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Resampling the same satellite image to conduct a multi-scale assessment of desertification can be accompanied by distortion of terrestrial objects and spectral information, which can lead to uncertainty in the generated information. To address this, this study assesses desertification severity in an area of arid and semi-arid climate in the Eastern Mediterranean (Jordan) that is characterised by cloudless scenes using multi-sensor data of the same scene at the same time. To this end, Sentinel-2 at 10 m and 60 m, Landsat-8 at 30 m and MODIS at 250 m and 500 m were collected to extract albedo and modified soil adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI), and subsequently to construct albedo-MSAVI feature space. Using the negative correlation between albedo and MSAVI, desertification degree index (DDI) was generated. The resulting multi-scale DDI maps bear a relative resemblance in terms of spatial distribution, patterns, and proportions. The DDI maps indicate that extremely serious and serious desertification are widespread, accounting for 50% of the study area, primarily in the eastern portions. However, finer DDI maps (10 m, 30 m and 60 m) are essential for detecting small-scale desertification characteristics due to their ability to capture local spatial variabilities, while coarser ones (250 m and 500 m) are better suited for capturing broad-scale desertification patterns driven by climatic factors, in which MODIS data exhibit a relatively higher positive correlation with seasonal average precipitation. Although finer DDI maps show higher accuracy compared to coarser ones, the accuracy of DDI maps of MODIS has shown an increase within a homogeneous landscape. Accordingly, synchronised multi-scale assessment of desertification severity is not only influenced by the spatial resolution but also by the landscape heterogeneity and the type of satellite sensor utilised. The multi-scale approach applied in this study can provide insights on scale-dependent desertification that help in devising overarching mitigation strategies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

This study aimed to investigate the effect of diet supplementation with a symbiotic (SY), bee pollen (BP), honey bee (HB), date palm pollen (DPP) and their mixture (MIX) on female rabbit productive and reproductive performances under desert hot climates. Seventy-two Californian does of 5 months age and average body weight of 3250 ± 78.2 g were randomly allotted into six groups, each of 12 does. All does orally receive 3 ml distilled water for 10 days before mating and 28 days during pregnancy. Treatments were repeated for four consecutive parities. The first group served as control (C) given distilled water only, however the second, third, fourth and fifth groups were supplemented with 3 ml distilled water containing 0.2 ml SY, 200 mg DPP, 200 mg BP, 0.2 ml HB/doe per day, respectively. While, the sixth group does were given all previous ingredients (MIX). Sexual receptivity rate, fertility rate, kindling rate, and newborn traits were recorded. Also, maternal feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and digestibility coefficients of nutrients were recorded. Does in all groups were artificially inseminated with 0.5 ml of fresh heterospermic semen of 15 fertile bucks extended in Tris at 806-1006 sperm/ml. Treatment increased maternal body weight and daily gain with highest values (P < 0.05) in BP, SY, and MIX does. All treatments enhanced feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with control. Number services per conception decreased (P < 0.01), while litter size and weight and survival at birth and weaning increased (P < 0.01) in treated than control does. Treated does produced more milk than control. Digestibility coefficients of all nutrients were improved (P < 0.01) in treated does. In conclusion, supporting rabbit does pre- and during pregnancy with diets supplemented with a mixture of honey bee, date palm pollen, bee pollen, and synbiotic improves the productive and reproductive performances of rabbit does and their offspring., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Deserts and semi-arid environments are habitats to rare species, rich cultural heritage, and essential ecological processes. Approximately 46% of the world's surface area is covered by drylands (arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas), where 3 billion people live and unfortunately witness water insecurity and desertification implications. In this context, the present study argued that reduced dryland ecosystem services and decreased ecosystem health have resulted from the individual and compounding impacts of desertification, water scarcity, and climate change. At 1.5 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C of global warming, under the shared socio-economic pathway SSP2, the number of people living in drylands who will be affected by various effects on water, energy, and land sectors is projected to reach 951 million, 1152 million, and 1285 million, respectively. Due to combinations of land use change, rainfall variations, fire suppression, and CO 2 fertilization, as well as unsustainable management, widespread woody encroachment has occurred in many shrublands and savannas in Africa, Australia, North America, and South America. This has altered biodiversity and reduces ecosystem services, such as water availability and grazing potential. The north side of the Mediterranean, southern Africa, and North and South America are projected to have the most semiarid expansion. Contrarily, drylands are expected to shrink in India, northern China, eastern equatorial Africa, and the southern Sahara. Growing research evidence highlights the adoption of policy frameworks deriving the solutions from soil land management (SLM), indigenous and local knowledge (ILK), early warning systems coupled with adaptation and mitigation responses, and targets of sustainable development goals (SDGs)., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Precipitation partitioning in arid and semiarid environments is not well understood due to scanty precipitation, its temporal distribution, and the lack/absence of adequate measurements of the hydrometeorological components. Simulation methods have the potential to bridge the data gap, thereby providing a window to estimate the water balance components. The present investigation evaluates the water balance components of a typical watershed situated in the southeastern Mediterranean for the period 1979 through 2019 using daily meteorological data and a grid spacing of 250 m. Generated runoff results were commensurate with corresponding values obtained using the SWAT model. Computed groundwater recharge is also compatible with recharge values calculated using the chloride mass balance method. Results show that average runoff and groundwater recharge for the entire period was ⁓24 mm a -1 and 19 mm a -1 , giving a precipitation ratio of 9.5% and 7.5%, respectively. Substantial interannual variability in the water balance components was observed during the study period which reflected the significant precipitation fluctuations typifying the Eastern Mediterranean. Results show that the period extending from 1998/1999 through 2018/2019 witnessed an 18% drop in annual precipitation, while surface runoff and groundwater recharge experienced a reduction of ⁓34% and ⁓67%, respectively. Although groundwater recharge is a complex function of numerous meteorological and geological factors, the NDVI can provide an excellent indicator of groundwater recharge in marginal Mediterranean environments. This is highly beneficial in areas where climate records are scanty or absent. The presented results emphasize the significant impacts of global warming and aridification on the future availability of water resources in the semiarid marginal climates in the Eastern Mediterranean and point out clearly that water resources in this area will become scarcer, leading to multiple security threats at national and regional levels., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The complex relationships within desert ecosystems and their environmental conditions are reflected in patterns of plant water use. Thus, understanding the sources of water used by plants in these areas is crucial for effective resource management. In this study, we investigated the water use pattern of Haloxylon ammodendron in Semnan province, in the central plateau of Iran, using the stable isotope analysis. We employed a simple, homemade cryogenic vacuum distillation (CVD) system to directly extract water from soil samples and different plant components for subsequent analysis by mass spectrometer. The contribution of each possible water source to the plant xylem water was estimated using the IsoSource mixing model. The pattern of δ 18 O values in the xylem water of H. ammodendron indicated its reliance on groundwater as a primary water resource during the wet season. Additionally, the correlation of sand particles with both δ 2 H and δ 18 O was found to be 0.32. Moreover, the δ 18 O values of H. ammodendron xylem water were mainly similar to those of groundwater, suggesting the species' dominant use of groundwater. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for strategically planting H. ammodendron to mitigate impacts on groundwater resources and ensure long-term sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Alluvial fans and deltas are two environments with different hydrochemical conditions. Their junction zones, as mixing environments, are variably influenced by different processes, leading to variable environmental conditions. The purpose of this study is to investigate groundwater quality in the junction zone of these environments in the northern part of the Jazmourian depression (known as the Rudbar plain) in southeastern Iran to determine the dominant processes, assess arsenic and fluoride health risks, and evaluate irrigation water quality. A total of 33 samples from deep drilled wells were taken, and the concentrations of major ions and elements were determined. Additionally, statistical and hydrochemical analyses were undertaken. The dominant processes in the delta are evaporation and ion exchange, while the dominant process in the fan environment is silicate hydrolysis. Among the samples, 26.7% were mainly affected by the delta, and 73.3% were mainly affected by fan conditions. Although the majority of groundwater samples were suitable for irrigation based on quality standards, a significant portion exceeded the acceptable level for Na%. