexities associated with seasonal burro habitat use and plant phenology patterns. However, our study documented that the presence of this feral equid is associated with a number of key differences that may be ecologically important and have the potential to alter community structure in this sensitive arid ecosystem. In areas with established burro herds, we documented lower ground cover, plant density, foliage density, or smaller plant size in several species, and changes were often influenced by distance from water. For example, density of Engelmann's prickly pear cactus (Opuntia engelmannii) was 94% lower and Anderson wolfberry (Lycium andersonii) plants were 49% smaller in areas with established burro herds. In areas with burros, we also recorded lower density of white bursage (Ambrosia dumosa) in areas distant from water. Of notable concern was that our metric of recruitment indicated 63% lower recruitment in saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) and that foliage densities of yellow paloverde (Parkinsonia microphylla) and desert ironwood (Olneya tesota) were lower in areas with established burro herds. Data on some plant species did not support our predictions. For example, white bursage and Anderson wolfberry plants were found at similar densities in areas with and without established burros near water, but they occurred at lower densities far from water in areas with established burros. Our data revealed that in 4 of 7 small mammal species evaluated (Bailey's pocket mouse [Chaetodipus baileyi], desert pocket mouse [C. penicillatus], deer mice [Peromyscus spp.], and Merriam's kangaroo rat [Dipodomys merriami]), density was associated with an interaction between burros and distance to water, with lower densities close to water in burro areas. Contrary to predictions, 3 of these species (Bailey's pocket mouse, desert pocket mouse, and deer mice) exhibited higher densities in burro areas than in non‐burro areas at grids farther from water. Density of a fifth species (Arizona woodrat [Neotoma devia]) was 68% lower in burro areas than in non‐burro areas, and the densities of 2 species were not associated with burros. Across species, we did not find consistent patterns in our analysis of bird group density, with some species exhibiting a negative effect associated with burros and others exhibiting a positive effect. When we categorized birds by hypothesized nesting and foraging vulnerabilities (low, medium, high), vulnerability levels did not predict the effect of burros. However, all categories exhibited a negative burro effect distant from water but not close to water, contrary to our expectations. Relative abundance of common side‐blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) was 26% lower in areas with established burros, but data on other herpetofauna species did not support our predictions, with some species exhibiting higher relative abundance in areas with established burros. Our data did not reveal an association between burros and bird, small mammal, or herpetofauna species richness, but species richness of native perennial plants was higher in burro areas close to water. We recommend that future bird studies focus on riparian birds and nest success, and possibly evaluate potential effects in relation to other aspects of bird ecology such as feeding guilds or nesting ecology, and that future herpetofauna studies use survey methods that can better account for detection. Although some results did not support our predictions, our study documented negative associations between burros and a number of native plant species, and density in some small mammal species. These associations are important and of concern in and of themselves because changes in long‐lived keystone plant species and in small mammal densities indicate that the long‐term sustainability of portions of this ecosystem may be affected, and it is likely that these changes can have additional indirect effects on plants and wildlife in this ecosystem. Field data on ungulate sign (fecal groups and tracks) suggested that the associations detected in our study were related to burros and not cattle (Bos taurus) or native ungulates such as mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) or bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Our results indicate that the presence of established burro herds was associated with changes, primarily in the plant community that is critical for ecosystem function, and we suggest that current management of this feral equid may not be adequate for maintaining the long‐term viability of this arid and fragile ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue that to remove all backward-looking grounds and justification from the practice, as some theorists recommend, is to remove (not revise) moral responsibility. The most paradigmatic cases of moral responsibility must feature desert and retributive elements. So, moral responsibility must be (at least partially) backward-looking. When we hold people responsible, one reason we do so is that we believe that they deserve punishment or reward simply in virtue of the action for which we hold them responsible. None of this rebuts responsibility skepticism. For instance, forward-looking theories might adopt Myisha Cherry's proposal: anger as love without blameworthiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot deserts impose extreme conditions on plants growing in arid soils. Deserts are expanding due to climate change, thereby increasing the vulnerability of ecosystems and the need to preserve them. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) improve plant fitness by enhancing plant water/nutrient uptake and stress tolerance. However, few studies have focused on AMF diversity and community composition in deserts, and the soil and land use parameters affecting them. This study aimed to comprehensively describe AMF ecological features in a 5,000 km2 arid hyperalkaline region in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. We used a multimethod approach to analyse over 1,000 soil and 300 plant root samples of various species encompassing agricultural, old agricultural, urban and natural ecosystems. Our method involved metabarcoding using 18S and ITS2 markers, histological techniques for direct AMF colonization observation and soil spore extraction and observation. Our findings revealed a predominance of AMF taxa assigned to Glomeraceae, regardless of the local conditions, and an almost complete absence of Gigasporales taxa. Land use had little effect on the AMF richness, diversity and community composition, while soil texture, pH and substantial unexplained stochastic variance drove these compositions in AlUla soils. Mycorrhization was frequently observed in the studied plant species, even in usually non-mycorrhizal plant taxa (e.g. Amaranthaceae, Urticaceae). Date palms and Citrus trees, representing two major crops in the region, however, displayed a very low mycorrhizal frequency and intensity. AlUla soils had a very low concentration of spores, which were mostly small. This study generated new insight on AMF and specific behavioral features of these fungi in arid environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Magazine General Union of Arab Archaeologists is the property of General Union of Arab Archaeologists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rodents are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of mammals in arid zones. Their population and community dynamics are closely linked to climatic factors and pulses of primary productivity activation. In the future, climatic conditions in arid ecosystems could become more extreme as a consequence of climate change, which could affect the species that inhabit these regions. In this paper, we review the literature on the ecological response of rodents in the world's arid zones, at the population and community levels, to climatological factors (temperature and precipitation), climatic events and the possible impact of climate change. We used the PRISMA protocol to systematically search the literature, and the “vote‐counting” method to count positive, null or negative responses of the rodents. At the population level, rodent density and abundance responded positively to precipitation, while biomass responded negatively and reproduction responded positively to increasing temperature. At the community level, rodent density, biomass and diversity increased after rainfall. El Niño events were positively related to rodent population increases. In contrast, intense storms affected the survival of some species. Rodents with physiological adaptations suited to living in arid areas, for example, the heteromyids, responded positively to precipitation and could suffer fewer negative ecological consequences in the future when exposed to increased temperature and changes in precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich diversity of radiation-resistant (Rr) and desiccation-resistant (Dr) bacteria has been found in arid habitats of the world. Evidence from scientific research has linked their origin to reactive oxygen species (ROS) intermediates. Rr and Dr. bacteria of arid regions have the potential to regulate imbalance radicals and evade a higher dose of radiation and oxidation than bacterial species of nonarid regions. Photochemical-activated ROS in Rr bacteria is run through photoinduction of electron transfer. A hypothetical model of the biogeochemical cycle based on solar radiation and desiccation. These selective stresses generate oxidative radicals for a short span with strong reactivity and toxic effects. Desert-inhibiting Rr bacteria efficiently evade ROS toxicity with an evolved antioxidant system and other defensive pathways. The imbalanced radicals in physiological disorders, cancer, and lung diseases could be neutralized by a self-sustaining evolved Rr bacteria antioxidant system. The direct link of evolved antioxidant system with intermediate ROS and indirect influence of radiation and desiccation provide useful insight into richness, ecological diversity, and origin of Rr bacteria capabilities. The distinguishing features of Rr bacteria in deserts present a fertile research area with promising applications in the pharmaceutical industry, genetic engineering, biological therapy, biological transformation, bioremediation, industrial biotechnology, and astrobiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a large and growing body of empirical work on people's intuitions about distributive justice. In this paper, we investigate how well luck egalitarianism and desertism—the two normative approaches that appear to cohere well with people's intuitions—are supported by more fine-grained findings in the empirical literature. The time is ripe for a study of this sort, as the positive literature on justice has blossomed over the last three decades. The results of our investigation are surprising. In three different contexts (good option luck, good brute luck, and bad brute luck) in which the demands of luck egalitarianism and those of a mainstream desert-based view come apart, the latter carries the day. One ramification of these findings is that people's intuitions about justice are moralized; that is, they appeal to particular conceptions of the good. Luck egalitarians must decide whether to embrace these moralized intuitions by adopting desertism—or to resist them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disturbances drive large changes in plant composition and ecosystem functioning in drylands, but current understanding of how recovery following disturbance depends on the environment is limited due to challenges in analysing effects of disparate disturbances across abiotic gradients.We combined remote sensing and field observations across 5600+ km of natural gas pipeline corridors and adjacent undisturbed vegetation to investigate how recovery from a uniform, severe disturbance varied with factors that influence water availability in drylands.We found that recovery of net primary production (NPP) often remains incomplete, with only 42% of our sites projected to fully recover within 100 years. NPP recovery was quicker and more complete