Journal of Arid Environments最新文献

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Leaf traits of the mistletoe Erianthemum dregei and its host tree Sclerocarya birrea vary across a rainfall gradient and levels of hemiparasite infection

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-06 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105308

Tsitsi Sithandiwe Maponga , Hilton Garikai Taambuka Ndagurwa , Dave Ian Thompson , Justice Muvengwi , Wayne Twine , Ed T.F. Witkowski

Certain trees in semi-arid environments are surpassing their physiological thresholds because of erratic rainfall and rising global temperatures. Mistletoes (Loranthaceae) may also be making large trees more susceptible to the physiological stress imposed by climate change. Therefore, we examined intraspecific variations of selected leaf traits of the mistletoe, Erianthemum dregei, and Sclerocarya birrea host trees along a rainfall gradient at three levels of mistletoe infection. We measured seven leaf traits across five mistletoe-host pairs at low, medium, and high rainfall sites. Rainfall had significant effects on all measured traits, except host leaf succulence. Hosts were more resource-acquisitive at intermediate rainfall, but more conservative at high rainfall. The reverse is true for mistletoes. Mistletoe infection only had an effect on host leaf area, specific leaf area, and stomatal conductance, but most mistletoe leaf traits were significantly influenced by infection intensity. Uninfected hosts were more resource-conservative, but highly infected hosts were resource-acquisitive. Conversely, mistletoes on low-infected hosts were associated with high resource acquisition, while those on high-infection trees were resource-conservative. Therefore, the antagonistic response of host trees and mistletoes to infection and rainfall suggests the potential for resilience to environmental change.

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引用次数: 0

Drought impact on the nutrients of forage plants in a semi-arid rangeland and its potential implications for sustaining herbivores

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-04 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105299

Marnus Smit , Paul Malan , Nico Smit , Francois Deacon

The impact of drought on the nutrient content of important natural forage plants in semi-arid rangelands is poorly understood. Most studies to date have shown that drought induced stress resulted in lower plant nutrient concentrations. The consequential declines in forage quality may be an important limiting factor in sustaining wild herbivore populations through periods of drought. In the semi-arid southern Kalahari of South Africa, the most severe drought recorded in the last 60 years resulted in high plant and animal mortalities. The aim of this study was to determine if the severe drought impacted the nutritional value of plants in this region and resulted in nutrient deficient forage. For this, the nutrient content of the most abundant woody and grass species was determined during the drought and the first year of above-average rainfall following the drought. The impact of drought differed markedly between dicotyledonous woody species and monocotyledon grasses. In the former, it resulted in decreased crude protein concentrations but increased macronutrient concentrations. In the latter, crude protein contents were higher and the content of most macronutrients lower. Despite these differences, the forage on offer to herbivores during the drought was not nutrient deficient. During the drought, the dry seasons when plant nutrients were naturally at their lowest, persisted for longer than normal. The prolonged dry seasons also resulted in shortened wet seasons, when plants were most nutritious. It was concluded that the prolonging of the period when forage quantity and quality is most limiting, is likely the main limitation in sustaining herbivores during periods of drought. More studies in semi-arid rangelands are however needed to better understand the impact of drought on plant nutrients in these systems.

{"title":"Drought impact on the nutrients of forage plants in a semi-arid rangeland and its potential implications for sustaining herbivores","authors":"Marnus Smit , Paul Malan , Nico Smit , Francois Deacon","doi":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105299","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The impact of drought on the nutrient content of important natural forage plants in semi-arid rangelands is poorly understood. Most studies to date have shown that drought induced stress resulted in lower plant nutrient concentrations. The consequential declines in forage quality may be an important limiting factor in sustaining wild herbivore populations through periods of drought. In the semi-arid southern Kalahari of South Africa, the most severe drought recorded in the last 60 years resulted in high plant and animal mortalities. The aim of this study was to determine if the severe drought impacted the nutritional value of plants in this region and resulted in nutrient deficient forage. For this, the nutrient content of the most abundant woody and grass species was determined during the drought and the first year of above-average rainfall following the drought. The impact of drought differed markedly between dicotyledonous woody species and monocotyledon grasses. In the former, it resulted in decreased crude protein concentrations but increased macronutrient concentrations. In the latter, crude protein contents were higher and the content of most macronutrients lower. Despite these differences, the forage on offer to herbivores during the drought was not nutrient deficient. During the drought, the dry seasons when plant nutrients were naturally at their lowest, persisted for longer than normal. The prolonged dry seasons also resulted in shortened wet seasons, when plants were most nutritious. It was concluded that the prolonging of the period when forage quantity and quality is most limiting, is likely the main limitation in sustaining herbivores during periods of drought. More studies in semi-arid rangelands are however needed to better understand the impact of drought on plant nutrients in these systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51080,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arid Environments","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 105299"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143136702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A new index for comprehensively assessing multiple ecosystem services in typical arid and semi-arid areas