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessments indicated that arsenic hazard risks exceeded thresholds in 63.3% of cases for children and 36% for adults. Carcinogenic health risks associated with arsenic and fluoride exceeded acceptable levels in 4 and 2 stations, respectively. Elevated As concentrations contribute to a greater average health risk in parts of fans environment., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The Thar is the most densely populated desert in the world, which supports diverse ecosystems and human endeavours such as agriculture and socioeconomic activities. Water demand and supply in the Thar play an essential role in regulating the socioeconomic activities of the region. Inland water and precipitation aid the movement of water in the Thar Desert. Precipitation in the Thar is governed by the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM), during which the winds distribute water vapour to regulate precipitation across the region. Therefore, we analyse the water vapour, its sources and its relation with precipitation using satellite measurements and reanalysis data in the Thar during ISM. Like other regions, a clear seasonal cycle of water vapour is observed in the Thar, with very high values (> 45 kg/m 2 ) during ISM and low in winter (< 15 kg/m 2 ). Evapotranspiration and moisture transport have significant effects on the amount of water vapour during ISM. There is a significant increase in water vapour in the troposphere, with high trends at the surface (0.032 g/kg/year) and small at the tropopause (0.00002 g/kg/year). A significant increase in column water vapour is also estimated in the Thar during ISM, with high trends in the eastern and southern areas, at about 0.15-0.35 kg/m 2 /year. The rise in water vapour in the Thar can be attributed to the increase in evapotranspiration (0.03-0.07 mm/day/year) and water vapour transport (> 0.5 kg/m/s/year) from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. The rise in water vapour can lead to an increase in precipitation in the Thar, as it shows significant positive trends (0.05-0.1 mm/day/year) in the eastern areas during ISM. The increase in precipitation and water vapour in the arid Thar Desert can have significant implications for the regional environment and agriculture., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A novel rod-shaped bacterium, designated as strain SYSU D60015 T that formed yellowish colonies was isolated from a sandy soil collected from the Kumtag Desert in Xinjiang, China. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-negative and motile with a single polar flagellum. Growth optimum occurred between 28 and 37 °C, pH 7.0 and with 0-0.5% (W/V) NaCl. The predominant cellular fatty acids (> 5%) were summed feature 8 (C 18:1 ω7c and/or C 18:1 ω6c), C 19:0 cyclo ω8c, C 18:1 ω7c 11-methyl and C 16:0 . The polar lipid profile contained one phosphatidylethanolamine, one diphosphatidylglycerol, one phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid, three unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified aminophospholipids and seven unidentified lipids. The only respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogenetic analysis, strain SYSU D60015 T was found to form a distinct linage within the family Sneathiellaceae, and had 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 90.8% to Taonella mepensis H1 T , and 90.2% to Ferrovibrio denitrificans S3 T . The genome of SYSU D60015 T was 5.66 Mb in size with 68.2% of DNA G + C content. The low digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH, 18.0%), average nucleotide identity (ANI, 77.5%) and amino acid identity (AAI, 56.0%) values between SYSU D60015 T and Ferrovibrio terrae K5 T indicated that SYSU D60015 T might represent a distinct genus. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic data, we propose Desertibaculum subflavum gen. nov., sp. nov. as a novel species of a new genus within the family Sneathiellaceae. The type strain is SYSU D60015 T (= NBRC 112952 T  = CGMCC 1.16256 T )., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

This study was designed to recover representative culturable actinomycetes from the Atacama Desert, and to detect their ability to promote plant growth under drought conditions. Environmental samples were taken from three Atacama Desert habitats, namely, from the Aguas Calientes, Lomas Bayas and Yungay core regions. With one exception higher actinomycete counts were obtained when isolation media were inoculated with mineral particles than with corresponding aliquots of serial dilution. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that representative isolates belonged to thirteen genera including putative novel Blastococcus, Kocuria, Micromonospora, Pseudonocardia, Rhodococcus and Streptomyces species. Representative isolates produced indole-3-acetic acid, siderophore and solubilized phosphate as well as displaying an ability to grow under drought conditions. In conclusion, the current findings open up exciting prospects for the promising potential of actinomycetes from the Atacama Desert to be used as bioinoculants to promote plant growth in arid and semi-arid biomes., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

This study evaluates the performance of five satellite precipitation products (GPM IMERG, TRMM 3B42, ERA5, PERSIANN, and CHIRPS) compared to monthly observations from two weather stations (Laayoune and Essmara) over 2001-2017 using statistical metrics including correlation coefficient (CC) and mean square error (MSE). The results reveal notable differences between products. On a monthly timescale, GPM IMERG shows the best overall accuracy with a MSE of 16.8 mm/month. However, TRMM 3B42 exhibits higher temporal correlations with a CC around 0.83. The analysis provides insights into product capabilities and limitations for hydrological monitoring in data-sparse regions. Key findings include the superior performance of latest generation datasets like GPM alongside biases requiring localized calibration. The study delivers an assessment framework to guide integration of multiple satellite estimates for enhanced precipitation quantification and hydroclimatic modeling in water-stressed environments., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated as SYSU D00382 T , was sourced from soil of Gurbantunggut Desert, PR China. The strain was short-rod-shaped, oxidase-positive and catalase-negative, with yellow-colored, convex, round, and smooth colonies on TSA plate. Growth and proliferation occurred at 4-37 °C (optimal: 28-30 °C), pH 5.0-8.0 (optimal: pH 6.0-7.0) and NaCl concentration of 0-2.5% (optimal: 0-0.5%). The 16S rRNA gene based phylogenetic assessment showed that SYSU D00382 T belonged to the genus Pedobacter, and was most closely related to Pedobacter ginsengisoli Gsoil 104 T with similarity of 97.7%. The genomic DNA G+C content of SYSU D00382 T was 46.4%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between SYSU D00382 T and P. ginsengisoli Gsoil 104 T were 75.7% and 17.5%, respectively. The main polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The major fatty acids (> 5%) were iso-C 15:0 , iso-C 17:0 3-OH, summed features 3 and 9. The sole respiratory quinone identified was MK-7. The phylogeny based on 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences revealed that SYSU D00382 T formed a robust lineage with P. ginsengisoli Gsoil 104 T . Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic data, a novel specie named Pedobacter deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYSU D00382 T (= CGMCC 1.18627 T  = MCCC 1K04972 T  = KCTC 82279 T )., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The study explores the aftermath of a wastewater reservoir failure in a phosphate fertilizer industry, resulting in the release of acidic water containing phosphorus and sulfate compounds into the Ashalim stream's Nature Reserve in the Judean desert, which affected the soil surface biological crusts (biocrusts) layer. The study aims to examine contamination effects on biocrusts over 3 years at two research sites along the stream, compare effects between contaminated sites, assess rehabilitation treatments, and examine their impact on soil characteristics. Hypotheses suggest significant damage to biocrusts due to acidic water flow, requiring human intervention for accelerated restoration. The results indicate adverse effects on biocrust properties, risking its key role in the desert ecosystem. The biocrust layer covering the stream's ground surface suffered significant physical, chemical, and biological damage due to exposure to industrial process effluents. However, soil enrichment treatments, including biocrust components and organic material, show promising effects on biocrust recovery., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Pastoralism is a dominant agricultural activity in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The interaction between coprophagous insects and livestock is a key but an undervalued topic in rangeland management decisions. The objective was to identify similarities and differences in the composition of coprophagous insects and nesting strategies, associated with different climatic conditions within these regions. We performed a literature review of research articles available in the Scopus database which resulted in 17 articles. We examined the taxonomic diversity of dung beetles and their nesting strategies in relation to temperature and precipitation at the study sites. Results revealed a rich and varied interaction between dung beetles and livestock in arid and semi-arid environments, with 364 species from the Scarabaeoidea superfamily documented worldwide. The greatest diversity of dung beetles was reported in hot arid and semi-arid conditions with dry winters and in cold semi-arid ones with no marked annual precipitation cycle. These insects displayed diverse nesting strategies, with endocoprid strategies predominating in colder and drier settings, and paracoprid and telecoprid strategies in warmer, more humid environments. Domestic animal species are currently key components in promoting this interaction, which indicates that the ecological processes involving coprophagous fauna are occurring in production systems, which are under the influence of human decisions. We discuss the design and planning of livestock and rangeland management in arid and semi-arid environments, emphasizing in a more formalized manner the inclusion of this kind of interaction., (© 2024. Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil.)

