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.

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]

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]

The article explores the behavior of mate-guarding male desert locusts in hot desert environments. The study reveals that these males act as parasols for females laying eggs, shielding them from the heat and lowering their body temperature. This behavior has important implications for pest control and the adaptation of desert locusts to climate change. However, more research is needed to understand how mate guarding affects thermoregulation in other locust and insect species in different locations and seasons. [Extracted from the article]

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]

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 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]

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.

Abstract Background The knowledge about the species of a habitat (both resident and transient/dominant and rare) is a vital step to plan the conservation measures. Being generalist predators, spiders help controlling the population of their prey and maintain ecosystem stability. This makes spiders excellent bio-indicators for assessing the impact of anthropogenic disturbance factors on natural ecosystems (De, Siliwal, Uniyal and Hussain in Trop. Ecol. 63: 1–7, 2021). The aim of this study was to assess the dominance structure and constancy of spiders in three different habitats (Sand dunes, Riparian and Rocky) of the Thar desert. Study was conducted from March 2017 to February 2019 covering all seasons. Results The eudominant species in sand dunes and rocky desert belonged to the family Thomisidae. These species were Tmarus sp. 1 and Tmarus kotigeharus Tikader, 1963, respectively. There were two eudominants in Riparian habitat (Oecobius putus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 and Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour, 1831)). Through the analysis of constancy of all the species in the Thar desert, it was revealed that three species were constant in all the three habitats. The number of accessory and accidental species was far higher than constant species in all the habitats. Conclusions The number of accessory and accidental spider species in all habitats was far higher than constants due to the unstability of spider population. Therefore, this study highlights the necessity for conservation of these habitats of the Thar desert.

Abstract Ecological resource availability is crucial for the persistence and survival of local desert animal communities. Dryland resources such as shrubs and burrows positively benefit animal species by mitigating harsh abiotic factors and providing habitat. Understanding the role of native shrubs, many of which serve as foundation species within desert regions, as well as the function of underground burrows as resources, provides insights into habitat utilization. In this study, we seek to better understand the co-occurrence of these two resources as a first step in quantifying key patterns locally and regionally in drylands. We tested whether the presence of burrows increased with the density of foundational shrubs near the burrows at two scales—within a 5 m radius of every burrow recorded and at the site level—defined as discrete ecological areas. We performed fieldwork across 31 sites within the arid and semiarid regions of Central California. We used a combination of burrow field surveys and satellite imagery to document both vertebrate animal burrow frequencies and shrub densities. Additionally, the accuracy of the shrub data was verified through ground truthing. Both fine-scale and site-level shrub densities positively predicted the relative likelihood of burrows and the frequency of burrows, respectively. The existence of two highly utilized dryland resources and the relationship between them signal that areas abundant in both resources will likely better support resident animal species. This finding underscores the significance of incorporating both shrub density and burrow frequency in studies of habitat interconnectivity and quality. The co-occurrence patterns of these resources will support novel habitat management and conservation strategies designed around both conservation and restoration efforts.

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]

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.)

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]

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]

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]

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]