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-04 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105316

Honglan Ji , Jiayu Geng , Yongguang Zhai , Wenzhe Jiao

An accurate assessment of the ecosystem service is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving sustainable regional development in arid and semi-arid regions. Current indices for evaluating ecosystem services typically aggregate the cumulative or maximum values of a specific set of ecosystem services. However, when the performance of individual ecosystem services varies widely, these indices can be disproportionately influenced by outliers. This may lead to either overestimation or underestimation of the overall ecosystem services. This study proposes a novel assessment approach, namely the multi-dimensional ecosystem service index (MDESI), with a view to addressing the aforementioned issues. And the MDESI is employed to assess ecosystem services in a typical arid and semi-arid region, exemplified by Inner Mongolia from 2001 to 2020. The results demonstrate that (1) in arid and semi-arid regions, the MDESI is more effective than the traditional cumulative and maximum methods; (2) from 2001 to 2020, the ecosystem service capacity of Inner Mongolia exhibited a spatial pattern of decline from the northeast to the southwest; (3) despite regional variations, soil and water conservation services represent the most significant constraint on ecosystem services in Inner Mongolia. This study provides a theoretical basis for the government to formulate sustainable development.

{"title":"A new index for comprehensively assessing multiple ecosystem services in typical arid and semi-arid areas","authors":"Honglan Ji , Jiayu Geng , Yongguang Zhai , Wenzhe Jiao","doi":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105316","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105316","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>An accurate assessment of the ecosystem service is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving sustainable regional development in arid and semi-arid regions. Current indices for evaluating ecosystem services typically aggregate the cumulative or maximum values of a specific set of ecosystem services. However, when the performance of individual ecosystem services varies widely, these indices can be disproportionately influenced by outliers. This may lead to either overestimation or underestimation of the overall ecosystem services. This study proposes a novel assessment approach, namely the multi-dimensional ecosystem service index (MDESI), with a view to addressing the aforementioned issues. And the MDESI is employed to assess ecosystem services in a typical arid and semi-arid region, exemplified by Inner Mongolia from 2001 to 2020. The results demonstrate that (1) in arid and semi-arid regions, the MDESI is more effective than the traditional cumulative and maximum methods; (2) from 2001 to 2020, the ecosystem service capacity of Inner Mongolia exhibited a spatial pattern of decline from the northeast to the southwest; (3) despite regional variations, soil and water conservation services represent the most significant constraint on ecosystem services in Inner Mongolia. This study provides a theoretical basis for the government to formulate sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51080,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arid Environments","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 105316"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143136709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Compounding effects of drought on long-term demography of a threatened reptile

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105315

Erin R. Zylstra , Chad A. Rubke , Robert J. Steidl

Assessing the status and trends of at-risk species requires long-term data gathered from populations throughout a species' range. Often, these data can help to identify processes that govern spatiotemporal variation in demography, which can guide conservation efforts and inform predictions about a species’ response to future environmental change. We evaluated 34 years of capture-recapture data from 17 populations of Sonoran desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) in Arizona. We characterized spatial and temporal variation in adult and juvenile survival, rates at which individuals transitioned from juveniles to adults, and rates of population change. Annual survival was high for adults (females: 0.96 [95% credible interval = 0.94–0.98]; males: 0.95 [0.93–0.97]) and lower for juveniles (0.77 [0.70–0.82]); transition rates were low (0.09 [0.06–0.13]). Adult survival was lower in populations near cities with 10,000 or more residents and transition rates were higher in more mesic areas. These sources of spatial variation were small, however, compared to the negative effects of drought on both juvenile and adult survival, particularly in arid regions. Although our findings suggest that populations in Arizona are currently stable or increasing, there is a high probability of future population declines if the severity and duration of droughts increase as expected.