As the spectre of climate change gains in strength with each passing moment, many of our mundane food crops like rice face the heat, leading to uncertain yields and unforeseen disease outbreaks. Subsequently, mankind is forced to look for alternative food choices that should primarily come from indigenous plants that are less demanding in terms of usage of water and application of chemical-based fertilizers/pesticides. There are plants growing in the wild in the arid and semi-arid zones of Rajasthan, India, that can come to the rescue, with an added potential for development into valuable functional foods-i.e., not only as source of carbohydrates, proteins, and micro-nutrients but also that of health benefiting nutraceuticals (like antioxidant flavonoids) and relevant enzymes. The other parts (non-edible) of these plants have often also been traditionally validated via diverse ethnomedicinal practices; these could also be useful bioenergy sources. Keeping in mind the broader aim of looking at future functional foods that are also required to be environmentally sustainable, the current report: (a) reviews the extant literature on underutilized legumes from arid/semi-arid zones, (b) discusses current status with respect to biological activities present therein, and (c) suggests pertinent research questions and solution paths in the domains of bioactives, bioenergy, and sustainable environment., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Understanding the mechanisms that maintain species coexistence and determine patterns of community assembly are fundamental goals of ecology. Quantifying the relationship between species traits and stress gradients is a necessary step to disentangle assembly processes and to be able to predict the outcome of environmental change. We examined the hypothesis that desert ant communities are assembled by niche-based processes i.e., environmental filtering and limiting similarity. First, we used population-level morphological trait measurements to study the functional structure of ant communities along a dryland environmental stress gradient. Second, we developed species distribution models for each species to quantify large-scale climatic niche overlap between species. Body, femur, antennal scape, and head lengths were correlated with environmental gradients. Regionally, the ant community was significantly and functionally overdispersed in terms of morphological traits which suggests the importance of competition to ant community structure. Ant community assembly was also strongly influenced by environmental factors as the degree of functional trait divergence, but not phylogenetic divergence, decreased with increasing environmental stress. Thus, environmental stress likely mediates limiting similarity in these desert ecosystems. Species with lower climatic niche overlap were more dissimilar in morphological traits. This suggests that environmental filtering on ant functional traits is important at the scale of species distributions in addition to regional scales. This study shows that environmental and biotic filtering (i.e., niche-based assembly mechanisms) are jointly and non-independently structuring the ant community., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The Australian red honey ant, Melophorus bagoti, stands out as the most thermophilic ant in Australia, engaging in all outdoor activities during the hottest periods of the day during summer months. This species of desert ants often navigates by means of path integration and learning landmark cues around the nest. In our study, we observed the outdoor activities of M. bagoti workers engaged in nest excavation, the maintenance of the nest structure, primarily by taking excess sand out of the nest. Before undertaking nest excavation, the ants conducted a single exploratory walk. Following their initial learning expedition, these ants then engaged in nest excavation activities. Consistent with previous findings on pre-foraging learning walks, after just one learning walk, the desert ants in our study demonstrated the ability to return home from locations 2 m away from the nest, although not from locations 4 m away. These findings indicate that even for activities like dumping excavated sand within a range of 5-10 cm outside the nest, these ants learn and utilize the visual landmark panorama around the nest., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

We surveyed the presence of perchlorate-reducing microorganisms in available metagenomic data of halite environments from the Atacama Desert, an extreme environment characterized by high perchlorate concentrations, intense ultraviolet radiation, saline and oxidizing soils, and severe desiccation. While the presence of perchlorate might suggest a broad community of perchlorate reducers or a high abundance of a dominant taxa, our search reveals a scarce presence. In fact, we identified only one halophilic species, Salinibacter sp003022435, carrying the pcrA and pcrC genes, represented in low abundance. Moreover, we also discovered some napA genes and organisms carrying the nitrate reductase nasB gene, which hints at the possibility of cryptic perchlorate reduction occurring in these ecosystems. Our findings contribute with the knowledge of perchlorate reduction metabolism potentially occurring in halites from Atacama Desert and point towards promising future research into the perchlorate-reducing mechanism in Salinibacter, a common halophilic bacterium found in hypersaline ecosystems, whose metabolic potential remains largely unknown., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Japan KK.)