Background: The knowledge about the species of a habitat (both resident and transient/dominant and rare) is a vital step to plan the conservation measures. Being generalist predators, spiders help controlling the population of their prey and maintain ecosystem stability. This makes spiders excellent bio-indicators for assessing the impact of anthropogenic disturbance factors on natural ecosystems (De, Siliwal, Uniyal and Hussain in Trop. Ecol. 63: 1–7, 2021). The aim of this study was to assess the dominance structure and constancy of spiders in three different habitats (Sand dunes, Riparian and Rocky) of the Thar desert. Study was conducted from March 2017 to February 2019 covering all seasons. Results: The eudominant species in sand dunes and rocky desert belonged to the family Thomisidae. These species were Tmarus sp. 1 and Tmarus kotigeharus Tikader, 1963, respectively. There were two eudominants in Riparian habitat (Oecobius putus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 and Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour, 1831)). Through the analysis of constancy of all the species in the Thar desert, it was revealed that three species were constant in all the three habitats. The number of accessory and accidental species was far higher than constant species in all the habitats. Conclusions: The number of accessory and accidental spider species in all habitats was far higher than constants due to the unstability of spider population. Therefore, this study highlights the necessity for conservation of these habitats of the Thar desert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil seed banks help maintain species diversity through temporal storage effects and function as germination pools that can optimize fitness across varying environmental conditions. These characteristics promote the persistence of native plant communities, yet disturbances such as fire and associated invasions by non-native species can disrupt these reserves, fundamentally altering successional trajectories. This may be particularly true in deserts, where native plant communities are less adapted to fire. While studies of fire effects on desert plant communities are not uncommon, information regarding the short- and long- term effects of fire on seed banks is less available. To better understand the influence of fire and invasive species on desert seed banks, we investigated soil seed bank biodiversity from 30 wildfires that burned between 1972 and 2010 across the Mojave Desert ecoregion of North America. We assessed how characteristics of fire regimes (frequency, time since fire, and burn severity) interacted with climate and invasive plants on measures of a-, p-, and g- diversities. Because p-diversity is a direct measure of community variability and reveals important information about biodiversity loss, we further examined the nestedness and turnover components of p-diversity. Mean a- and ^-diversities were generally higher for burned locations than in unburned reference sites, however individual fire variables had little influence on patterns of seed bank diversity. Burned area seed banks tended to be dominated by non-native invasive species, primarily two grasses, (Bromus rubens, Bromus tectorum), as well as an invasive forb (Erodium cicutarium). The most striking pattern we observed was a collective sharp decline in a-, p-, and g-diversities with increased invasive species dominance, indicating the homogenization of seed bank communities with the colonization of invasive species after fire. Evidence of homogenization was further supported by reduced turnover and increased nestedness in burn areas compared to reference areas indicating potential biodiversity loss. Our findings highlight how biological processes such as plant invasions can combine with disturbance from fire to alter patterns of seed bank composition and diversity in desert ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is a desert? What is a desert to a geomorphologist, a geoclimatologist, a biogeographer, a geoanthropologist, a cartographer or a geopolitologist? Geography, as a discipline that is as much concerned with terrestrial morphology and climates as it is with ecosystems and human societies, shed light on the various meanings of the term ‘desert’ in different fields of language and knowledge, providing insights into the significance of deserts for our contemporary societies. The ambition of this reflection is to unravel the complexities of deserts and help to grasp what deserts are and what they ‘do’ by encouraging geographers to merge bioclimatic analyses and geo-historical understandings, establishing the geographical discipline as the quintessential science of deserts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facilitative associations between the foundational shrub species Ephedra californica and local vertebrate species can drive positive interactions within desert ecosystems that influence diversity and assembly processes. These foundational shrubs can contribute to the structural heterogeneity of ecosystems for plants and animals including variation in temperature profiles, refuge from predation, and habitat for foraging. Artificial structures can also influence fine‐scale ecological and micro‐environmental dynamics. We tested the hypothesis that artificial shrubs (mimics) positively influence desert vertebrate association through facilitative interactions, similar to foundational shrub species. Mimics were deployed at four distinct sites within the central deserts of Southern California. A combination of camera traps and temperature pendants were utilized to measure the association patterns of vertebrate species and the microclimatic variation at mimic, open, and shrubs. A total of 21 species were observed in this study. Mimics had a significantly higher vertebrate abundance and richness than open microsites and functioned similarly to shrubs. These findings suggest that mimics can be utilized as a stop‐gap replacement for foundational shrub species as they can act as a novel fine‐scale habitat for many desert vertebrate species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subterranean rodents modify the surrounding environment being classified, in some cases, as keystone species and/or ecosystem engineers. This role could be context‐dependent if the changes produced shift throughout the species distribution range and are stronger under certain environmental conditions. Our objective was to analyse whether the effect of Ctenomys mendocinus on vegetation cover is context‐dependent. Given that primary productivity may increase plants' ability to tolerate or compensate following herbivory, we hypothesize that the effect of C. mendocinus on vegetation cover will be context‐dependent along a primary productivity gradient, with smaller effects in highly productive environments and larger effects in less productive ones. We compared the effect of C. mendocinus on plant cover among four contrasting environments and found that it depended on primary productivity in a predictable manner. In low productivity environments, the rodent significantly reduces vegetation cover, while it has no discernible effect in highly productive ones. These findings suggest that the effect of C. mendocinus on plant cover depends on primary productivity level and highlights the importance of accounting for the underlying environmental factors that influence the intensity of C. mendocinus–plant interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