{"title":"Compounding effects of drought on long-term demography of a threatened reptile","authors":"Erin R. Zylstra , Chad A. Rubke , Robert J. Steidl","doi":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105315","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105315","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Assessing the status and trends of at-risk species requires long-term data gathered from populations throughout a species' range. Often, these data can help to identify processes that govern spatiotemporal variation in demography, which can guide conservation efforts and inform predictions about a species’ response to future environmental change. We evaluated 34 years of capture-recapture data from 17 populations of Sonoran desert tortoises (<em>Gopherus morafkai</em>) in Arizona. We characterized spatial and temporal variation in adult and juvenile survival, rates at which individuals transitioned from juveniles to adults, and rates of population change. Annual survival was high for adults (females: 0.96 [95% credible interval = 0.94–0.98]; males: 0.95 [0.93–0.97]) and lower for juveniles (0.77 [0.70–0.82]); transition rates were low (0.09 [0.06–0.13]). Adult survival was lower in populations near cities with 10,000 or more residents and transition rates were higher in more mesic areas. These sources of spatial variation were small, however, compared to the negative effects of drought on both juvenile and adult survival, particularly in arid regions. Although our findings suggest that populations in Arizona are currently stable or increasing, there is a high probability of future population declines if the severity and duration of droughts increase as expected.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51080,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arid Environments","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 105315"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143137291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Too early or too late: The late Chalcolithic Canaanean blade assemblage of Fazael in the Jordan valley

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105292

Sonia Pinsky , Shay Bar , Danny Rosenberg

The circumstances and conditions surrounding the shift between the Late Chalcolithic- and Early Bronze Age transition in the southern Levant are still debated, with disagreements regarding the nature and pace of changes in various aspects of material culture still at the centre of discussions. One aspect of this transition that has gained an ever-growing interest in recent years is the appearance of ‘Canaanean blades’ at Late Chalcolithic-period sites and strata. The site of Fazael (dated to ca. 4200–3900 cal BC), located along the western margin of the Jordan Valley, is one of these sites, where excavations have revealed a large Canaanean blade assemblage in a clear Late Chalcolithic context. The current paper presents the Canaanean blade assemblage in detail and discusses its typological and technological characteristics. We discuss the significance of these findings in the context of the Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in the region and suggest this phenomenon should be dated to a late phase of the Late Chalcolithic period. Finally, we suggest that during the later phase of the Late Chalcolithic, flint knappers, probably specialists, began to produce Canaanean blade blanks using local raw materials but with adapted northern Mesopotamian technology. While it is unclear how this blank production technology reached the southern Levant (artisan traveling from the north to the southern Levant or knowledge transfer), it is clear that the advance modification of the blank was done using local Late Chalcolithic technology.

{"title":"Too early or too late: The late Chalcolithic Canaanean blade assemblage of Fazael in the Jordan valley","authors":"Sonia Pinsky , Shay Bar , Danny Rosenberg","doi":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The circumstances and conditions surrounding the shift between the Late Chalcolithic- and Early Bronze Age transition in the southern Levant are still debated, with disagreements regarding the nature and pace of changes in various aspects of material culture still at the centre of discussions. One aspect of this transition that has gained an ever-growing interest in recent years is the appearance of ‘Canaanean blades’ at Late Chalcolithic-period sites and strata. The site of Fazael (dated to ca. 4200–3900 cal BC), located along the western margin of the Jordan Valley, is one of these sites, where excavations have revealed a large Canaanean blade assemblage in a clear Late Chalcolithic context. The current paper presents the Canaanean blade assemblage in detail and discusses its typological and technological characteristics. We discuss the significance of these findings in the context of the Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in the region and suggest this phenomenon should be dated to a late phase of the Late Chalcolithic period. Finally, we suggest that during the later phase of the Late Chalcolithic, flint knappers, probably specialists, began to produce Canaanean blade blanks using local raw materials but with adapted northern Mesopotamian technology. While it is unclear how this blank production technology reached the southern Levant (artisan traveling from the north to the southern Levant or knowledge transfer), it is clear that the advance modification of the blank was done using local Late Chalcolithic technology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51080,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arid Environments","volume":"226 ","pages":"Article 105292"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143148598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The Timnian culture complex in the southern Levantine deserts: A rationale