Spatial simulation and projection of ecosystem services value (ESV) changes caused by urban growth are important for sustainable development in arid regions. We developed a new model of cellular automata based grasshopper optimization algorithm (named GOA-CA) for simulating urban growth patterns and assessing the impacts of urban growth on ESV changes under climate change scenarios. The results show that GOA-CA yielded overall accuracy exceeding 98%, and FOM for 2010 and 2020 were 43.2% and 38.1%, respectively, indicating the effectiveness of the model. The prairie lost the highest economic ESVs (192 million USD) and the coniferous yielded the largest economic ESV increase (292 million USD) during 2000-2020. Using climate change scenarios as urban future land use demands, we projected three scenarios of the urban growth of Urumqi for 2050 and their impacts on ESV. Our model can be easily applied to simulating urban development, analyzing its impact on ESV and projecting future scenarios in global arid regions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Land use and land cover are critical factors that influence the environment and human societies. The dynamics of LULC have been constantly changing over the years, and these changes can be analyzed at different spatial and temporal scales to evaluate their impact on the natural environment. This study employs multitemporal satellite data to investigate the spatial and temporal transformations that occurred in Sidi Bel Abbes province, situated in the northwestern region of Algeria, spanning from the early 1990s to 2020. Notably, this province is marked by semi-arid and arid climates and hosts a wide range of areas susceptible to gravitational hazards, especially concerning alterations in land use and forest fires. The interactive supervised classification tool utilized multiple machine learning algorithms including Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, Classification and Regression Tree, and Naïve Bayes to produce land cover maps with six main classes: forest, shrub, agricultural, pasture, water, and built-up. The findings showed that the LULC in the research area is undergoing continuous change, particularly in the forest and agricultural lands. The forest area has decreased significantly from 10.80% in 1990 to 5.25% in 2020, mainly due to repeated fires. Agricultural land has also undergone fluctuations, with a decrease between 1990 and 2000, followed by a fast increase and near stabilization in 2020. At the same time, pasture lands and built-up areas grew steadily, increasing by 11% and 13% respectively. This research highlights the significant impact of anthropogenic activities on LULC changes in the study area and can provide valuable insights for promoting sustainable land use policies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The typology and classification of rivers are highly relevant concepts in the field of limnology and freshwater ecology. Water body typology systematically categorizes water bodies based on their natural attributes, while water body classification groups them based on specific criteria or purposes for management, regulatory, or administrative reasons. Both concepts play important roles in understanding and managing water resources effectively. This scientific article focuses on the ZAT River in Morocco as a model for studying low-flow and intermittent rivers. The objective is to develop an accurate model for the typology and classification of small, low-flow rivers into homogeneous classes based on natural and anthropogenic factors. The study also investigates the impact of human activities on altering the uniformity and reference nature of the water body. The typology of water bodies is carried out according to the European methodology specified in The European Commission's Water Framework Directive (WFD) in 2000. The classification of water bodies is conducted by assessing their chemical and biological quality using the weighted index (WI), the Iberian Biological Monitoring Working Group (IBMWP) index, and multivariate statistical methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) for confirming water quality assessment. The results indicate the possibility of dividing the basin into four water bodies. Water bodies show homogeneity in terms of chemical quality when human influence is minimal or during periods of high river flow. However, increased human influence and decreased river flows lead to heterogeneity in chemical quality, indicating an unstable state. This study is the first of its kind in arid and semi-arid intermittent rivers, where such an approach could be suggested to determine their typology and classification., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Spatial and temporal distributions and influencing factors of extreme precipitation are important bases for coping with future climate change. The spatiotemporal variability and affecting factors of extreme precipitation indices (EPIs) in east of northwest China (ENW) during 1961-2015 were investigated using a series of approaches such as modified Mann-Kendall trend test, Hurst exponent, ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), and geodetector model. The results showed that CDD and CWD decreased significantly (P < 0.01), with rates of 1.4 days/decade and 0.07 days/decade, respectively. EPIs in ENW exhibited an obvious heterogeneity. CDD gradually increased from the southeast to the northwest. The remaining EPIs generally showed the opposite trend. Geodetector results demonstrated that large-scale circulation factors had a significant impact on EPIs in ENW. The influence of large-scale climate factors on EPIs was concentrated in nonlinear enhancement, and Nino3.4 and SO were the dominant driving factors that played a major role in the variability of EPIs. The results of this study provided a reference for ENW and other arid and semi-arid regions to cope with extreme climates and develop corresponding strategies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The arid regions of northwest China suffer from water shortages, low land quality, and a fragile ecological environment, while social and economic development has increased the ecological and environmental load. The spatiotemporal pattern and evolutionary trend of ecological environmental quality were investigated by constructing a remote sensing-based ecological environmental index (EQI) evaluation model incorporating four indicators: drought index (DI), soil erosion index (SEI), greenness index (GI), and carbon exchange index (CEI). The study found that between 2001 and 2020, the DI, the SEI, and the CEI in the northwest arid region exhibited a downward trend with reduction rates of - 3e-05, -0.0006, and -0.0018, respectively. However, the GI demonstrated an upward trend, with a growth rate of 0.002. The average EQI in 2020 was 0.315, indicating a fair grade, with only 11.56% falling above the medium level. A general increasing trend was observed throughout the study period in EQI, with an incremental rate of 0.0002. Areas with future improvements in EQI accounted for 57.547% and were principally located in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, and the northern and southern portions of Xinjiang. Notably, land use was significantly correlated with EQI (p < 0.01), with a hierarchy of effects that ran: forest land (0.678) > cultivated land (0.422) > grassland (0.382) > wasteland (0.138). The highly robust findings presented here offer innovative methods for ecological and environmental monitoring in the arid region of the northwest, with potential implications at an international scale., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Modeling stream flows is vital for water resource planning and flood and drought management. In this study, the performance of hybrid models constructed by combining least square support vector machines (LSSVM), empirical model decomposition (EMD), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods in modeling monthly streamflow was evaluated. For establishing the models, 42 years of monthly average streamflow data was used in two hydrometer stations located in the Konya Closed Basin, covering 1964 to 2005. Lagged streamflow values ​​were selected as inputs according to partial autocorrelation values ​​in establishing the models. The dataset was divided into 70% training and 30% testing. Model performances were evaluated according to mean square error, root mean square error, correlation coefficients, scatter plot, and Taylor and Violin diagrams. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the PSO-LSSVM and EMD-LSSVM models were slightly more successful than the single LSSVM model, and the best model was obtained with the EMD-PSO-LSSVM. In addition, in estimating monthly stream flows, 1-, 9-, 10-, 11-, and 12-month lagged streamflow values were the input combination that gave the best results in semi-arid climatic regions. This result demonstrated that EMD improved the performance of both LSSVM and PSO-LSSVM models by 1% to 5% based on correlation coefficient (R) values., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Efficient spatial orientation in the natural environment is crucial for the survival of most animal species. Cataglyphis desert ants possess excellent navigational skills. After far-ranging foraging excursions, the ants return to their inconspicuous nest entrance using celestial and panoramic cues. This review focuses on the question about how naïve ants acquire the necessary spatial information and adjust their visual compass systems. Naïve ants perform structured learning walks during their transition from the dark nest interior to foraging under bright sunlight. During initial learning walks, the ants perform rotational movements with nest-directed views using the earth's magnetic field as an earthbound compass reference. Experimental manipulations demonstrate that specific sky compass cues trigger structural neuronal plasticity in visual circuits to integration centers in the central complex and mushroom bodies. During learning walks, rotation of the sky-polarization pattern is required for an increase in volume and synaptic complexes in both integration centers. In contrast, passive light exposure triggers light-spectrum (especially UV light) dependent changes in synaptic complexes upstream of the central complex. We discuss a multisensory circuit model in the ant brain for pathways mediating structural neuroplasticity at different levels following passive light exposure and multisensory experience during the performance of learning walks., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Desalination is a critical process to address water scarcity in arid regions worldwide, and solar stills provide an economical solution despite their productivity limitations. This study aimed to enhance the performance and productivity of solar stills by constructing two stills with different natural and artificial absorbing materials such as black luffa, luffa, fine steel wool, and steel wool pads. The solar stills were tested in Egypt under comparable weather conditions, and their productivity, solar intensity, wind velocity, and temperature were measured to determine their thermal efficiency and exergo-economic analysis. Results showed that the choice of absorbing material significantly impacted solar still productivity, with steel wool pads achieving the highest yield of 4.384 l/m 2 . Moreover, steel wool pads also exhibited the highest thermal efficiency at 32.74%. The cost per liter (CPL) was the lowest with steel wool pads at 0.0034 $/l/m 2 . Finally, the payback period and exergo-economic analysis demonstrated that incorporating steel wool pads was the most promising modification for enhancing solar still performance compared to other modifications., (© 2023. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