Iraq's reproductive and developmental seasons for the frog vary depending on the region and ecological, geographical, and climatic factors, but they always take place from February to April. This study set out to observe the impact factor of water temperature on frog embryo development and tadpoles' development in the frog genus Bufotes variabilis. In central Iraq (semi-arid zones), temperatures are high, and precipitation is low; the temperature plays an important role in the timing of metamorphosis, especially in amphibian populations of Iraq. In the three months of February, March, and April, a hand net was used to gather a total of 100 eggs from the bank of the Babylon River and divided into three groups, tadpole's total snout to vent length (SVL) at stages 25, 35, and 46 were measured during this period. This group experiences varying stages when the water temperature varies from 10°C in February to 25°C in April. Histologically, frog skin is composed of an epidermal and dermal layer. The epidermal layer comprises a mucous-stratified squamous epithelium (keratinized or non-keratinized) with three strata of keratinocytes (basal, intermediate, and apical). The dermis is divided into two strata, a loose connective tissue stratum underneath the epidermis that contains melanin pigment cells, blood vessels, mucous and granular glands, and a dense irregular connective tissue stratum rich in crisscrossed collagen fibers. Histological specimens were taken to study the mucous and granular glands of the frog's skin during the same period using rotund methods; the skin showed changes in mucous and granular gland diameter in April is larger than that in February. We registered in dorsal pectoral skin the mucous gland I, spherical in shape and constituted by a single layer of relatively tall prismatic secretory cells with basal nuclei. While the Mucous gland II is constituted of low cuboidal secretory cells with middle or basal nuclei surrounding a somewhat demanding lumen. In conclusion, the temperature plays a big role in tadpole size and time of metamorphosis as well as skin changes.

Background: Despite the exposure to arid environmental conditions across the globe ultimately hampering the sustainability of the living organism, few plant species are equipped with several unique genotypic, biochemical, and physiological features to counter such harsh conditions. Physiologically, they have evolved with reduced leaf size, spines, waxy cuticles, thick leaves, succulent hydrenchyma, sclerophyll, chloroembryo, and photosynthesis in nonfoliar and other parts. At the biochemical level, they are evolved to perform efficient photosynthesis through Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) and C4 pathways with the formation of oxaloacetic acid (Hatch-Slack pathway) instead of the C3 pathway. Additionally, comparative genomics with existing data provides ample evidence of the xerophytic plants' positive selection to adapt to the arid environment. However, adding more high-throughput sequencing of xerophyte plant species is further required for a comparative genomic study toward trait discovery related to survival. Learning from the mechanism to survive in harsh conditions could pave the way to engineer crops for future sustainable agriculture. Aim of the review: The distinct physiology of desert plants allows them to survive in harsh environments. However, the genomic composition also contributes significantly to this and requires great attention. This review emphasizes the physiological and genomic adaptation of desert plants. Other important parameters, such as desert biodiversity and photosynthetic strategy, are also discussed with recent progress in the field. Overall, this review discusses the different features of desert plants, which prepares them for harsh conditions intending to translate knowledge to engineer plant species for sustainable agriculture. Key Scientific Concepts of Review: This review comprehensively presents the physiology, molecular mechanism, and genomics of desert plants aimed towards engineering a sustainable crop.