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105294

Steven A. Rosen

An historical overview of the idea of a Timnian culture is presented, including discussion of early definitions. The final systematization of the Timnian Culture Complex, and the associated synthesis of its material culture corpus, has three primary goals: 1. To establish basic continuities between the protohistoric cultures/assemblages of the Negev, and by extension those of adjacent desert regions, by organizing the archaeological materials into a coherent and consistent sequence; 2. To demonstrate the essential independence of the protohistoric desert cultural trajectory from that of settled zone societies; and 3. To offer an explanatory framework for these two inter-related phenomena by attaching the long-term development of the Timnian Culture Complex to the dynamics of the evolving desert pastoral societies.

引用次数: 0

An integrated approach of machine learning methods coupled with cellular automation for monitoring and forecasting of land use and land cover

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105293

Kartikeya Mishra, H.L. Tiwari, Vikas Poonia

The expeditious urban development is transforming the contemporary features of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) globally. The investigation aims to estimate the past, and potential future LULC changes in one of the semi-arid regions of Central India. This research has designed four schemes based on two machine learning algorithms: Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) and Random Forest Classifier (RFC). The MLC and RFC were applied on the multi-spectral Landsat imagery to identify previous land use trends and land cover patterns between 2016 and 2022. The logistic regression (LR) and artificial neural networks (ANN) machine learning (ML) techniques were integrated into the CA model in QGIS. The previous patterns of LULC were employed in the Hybrid model (LR-CA & ANN-CA) to simulate changes in LULC for the future years (2028 and 2040). From the analysis and interpretation, it was observed that MLC with the ANN-CA model more precise technique to identify LULC features and predict changes for future years. This comprehensive and robust LULC modeling offers special spatially explicit statistics, vital for earth system analysis and understanding the complex interactions between human activities and the environment. This work develops a methodology to forecast the LULC changes through four models by uniquely integrated supervised classification in machine learning techniques. This study provides a robust framework for understanding and forecasting land use and land cover changes, which can aid in sustainable urban planning in similar regions globally.

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引用次数: 0

‘Clayton Rings’: A link between eastern Sahara and the southern Levant in the Early Bronze Age?

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2025-01-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105283

Shay Bar

Recent archaeological excavations in the Early Bronze Age site Sheikh Diab 2 in the Jordan Valley revealed a mysterious ceramic object in the shape of a perforated disc. The disc differs in dimension and surface treatment from smaller items with smaller perforations, known since the Pottery Neolithic, usually interpreted as spinning whorls or weights for looms or fishnets.

A survey of Early Bronze Age published data in Israel and adjacent regions shows three parallels from the site of Ashqelon Afridar on the southern Israeli coastal plain. These objects are probably an offshoot of an enigmatic ceramic type from the eastern Sahara Desert, termed ‘Clayton Rings’, first discovered more than 90 years ago. Clayton Rings are truncated ceramic rings open at both ends, often found together with perforated discs. While their function is unclear, the favored hypothesis is related to food procurement, specifically the collection of honey. The object, less plausibly, may also represent a very big loom whorl.

This paper addresses the current data on the manufacture, distribution, and possible function of Clayton Rings and their associated perforated discs, which are rare in the southern Levant, and assesses a possible long-distance connection between two distant regions.