In semi-arid regions, interactions between biophysical and socio-economic variables are complex. Such interactions and their respective variables significantly alter land use and land cover, degrade landscape's structure, and impede the efficacy of the adopted land management interventions. This scenario is particularly prevalent in communal land tenure system or areas managed by a hybrid of traditional and state led institutions. Hence, this study sought to investigate the impacts of land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) on land degradation (LD) under communal rural districts, and the key drivers of habitat fragmentation in the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality (GSDM), South Africa. The study used the wet and dry season multi-temporal remotely sensed image data, key-informant interviews, and workshop with tribal council to determine the major drivers of LULCC and LD. Results revealed that mines and quarries, subsistence and commercial cultivation, and thicket/dense bush LULCs declined significantly during the study period. These LULCs mostly declined in wet season, with loss in vegetation cover highly prevalent. Specifically, the highest conversions were from shrub/grassland to bare soil, thicket/dense bush to shrub/grassland, and shrub/grassland to residential, respectively. Generally, LULCC affected vegetation productivity within the study area, with increased negative NDVI values observed during the dry season. The findings from key informants and the tribal council workshop emphasized that soil erosion, abandonment of cropland, and injudicious land use (i.e. overgrazing and consequent bush encroachment) have severely degraded the land. The study also established that the degrading land can be attributed to the weakening local communal land management system, particularly the weakening tribal councils. The study recommends an urgent need for collaborative (i.e. government, tribal authorities, and land users) land management through designing relevant multi-stakeholder LD mitigation measures., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Climate and land use changes together are altering the particle content of desert dust storms on regional and local scales. These storms now carry a wide variety of pollutants and pathogens arising from urbanization, industrialization, mass transportation, warfare, or aerosolized waste in locations worldwide where deserts are intertwined with built infrastructure, transportation centers, and high-density human habitation. Accordingly, the modern desert dust storm has an anthropogenic particle load which presumably sets it apart from pre-industrial dust storms. Evidence for how particle content for modern dust storms is changing over the Arabian Peninsula holds relevance because dust storms are now more frequent and more severe. Furthermore, the Arabian Peninsula has asthma rates which are the highest worldwide. How the modern desert dust storm contributes to asthma and human health is a nascent issue. Meanwhile, public health decisions can benefit from a climate × health framework for dust storms, as proposed here. An imperative is testing each dust storm's particle content type, and for this, we propose the A-B-C-X model. Sampling a dust storm for its particle content data and then archiving samples for future analyses is advised. A storm's particle content data, once combined with its atmospheric data, allows a particle's source, transport, and deposition to be determined. In closing, the modern desert dust storm's changing particle content has far-reaching consequences for public health, transboundary issues, and international climate dialog. SIGNIFICANCE : Locally and regionally sourced particle pollution is a growing problem in deserts worldwide. Proposed here is a climate × health framework for studying how dust storm particles, entrained from both natural and engineered systems, may be contributing to declining human respiratory health., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Two hundred Holstein heifers were divided by hair coat color in black (n 1  = 60), white (n 2  = 62), and mixed (n 3  = 78) to accomplish two objectives: (1) to compare physiological variables using an analysis of variance, and (2) to construct regression equations to predict rectal temperature. In each heifer, rectal temperature (RT), respiration frequency (RF), and body surface temperatures (obtained with infrared thermography in eye, nose, forehead, head, neck, ear, shoulder, flank, belly, leg, loin, rump, and vulva) were measured. Black heifers had more RF and RT (P < 0.01) than mixed and white coat heifers; white heifers had similar RT than mixed color heifers, but they exhibited less RF (P < 0.05). In general, black and mixed coat color heifers had higher BST (P < 0.01) than white heifers in the majority of the anatomical regions measured. For black coat heifers, the best regression model to predict RT included three predictor variables: [RT = 35.59 - 0.013 (RH) + 0.045 (RF) + 0.019 (T Ear ); R 2  = 71%]. For white coat heifers, the best model included two predictor variables: [RT = 35.29 + 0.035 (RF) + 0.033 (T Forehead ); R 2  = 71%]; and for mixed coat color heifers, the best model included two predictor variables: [RT = 35.07 + 0.022 (RF) + 0.038 (T Head ); R 2  = 44%]. Heifers with dark hair coat color showed higher physiological constants than white heifers; the prediction of rectal temperature was more precise in heifers with well-defined hair coat color. Physiological and climatic variables, along with infrared thermography, represent an appropriate combination to predict rectal temperature in Holstein heifers with predominant white or black hair coat color., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

An arid climate accompanied by a freshwater shortage plagued Egypt. It has resorted to groundwater reserves to meet the increasing water demands. Fossil aquifers were lately adopted as the sole water source to provide the irrigation water requirements of the ongoing reclamation activities in barren areas. Yet, the scarcity of measurements regarding the changes in the aquifers' storage poses a great challenge to such sustainable resource management. In this context, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission enables a novel consistent approach to deriving aquifers' storage changes. In this study, the GRACE monthly solutions during the period 2003-2021 were utilized to estimate alterations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) throughout Egypt. Changes in groundwater storage (GWS) were inferred by subtracting soil water content, derived from the GLDAS-NOAH hydrological model, from the retrieved TWS. The secular trends in TWS and GWS were obtained using the linear least square method, while the non-parametric technique (Mann-Kendall's tau) was applied to check the trend significance. The derived changes in GWS showed that all aquifers are undergoing a significant loss rate in their storage. The average depletion rate over the Sinai Peninsula was estimated at 0.64 ± 0.03 cm/year, while the depletion rate over the Nile delta aquifer was 0.32 ± 0.03 cm/year. During the investigated period (2003-2021), the extracted groundwater quantity from the Nubian aquifer in the Western Desert is estimated at nearly 7.25 km 3 . The storage loss from the Moghra aquifer has significantly increased from 32 Mm 3 /year (2003-2009) to 262 Mm 3 /year (2015-2021). This reflects the aquifer exposure for extensive water pumping to irrigate newly cultivated lands. The derived findings on the aquifers' storage losses provide a vital source of information for the decision-makers to be employed for short- and long-term groundwater management., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Mediterranean regions are hot spots of climate change, where the expected decrease in water resources threatens the sustainability of shrublands at their arid margins. Studying spectral vegetation indices' relationships with rainfall and potential evapotranspiration (PET) changes across Mediterranean to arid transition zones is instrumental for developing methods for mapping and monitoring the effects of climate change on desert fringe shrublands. Here we examined relationships between 17 spectral vegetation indices (VIs) and four climate and aridity measures, i.e., rainfall, PET, aridity index (AI), and water deficit (WD), calculated at accumulation lags between 1 and 6 months. For this purpose, VIs for 38 sites (100 × 100 m each) representing less disturbed areas were extracted from Sentinel 2A images for 3 years with high (2016), low (2017), and average (2018) annual rainfall. Most of the VIs had shown the highest correlation with the four climate and aridity measures at 2-month accumulation interval. While NDVI relationships with climate measures gained the widest use, our data suggest that indices combining NIR and SWIR bands better correlate with climate parameters. AI is one of the leading annual measures of dryness worldwide; when calculating it monthly, WD was found to represent better the balance between precipitation and PET across the climate transition zone and to be better correlated with VIs. Relationships between NIR and SWIR VIs and water deficit may thus facilitate improvements in monitoring and mapping desert fringe shrublands' responses to climate change if supported by similar results from other areas., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Remote sensingmonitoring of regional ecological quality has advanced significantly with the rapid developments of remote sensing technology. At present, remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) has been widely used in ecological status monitoring. However, RSEI was proposed for urban environments, and the rationality and accuracy of its applicability to desert-dominated arid region ecosystems need to be demonstrated. Therefore, in this study, we incorporated desertification monitoring index (DMI) and salinity monitoring index (SMI) to RSEI and developed the modified remote sensing ecological index (MRSEI) for arid regions. Moreover, we analyzed the stability of MRSEI in ecological status monitoring for arid regions. The MRSEI was then used to evaluate the ecological quality of Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2020 and exploring its causes. The results show that (1) Although the evaluation results of RSEI and MRSEI are more consistent in areas with high ecological status grades, the MRSEI results are more cautious and reliable in extreme conditions (e.g., desertification, salinization) than the RSEI. (2) Approximately 87.66% of ecological quality have improved or remain stable from 2000 to 2020, but the remaining areas (accounting for 12.34% of the whole area) are still under degraded conditions. This demonstrates that although local governments have made some