in regions that receive most of their annual precipitation at low temperatures and have fine‐textured soil; recovery of total shrub cover (median timing of 81 years) was faster on fine‐textured soils in locations that receive most of their annual precipitation at high temperatures. Locations with quick recovery of shrub cover were linked with a shift in dominant shrub species and incomplete NPP recovery.Synthesis. Recovery of NPP and shrub cover in drylands were driven by different environmental factors. For both NPP and shrub cover, locations with high pre‐disturbance values required more time to recover to adjacent undisturbed levels than locations with low pre‐disturbance values. Quick recovery of shrub cover or productivity was generally linked with a shift in dominant plant species or functional group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The aims of this study are to explore the vertical distribution of soil nutrients in sand dunes of N. tangutorum nebkhas at different successional stages in the Ulanbuhe Desert, and to provide a scientific foundation for the stable growth of N. tangutorum shrubs in the region. [Methods]N. tangutorum nebkhas sand piles at different succession were selected stages as the research objects. Through preliminary vegetation investigation, based on the dead rate and coverage of the N. tangutorum shrub, it was divided into different succession stages, namely the development stage (dead rate 10％～30％, coverage 20％～40％), stable stage (dead rate＜10％, coverage 40％～60％), and decline stage (dead rate＞50％, coverage＜20％). Three relatively independent N. tangutorum nebkhas sand piles were selected for each succession stage. The vegetation characteristics and soil nutrients in the inter dune area and on windward and leeward slopes of sand piles were investigated and determined, respectively. [Results]As the succession of the N. tangutorum shrub progresses, the height, crown length, and width of the N. tangutorum first increased and then decreased. Among them, the crown length in the stable stage was significantly higher than that in other stages (p＜0. 05), increased by 45. 50％and 50. 01％compared to the developmental and declining stages, respectively (p＜0. 05). At the leeward slope, the soil nutrient content during the development stage shows a'descending ascending descending 'trend with the increase of soil depth, while the organic matter content during the stable and declining stages showed a decreasing trend, reaching the minimum value at 40-60 cm. At the windward slope, the content of soil organic matter and total nitrogen in 40-60 cm soil layer reached the maximum value in the decline stage with the development of the succession stage, but the content of total nitrogen in the development and decline stage reached the minimum value in 40-60 cm soil layer with the increase of the soil depth, which was 83. 33％and 80. 31％lower than that in 0-10 cm soil layer, respectively (p＜0. 05). The soil nutrients of the white thorn shrub sand pile at different slope positions reached their maximum values at 0-10 cm, but overall, the nutrient enrichment effect of the N. tangutorum nebkhas sand pile soil was not significant. [Conclusion]This research has shown that the soil nutrients in the N. tangutorum nebkhas sand pile are mainly concentrated on the surface of the sand pile. How to alleviate the activation of the N. tangutorum nebkhas sand pile and soil nutrient loss is an important guarantee for the stability of the N. tangutorum nebkhas sand pile in arid environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Carrizo Plain (California, USA) is a hotspot for rare and endangered species, little effort has been made to sample the lichen flora of the Plain. To assemble a preliminary checklist of lichens from the basin floor of Carrizo Plain, we sampled along a transect from the basin's alkali complex to its western edge, as well as from clay slickspots with high sodium content, and a rocky site in the eastern Plain. We document a substantial lichen flora on the Plain and note several collections that were the first record for a species in the region: five species were the first in San Luis Obispo County, and nine were the first for the San Joaquin Desert. We include notable collections and observations on potential ecological patterns and highlight Carrizo Plain as a promising hotspot for research on lichen ecology, particularly for species adapted to extreme environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: In the Atacama Desert certain plant species can be found in small and isolated areas, limited to regions with water availability. The degree of connectivity within and between these natural populations depends on their pollen and seed dispersal abilities, as well as on the barriers imposed by the landscape. Prosopis flexuosa is a species of high economic and ecological importance included in the algarrobo Conservation and Management program. The main objective of this work is to analyze the genetic variability and mating system of P. flexuosa in the Atacama Desert. M&M: Genetic diversity parameters as well as the mating system were evaluated in a natural population (Quillagua) based on microsatellite molecular markers. The hierarchical distribution of genetic variance and kinship coefficients were analyzed. Results: The results indicate high levels of genetic diversity (HE = 0.67-0.65; Ar = 3.8- 3.7), high outcrossing rates (t m = 0.97, t s = 0.85), low biparental inbreeding (11.6%) and multiple paternity. The proportion of full sibs decreases when considering seeds from the same or different pods (89→16%). Only the variance between families is significant (p < 0.001) and mean kinships estimated show that progenies within families are not only constituted by half sibs. Conclusions: The results are discussed and related to the limited pollen and seed dispersal and their implication for the management of this resource. The study of the mating system parameters of this Chilean desert population suggests that the low population density and the environment fragmentation would not be influencing