{"title":"‘Clayton Rings’: A link between eastern Sahara and the southern Levant in the Early Bronze Age?","authors":"Shay Bar","doi":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105283","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105283","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent archaeological excavations in the Early Bronze Age site Sheikh Diab 2 in the Jordan Valley revealed a mysterious ceramic object in the shape of a perforated disc. The disc differs in dimension and surface treatment from smaller items with smaller perforations, known since the Pottery Neolithic, usually interpreted as spinning whorls or weights for looms or fishnets.</div><div>A survey of Early Bronze Age published data in Israel and adjacent regions shows three parallels from the site of Ashqelon Afridar on the southern Israeli coastal plain. These objects are probably an offshoot of an enigmatic ceramic type from the eastern Sahara Desert, termed ‘Clayton Rings’, first discovered more than 90 years ago. Clayton Rings are truncated ceramic rings open at both ends, often found together with perforated discs. While their function is unclear, the favored hypothesis is related to food procurement, specifically the collection of honey. The object, less plausibly, may also represent a very big loom whorl.</div><div>This paper addresses the current data on the manufacture, distribution, and possible function of Clayton Rings and their associated perforated discs, which are rare in the southern Levant, and assesses a possible long-distance connection between two distant regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51080,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arid Environments","volume":"226 ","pages":"Article 105283"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143148597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Hydrogeochemistry and stable isotopes of water: Characteristics, influencing factors and sources in a semi-arid irrigated basin, Hetao Plain

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2024-12-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105313

Jingzhong Wang , Zhennan Ge , Ruyang Xia , Shangwei He , Shuie Zhan

The semi-arid Hetao Plain in the northwest is one of the largest and earliest irrigated areas in the Yellow River Basin. The Hetao Plain has become the focus of attention due to its rapidly growing population and water requirements. In this study, the hydrographic geochemistry of surface water and groundwater in the Hetao Plain was researched, and the effects of geochemical processes and human activities on these characteristics were also investigated. Most water samples were hard-brackish or hard-fresh. The sodium absorption ratio indicated that most of the water was of moderate quality for irrigation, and the poor-quality water had greater Na⁺ concentrations. Three major water types were identified: Na-HCO₃, Ca-Na-HCO₃ and Na-SO₄-Cl, and the predominance was Ca-Na-HCO₃ which accounted for 55.3% of the water types. Geochemical and stable isotope data suggested that the releasing of principal solutes in the waters was mostly dominated by silicate weathering and dissolution, and the processes of cation exchange and evaporation also performed significant roles, and surface waters were influenced by evaporation and groundwater discharge. Correlation and principal component analyses indicated that pH, EC, TDS, Na, K, Mg, HCO₃, SO₄, Cl, δ¹⁸O and δD, with a correlation coefficient of no less than 0.37, are primarily affected by natural processes. Ca and Mg may be associated with the parent material of soil formation in the area. NO₃ and PO₄ are mainly dominated by anthropogenic impacts, and the use of chemical fertilizers, industrial wastewater and urban domestic sewage emissions had a significant influence on water chemistry.

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引用次数: 0

The fog harvesting Namib Desert dune grass Stipagrostis sabulicola promotes niche building by modifying substrate and atmosphere conditions

IF 2.6 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Arid Environments

Pub Date : 2024-12-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105312

Martin Ebner , Anita Roth-Nebelsick , Hervé Bocherens , Felix Gschwender , Moritz Baumeister , Nashara Miranda Ebner , Karin Hohberg , Huei Ying Gan , Clemént Schneider , Gillian Maggs-Kölling , Eugene Marais , Ricarda Lehmitz , Tatiana Miranda

The fog harvesting grass Stipagrostis sabulicola is one of the few plants able to cope with the hostile conditions in dune fields of the hyper-arid Namib Desert. S. sabulicola tussocks modify the substrate and atmospheric conditions leading to the formation of fog plant oases (FPO). Average air temperature within FPO canopies was reduced by up to 7.5 °C and air humidity raised by 11 % compared to the bare sand, inducing a lowering of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) by up to 1.5 kPa. Stomatal conductance showed a negatitive correlation with VPD, rising to an average of 435 mmol.m-2 s-1 in the forenoon of foggy days. Due to leaf water runoff during fog events, substrate moisture at the plant basis increased locally to values of up to 16% ensuring adequate plant water supply during fogless days. FPO substrates had finer grain sizes and doubled concentration of organic particles, thus improving water storage capacity. Fog interception rate of the sand increased by up to 109 % with steepening of S. sabulicola mounds. Improved water availability, balanced temperature conditions and the presence of digestible plant material promote niche-building for substrate life, which in turn is a prerequisite for the functioning of fog-driven oases ecosystems.

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