progress in ecological conservation, the areas that are fluctuating or degraded still require protection or management. (3) In Inner Mongolia, the ecological quality which drove by precipitation (P) & temperature (T) accounting for 26.67% of the study area, population density (D) and GDP per capita (G) affected 13.23% of regional ecological quality. Overall, this research is crucial for evaluating spatial and temporal changes in arid region ecology and establishing conservation strategies., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Human activities cause a multitude of environmental issues, including increased temperatures and altered precipitation patterns associated with climate change, air pollution, and other impacts of urbanization. One area highly affected by these issues is the Sonoran Desert, specifically the Phoenix metropolitan area where urbanization is among the most rapid in the United States. Most studies investigate these multiple environmental change factors independently or sometimes in pairs, but rarely all together as co-occurring forms of change. We examined how the simultaneous manipulation of increasing temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, nitrogen deposition, and urbanization influenced soil respiration and mineral N pools in the Sonoran Desert. Soil was collected from urban and exurban sites, from both nitrogen-fertilized and control plots. To simulate projected climate change, the soils were incubated in microcosm at the annual average Phoenix temperature as well a 2 ℃ increase under a factorial precipitation treatment of decreased frequency and increased pulse size. Our results show that C and N dynamics were altered by all four forms of environmental change. However, the dominance of significant 3- and 4-way interactions among the four environmental factors for both respiration and mineral N pools demonstrates that the impact of any given form of environmental change will depend on the levels of the other environmental factors. In other words, the cumulative effect of altered precipitation, fertilization, temperature, and urbanization on soil biogeochemical processes is not necessarily predictable from their individual impact., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

With the impact of human engineering activities, groundwater pollution has seriously threatened the health of human life. Accurate water quality assessment is the basis of controlling groundwater pollution and improving groundwater management, especially in specific regions. A typical semi-arid city in Fuxin Province of China is taken as an example. We use remote sensing and GIS to compile four environmental factors, such as rainfall, temperature, LULC, and NDVI, to analyze and screen the correlation of indicators. The differences among the four algorithms were compared by using hyperparameters and model interpretability, including random forest (RF), support vector machine support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), and K-nearest neighbor (KNN). The groundwater quality of the city during the dry and wet periods was comprehensively evaluated. The results show that the RF model has higher integrated precision (MSE = 0.11, 0.035; RMSE = 0.19,0.188; R 2  = 0.829,0.811; ROC = 0.98, 0.98). The quality of shallow groundwater is poor in general, 29%, 38%, 33% of the groundwater quality in low-water period is III, IV, V water. Thirty-three percent and 67% of the groundwater quality in the high-water period were IV and V water. The proportion of poor water quality in high-water period was higher than that in low-water period, which was consistent with the actual investigation. This study provides a kind of machine learning method for the semi-arid area, which cannot only promote the sustainable development of groundwater in this area, but also provide reference for the management policy of related departments., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This article investigates the Dust Storm Index (DSI) and its trend using the Mann-Kendall test, across urban areas of Iran on the monthly, seasonally, and annually scales from 2000 to 2018. The results showed that cities located in the humid region, especially Khoram Abad and Avaj, had the lowest DSI values, and the cities located in arid regions, particularly Zabol, Sarakhs, and Zahedan, had the highest DSI values during the study period. On a monthly basis, the positive trends were observed in most cities of Iran in March, October, and August, while the negative trends were mainly observed in Feb, May, and June. Birjand, Torbat Heydariyeh, Saveh, Shiraz, and Kerman showed an increasing trend of DSI in most months of the study period. On a seasonal scale, the autumn and summer DSI changes showed significant positive trends in 18% of the urban environments in Iran. A similar trend was observed for 17% and 15% of study urban areas in the spring and winter, respectively. On an annual scale, the significant upward trends in DSI were observed in 13% while its negative changes were found in 10% of study cities. These results can be useful for decision-makers and managers to take appropriate measures to reduce and control dust events in urban areas that have suffered from the increasing trend of dust events in the past years., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Land degradation threatens the social welfare of human societies. In order to identify the most important indicators for land degradation assessment, this article quantified 36 vegetation and soil indicators. Ecosystem condition was determined based on the ecosystem threats using the InVEST habitat quality model, dividing the region to five degradation classes, i.e., negligible, little, medium, high, and very high degradation classes. The structural equation modeling showed that vegetation indicators were more important than soil indicators for land degradation assessment. Climate had a significant mediation on the relationships between soil and vegetation indicators and degradation (P < 0.05). Warning indicators were identified for each degradation stage. The mean changes of degradation indicators were 18, 35, 56, and 78% in little, medium, high, and very high degradation classes, respectively. Cold and semi-arid climates were more influenced by vegetation indicators which had the most variations in the early stages of degradation. Warm and arid regions were more affected by soil indicators, which had the most variations in the high and very high degradation stages. This approach provides comprehensive and necessary information about the condition of ecosystems by determining the severity of degradation in an area, the most important warning indicators of degradation, and the deviation of ecosystems from normal condition at each degradation classes, which helps a lot to managers to choose appropriate restoration plans., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Evapotranspiration is an important quantity required in many applications, such as hydrology and agricultural and irrigation planning. Reference evapotranspiration is particularly important, and the prediction of its variations is beneficial for analyzing the needs and management of water resources. In this paper, we explore the predictive ability of hybrid ensemble learning to predict daily reference evapotranspiration (RET) under the semi-arid climate by using meteorological datasets at 12 locations in the Andalusia province in southern Spain. The datasets comprise mean, maximum, and minimum air temperatures and mean relative humidity and mean wind speed. A new modified variant of the grey wolf optimizer, named the PRSFGWO algorithm, is proposed to maximize the ensemble learning's prediction accuracy through optimal weight tuning and evaluate the proposed model's capacity when the climate data is limited. The performance of the proposed approach, based on weighted ensemble learning, is compared with various algorithms commonly adopted in relevant studies. A diverse set of statistical measurements alongside ANOVA tests was used to evaluate the predictive performance of the prediction models. The proposed model showed high-accuracy statistics, with relative root mean errors lower than 0.999% and a minimum R 2 of 0.99. The model inputs were also reduced from six variables to only two for cost-effective predictions of daily RET. This shows that the PRSFGWO algorithm is a good RET prediction model for the semi-arid climate region in southern Spain. The results obtained from this research are very promising compared with existing models in the literature., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Climate change affects the change of vegetation, and the analysis of vegetation change and its drivers in different globe climate zones is important for ecological conservation, energy balances, and climate change in different global climate zones. Based on the vegetation leaf area index (LAI) and climate factor datasets, this paper uses an integrated empirical model decomposition, sensitivity rate, contribution rate, and geographic detector analysis method to study the vegetation drivers and their changes in 14 different climate zones around the globe from 1981 to 2018. The results showed that (1) Vegetation changes were sensitive to precipitation and evapotranspiration in arid climate zones and to temperature and soil temperature in cold climate zones. In the tundra climate zone, the sensitivity of vegetation change to temperature was higher than that to precipitation and evapotranspiration. (2) Soil moisture has the highest contribution to vegetation change, and the areas with absolute contribution rates over 60% account for 50.26% of the total area of global vegetation cover. The areas with high contributions of temperature and soil temperature to the LAI are mainly distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, which indicates that temperature has a high contribution to vegetation change in low-temperature environments. (3) The areas with significant increasing trends for the global vegetation LAIs accounted for approximately 15.32% of the total global vegetation cover (slope ≥ 0.01), which are mainly located in equatorial savannahs with dry winters, warm temperate climates with dry winters, and warm temperate climates with fully humid climatic zones. (4) The LAIs were dominated by medium-high fluctuations and sustainable increasing changes, which accounted for 61.27% and 69.34% of the total global vegetation cover area, respectively. (5) Globally, the driving factors influencing LAI changes are specific humidity, temperature, soil temperature, evapotranspiration, precipitation, and soil moisture in descending order, with the largest interaction effect of specific humidity and soil moisture on LAI changes. This research provides a scientific basis for vegetation change monitoring, driving mechanisms, and ecological protection in different climate regions around the globe., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The present study illustrates the delineation of the groundwater potential zones in one of the most critical and drought-affected areas under Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh (India). Hydrological evaluations were carried out using GIS tools and remote sensing data which ultimately yielded several thematic maps, such as lineament density, land use/land cover, drainage