their mating capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: According the significance of developing desert sports in the areas prone to such sports, the aim of the current study was to identify the requirements for the development of desert sports in Kerman. Method: This research was a qualitative exploratory study that has been done using a thematic analysis method. The participants in the study included experts in the field of sports management with the experience in desert sports. According to the nature of the research, 12 experts were interviewed as the participants through purposive sampling until reaching the theoretical saturation. The tool used in the research was a semi-structured interview. The intra-subject agreement method was used to ensure the reliability of findings, and the validity was confirmed by criteria including credibility, dependability, transferability and confirmability. Results: The thematic analysis of the data by Braun and Clarke's (2006) method led to the extraction of 144 codes, 18 sub-themes and five main themes. The findings showed that "Creating infrastructure", "Holding events", "Encouragement and support", "Promotion and advertising", as well as "Training and preparation" were the explored requirements for the development of desert sports in Kerman. Conclusion: According to the importance and potentials of desert sports in Kerman, the findings of this study can be considered as a basis for developing the desert sports and provide an agenda for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined multiscale approach using ground, drone and satellite surveys can provide accurate landscape scale spatial mapping and monitoring. We used field observations with drone collected imagery covering 70 ha annually for a 5‐year period to estimate changes in living and dead vegetation of four widespread and abundant arid zone woody shrub species. Random forest classifiers delivered high accuracy (> 95%) using object‐based detection methods, with fast repeatable and transferrable processing using Google Earth Engine. Our classifiers performed well in both dominant arid zone landscape types: dune and swale, and at extremes of dry and wet years with minimal alterations. This highlighted the flexibility of the approach, potentially delivering insights into changes in highly variable environments. We also linked this classified drone vegetation to available temporally and spatially explicit Landsat satellite imagery, training a new, more accurate fractional vegetation cover model, allowing for accurate tracking of vegetation responses at large scales in the arid zone. Our method promises considerable opportunity to track vegetation dynamics including responses to management interventions, at large geographic scales, extending inference well beyond ground surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Mountains play a crucial role in shaping the climate of an area and subsequently, the environments and species that are suited to those particular conditions. Understanding the relationships between environmental conditions and their influence on the occurrence of a species is necessary to make informed decisions when conserving relevant habitats. This study evaluated and compared the potential for different interactions between climatic variables to describe the environmental preferences and the range of the Ladakh urial, a narrowly distributed sub‐species of Ovis vignei, in the arid Himalayas. Species distribution models were created from spatially thinned presence‐only occurrence data of 50 locations using a Maximum Entropy (Maxent) model. For this, we subdivided the modeled distribution into environmental categories with varying degrees of suitability. We identified a high cold precipitation to annual precipitation ratio typical of cold desert climates well suited to describe the highest quality environments for urial. The inverse, low warm precipitation to annual precipitation ratio was found to better describe the urial's range at the lower end of potential habitat. In this comparison, we observed that with the exclusion of unsuitable cold steppe habitat with a higher warm precipitation to annual precipitation ratio, we were able to refine the extent of this species range but at a trade‐off to the accurate description of high‐quality environments. This study demonstrated the strong potential of cold arid climatic conditions to describe the distribution of urial in India, which have implications for identifying important areas for the conservation and management of the species in the high altitude rangelands of Ladakh.

Abstract: Rawls famously argued against meritocratic conceptions of distributive justice on the grounds that the accumulation of merit is an unavoidably lucky process, both because of differences in early environment, and innate talents. Thomas Mulligan (2018a) has recently provided a novel defense of meritocracy against the “luck objection”, arguing that both sources of luck would be mostly eliminated in a meritocracy. While a system of fair equality of opportunity ensures that differences in social class or early environment do not lead to differences in the accumulation of merit, Kripke’s essentiality of origin thesis means that our genetic endowments, and thus our innate talents, could not have been any other way. But if we could not fail to have our innate talents, Mulligan argues, then it is not a matter of luck that we have them, and so the merits we accumulate on their basis are not so luck-dependent. This paper argues that Mulligan’s appeal to the essentiality of origin thesis fails to rescue meritocratic conceptions of distributive justice from the luck objection for two reasons. First, even granting essentiality of origin and fair equality of opportunity, the contingencies of the market and the social environment mean that having some innate talents is far luckier than having others. And second, the appeal to essentiality of origin misses the underlying motivation for the luck objection, and ignores the intimate connection between desert and responsibility.