density, lithology, slope, geomorphology, topographic wetness index (TWI), DEM, and soil. Thematic layers were assigned relative weightages as per their groundwater potential prospects under multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method through analytical hierarchy process (AHP). To recognize the groundwater potential zone, weighted overlay analysis was also performed. Additionally, for testing of the Dempster-Shafer model, 16 wells in the study area have been selected. Based on the probability of the groundwater occurrence, the belief factor was equated to delineate groundwater potential zones which illustrate five different potential zones. According to the AHP model, the northwest side of the study area is characterized with very high potential zones whereas the northeast and southeast regions constitute medium and low groundwater potential zones respectively. According to the DS model, very high groundwater potential zones constitute 17% and the remaining area falls under low potential. Overall accuracy of the DS model is higher than AHP model., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Microbiological air contamination in the desert environment is becoming an essential subject for the health of office building occupants and public health. In this study, the concentrations and compositions of airborne microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) were assessed in indoor and outdoor environments using a multistory building complex in Kuwait as a case study. Airborne microorganism samples were collected from 12 sites within the building complex containing nineteen stories over four seasons. Culturable airborne bacteria and fungi were impacted on selected media to determine their concentrations and compositions with a Biolog Omnilog GEN III system and Biolog MicroStation. The indoor mean airborne bacterial count concentrations ranged from 35 to 18,463 CFU/m 3 , concentrations that are higher than 2,000 CFU/m 3 , demonstrating high-very high contamination levels in all seasons. Fungal contamination was high in winter and summer, with detected concentrations > 2,000 CFU/m 3 . Indoor-to-outdoor (I/O) ratios showed that airborne microbial contamination inside building floors originated from indoor air contamination. All the building floors showed bacterial and fungal concentrations ranging from less than 2,000 to more than 2,000 CFU/m 3 , indicative of a high to very high air contamination level. Statistical analysis showed no correlation between bacterial and fungal concentrations, demonstrating that they originated from unrelated sources. In the indoor building air, the most prevalent bacterial isolate was Bacillus pseudomycoides/cereus, whereas the most dominant fungal isolate was Aspergillus spp. The low count for indoor air bacterial species suggested no particular health risk for the occupants. In contrast, the high count of indoor air fungal species in the winter samples and the presence of potentially allergenic genera detected may suggest possible health risks for the occupants. The results obtained are the basis for the recommendation that the maintenance activities of the HVAC system and the periodical cleaning operation program be revised and preplanned as protective measures., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

It is important to choose an indicator that can optimally demonstrate the effects of drought intensity on soil moisture access, evapotranspiration and the changes in vegetation cover at a regional scale. Therefore, herein, SEDI was developed by the fit of the experimental distribution of Gringorten on evapotranspiration deficit based on TerraClimate data at the time scales of 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, and its relationship with Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Soil Moisture Index (SSMI), Normalized Ecosystem Drought Index (NEDI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were investigated. The results indicated that SEDI has the highest significant correlation (above 95%) with NEDI and SPEI, especially for the 1-month time scale. This index also revealed the lowest correlation (less than 25%) with SPI on short-term time scales. The relationship between SEDI and SSMI indicated the high sensitivity of SEDI to the cumulative reduction of low amounts of soil moisture. According to the findings, the 6-month SEDI with NDVI showed the highest correlation with a 1-month delay (r = 0.64) and the best fit between them occurred in wet months. However, in the dry months, the relationship between SEDI with NDVI was affected via water availability stresses, grazing intensity and pest infestation. Finally, the use of SEDI at a regional scale, especially in arid and semi-arid regions like Lorestan, could be recognized as an important index in depicting the effects of drought on vegetation cover, due to the use of the actual evapotranspiration factor., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The lactation curve in dairy cows is influenced by the calving season, which is highly dependent on the warm climate in semi-arid regions. Objective herein was to evaluate effects of calving season on the parameters and components of the lactation curve in Holstein cows. The study included 278,317 milk records collected from 1086 cows from the 1st to 5th calving and good body condition score. The cows were grouped according to the season in which they calved: winter-calved (CS1), summer-calved (CS2), and autumn-calved cows (CS3). Ambient temperature and humidity data were used to calculate the temperature-humidity index (THI). The NLIN procedure was used to estimate the parameters of the lactation curve that served to calculate the components. The mixed procedure was executed to analyze the fixed effect of calving season. Associations between lactation curve traits were tested using correlation and regression analyses. A univariate model was utilized to calculate heritability. Average THI values during the lactation period were 73.5, 68.5, and 69.5 units for CS1, CS2, and CS3 groups, respectively. Initial milk production and increasing rate to the maximum milk yield in CS1 and CS3 groups were higher (P < 0.05) than CS2 cows. However, persistency and total milk yield during the entire lactation period were superior (P < 0.05) for CS2 and CS3 cows compared to CS1 cows, probably due to the moderate heat stress during the lactation period in the CS1 group. In cows from CS2 and CS3 groups, total milk production at 305 days was moderately correlated with initial milk production (r = 0.47; P < 0.05), and highly correlated with milk yield at peak day (r = 0.91; P < 0.05) which resulted as reliable predictor for total milk yield during the entire lactation (R 2  = 0.83). In conclusion, the THI prevailing during the different calving seasons appeared to be an important factor influencing the performance of the lactation curve., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

At the beginning of their foraging careers, Cataglyphis desert ants calibrate their compass systems and learn the visual panorama surrounding the nest entrance. For that, they perform well-structured initial learning walks. During rotational body movements (pirouettes), naïve ants (novices) gaze back to the nest entrance to memorize their way back to the nest. To align their gaze directions, they rely on the geomagnetic field as a compass cue. In contrast, experienced ants (foragers) use celestial compass cues for path integration during food search. If the panorama at the nest entrance is changed, foragers perform re-learning walks prior to heading out on new foraging excursions. Here, we show that initial learning walks and re-learning walks are structurally different. During re-learning walks, foragers circle around the nest entrance before leaving the nest area to search for food. During pirouettes, they do not gaze back to the nest entrance. In addition, foragers do not use the magnetic field as a compass cue to align their gaze directions during re-learning walk pirouettes. Nevertheless, magnetic alterations during re-learning walks under manipulated panoramic conditions induce changes in nest-directed views indicating that foragers are still magnetosensitive in a cue conflict situation., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global lifestyle, and the spreading of the virus is unprecedented. This study is aimed at assessing the association between the meteorological indicators such as air temperature (°C), relative humidity (%), wind speed (w/s), solar radiation, and PM 2.5 with the COVID-19 infected cases in the hot, arid climate of Bahrain. Kendall and Spearman rank correlation coefficients and quantile on quantile regression were used as main econometric analysis to determine the degree of the relationship between related variables. The dataset analysis was performed from 05 April 2020, to 10 January 2021. The empirical findings indicate that the air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed indicators, and PM2.5 have a significant association with the COVID-19 newly infected cases. The current study findings allow us to suggest that Bahrain's relatively successful response to neighboring GULF economies can be attributed to the successful environmental reforms and significant upgrades to the health care facilities. We further report that a long-term empirical analysis between meteorological factors and respiratory illness threats will provide useful policy measures against future outbreaks., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Plants make leaf-level trade-offs between photosynthetic carbon assimilation and water loss, and the optimal balance between the two is dependent, in part, on water availability. "Conservative" water-use strategies, in which minimizing water loss is prioritized over assimilating carbon, tend to be favored in arid environments, while "aggressive" water-use strategies, in which carbon assimilation is prioritized over water conservation, are often favored in mesic environments. When derived from foliar carbon isotope ratios, intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) serves as a seasonally integrated indicator of the balance of carbon assimilation to water loss at the leaf level. Here, we used a multi-decadal record of annual iWUE, growth, and flowering from a single population of Encelia farinosa in the Mojave Desert to evaluate the effect of iWUE on plant performance across interannual fluctuations in water availability. We identified substantial variability in iWUE among individuals and found that iWUE interacted with water availability to significantly influence growth and flowering. However, the relationships between iWUE, water availability, and plant performance did not universally suggest that "conservative" water-use strategies were advantageous in dry years or that "aggressive" strategies were advantageous in wet years. iWUE was positively related to the odds of growth regardless of water availability and to the odds of flowering in dry years, but negatively related to growth rates in dry years. In addition, we found that leaf nitrogen content affected interannual plant performance and that an individual's iWUE plasticity in response to fluctuations in aridity was negatively related to early life drought survival and growth., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.)

Water scarcity constrains global cotton production. However, partial root-zone drying (PRD) and mulching can be used as good techniques to save water and enhance crop production, especially in arid regions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of mulching for water conservation in an arid environment under PRD and to further assess the osmotic adjustment and enzymatic activities for sustainable cotton production. The study was carried out for 2 years in field conditions using mulches (NM = no mulch, BPM = black plastic mulch at 32 kg ha -1 , WSM = wheat straw mulch at 3 tons ha -1 , CSM = cotton sticks mulch at 10 tons ha -1 ) and two irrigation levels (FI = full irrigation and PRD (50% less water than FI). High seed cotton yield (SCY) achieved in FI+WSM (4457 and 4248 kg ha -1 in 2017 and 2018, respectively) and even in PRD+WSM followed by BPM>CSM>NM under FI and PRD for both years. The higher SCY and traits observed in FI+WSM and PRD+WSM compared with the others were attributed to the improved water use efficiency and gaseous exchange traits, increased hormone production (ABA), osmolyte accumulation, and enhanced antioxidants to scavenge the excess reactive oxygen. Furthermore, better cotton quality traits were also observed under WSM either with FI or PRD irrigation regimes. Mulches applications found effective to control the weeds in the order as BPM>WSM>CSM. In general, PRD can be used as an effective stratagem to save moisture along with WSM, which ultimately can improve cotton yield in the water-scarce regions under arid climatic regions. It may prove as a good adaptation strategy under current and future water shortage scenarios of climate change., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

In natural and agricultural ecosystems, plants are often simultaneously or sequentially exposed to combinations of stressors. Here we tested whether limited water availability (LWA) affects plant response to insect herbivory using two populations of Eruca sativa from desert and Mediterranean habitats that differ in their induced defenses. Considering that such differences evolved as responses to biotic and possibly abiotic stress factors, the two populations offered an opportunity to study ecological aspects in plant response to combined stresses. Analysis of chemical defense mechanisms showed that LWA significantly induced total glucosinolate concentrations in the Mediterranean plants, but their concentrations were reduced in the desert plants. However, LWA, with and without subsequent jasmonate elicitation, significantly induced the expression of proteinase inhibitor in the desert plants. Results of a no-choice feeding experiment showed that LWA significantly increased desert plant resistance to Spodoptera littoralis larvae, whereas it did not affect the relatively strong basal resistance of the Mediterranean plants. LWA and subsequent jasmonate elicitation increased resistance against the generalist insect in Mediterranean plants, possibly due to both increased proteinase inhibitor expression and glucosinolate accumulation. The effect of LWA on the expression of genes involved in phytohormone signaling, abscisic acid (ABA-1) and jasmonic acid (AOC1), and the jasmonate responsive PDF1.2, suggested the involvement of abscisic acid in the regulation of defense mechanisms in the two populations. Our results indicate that specific genotypic responses should be considered when estimating general patterns in plant response to herbivory under water deficiency conditions., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Fires have increased in northeastern Iran as its semi-arid climate landscape is desiccated by human activities. To combat fire outbreaks in any region, fire susceptibility must be mapped using accurate and efficient models. This research mapped fire susceptibility in the forests and rangelands of Golestan Province in northeastern Iran using new data-mining models. Fire effective factors, including elevation, slope angle, annual mean rainfall, annual mean temperature, wind effect, topographic wetness index (TWI), plan curvature, distance to river, distance to road, and distance to village were obtained from several sources. The relative importance of each variable was determined using a random-forest algorithm. Fire-susceptibility maps were produced in R 3.0.2 software using GAM, MARS, SVM algorithms, and a new ensemble of the three models: GAM-MARS-SVM. The four fire-susceptibility maps were validated using the area under the curve. The results show that the distance to the village, annual mean rainfall, and elevation were of greatest importance in predicting fire susceptibility. The new GAM-MARS-SVM ensemble model achieved the highest precision of fire-susceptibility mapping. The fire-susceptibility map produced using the GAM-MARS-SVM ensemble model best detected the high fire risk areas in Golestan Province. The fire-susceptibility map produced by the ensemble model can be very useful for creating and enhancing management strategies for preventing fires, particularly in the higher-risk portions of Golestan Province., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Photovoltaic power generation is an important clean energy alternative to fossil fuels. To reduce CO 2 emissions, the Chinese government has ordered the construction of a large number of photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate power in the past two decades; many are located in desert areas because of the sufficient light conditions. Large-scale PV construction in desert areas can alter the local microclimate and soil conditions, thereby affecting the growth of vegetation. However, few studies have focused on the effects of PV panels on the environment of desert areas. In this study, we investigated the effects of PV panels on soil moisture and temperature via a whole-year field experiment at a PV power plant in a desert area in western China. The in situ soil moisture and temperature at a depth of 0-0.4 m were measured under three types of PV shading conditions: shaded by fixed-tilt (FIX) PV panels, shaded by oblique single-axis (OSA) PV panels, and no shading. The results showed that the soil temperature and moisture at sites under PV shading were significantly affected compared with those at sites without shading. PV panels increased the average soil temperature during winter but decreased it during the other three seasons. Moreover, the warming effect of FIX PV panels on the soil is more apparent than that of OSA PV panels. PV panels have positive effects on soil moisture. Compared with that at the sites without shaded areas, the average soil moisture under the FIX PV panels and under the OSA PV panels increased by 14.7% and by 11.1%, respectively. These data provide support for future studies on vegetation restoration around PV power plants in desert areas.