Plants of Desert Dunes

Plants of Desert Dunes PDF

Author: Avinoam Danin

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 3642609759

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Based on three decades of field experience in southwest Asia, southern Africa, and the southwest United States, the author summarizes the major adaptations of plants to desert dunes. This integrative study of plant and diaspore morphology, reactive growth, life cycles, and environmental factors explains and predicts plant distribution. Many kinds of dune syndromes, plant case studies and vegetation transects are discussed and illustrated to clarify the significance of adaptations to specific habitat factors. Although the focus is on vascular plants, the development of microbiotic soil crust, its function, and its composition are discussed as well.

Dune Country

Dune Country PDF

Author: Janice Emily Bowers

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 1998-05

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0816518904

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Contrary to public perception, sand dunes are not barren piles of sand. They are alive with plant life. The dunes themselves even move, sometimes several inches a year. In Dune Country Janice Emily Bowers takes readers from New Mexico's White Sands to Utah's Coral Pink Dunes to the Death Valley dunes of California and beyond. Beautifully written and illustrated, Dune Country is a perfect introduction to the fragile ecosystems of sand dunes.

Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes

Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes PDF

Author: David Andrew Keith

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13:

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'Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes' is an award-winning book that takes the reader on a journey through the landscapes of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, describing the 12 broad formations - or types - of vegetation, and 99 vegetation classes. Each vegetation class is comprehensively described, including where each occurs and why, interesting aspects of its ecology, evolution, history and development, as well as current conservation and management challenges. This spectacularly illustrated book includes more than 100 maps and 400 colour photographs, species lists for each of the vegetation classes, and extensive botanical and general indexes. 'Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes' is the perfect companion to the many plant identification guides currently available, and is based on a significant new state-wide map and vegetation classification by the author.

Seed Germination in Desert Plants

Seed Germination in Desert Plants PDF

Author: Yitzchak Gutterman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 3642756980

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During germination, the most resistant stage of the life cycle - the seed - changes to the most sensitive stage, namely the seedling. Therefore, in desert plant species seed dispersal and subsequent germination in the optimum time an place place are particularly critical parameters. Discussed here are the ways and means by which desert plants have adapted through the course of evolution to their extreme environment. Two such strategies which have evolved are a) plants with relatively large and protected seeds which germinate when the chance of seedling survival is high and the risk relatively low or b) those with an opportunistic strategy: minute seeds which germinate after low rainfall under high risk for seedling survival if additional rain does not follow. Most species adopt a combination of the two mechanisms. Species have adapted both genotypically and phenotypically, both aspects of which are also discussed in this thorough text. The reader is provided with a good understanding of the complex influences on each seed traced through from initial development to germination stage regarding germination preparation and subsequent survival.

The Nature of Desert Nature

The Nature of Desert Nature PDF

Author: Gary Paul Nabhan

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2020-11-10

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0816540284

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In this refreshing collection, one of our best writers on desert places, Gary Paul Nabhan, challenges traditional notions of the desert. Beautiful, reflective, and at times humorous, Nabhan’s extended essay also called “The Nature of Desert Nature” reveals the complexity of what a desert is and can be. He passionately writes about what it is like to visit a desert and what living in a desert looks like when viewed through a new frame, turning age-old notions of the desert on their heads. Nabhan invites a prism of voices—friends, colleagues, and advisors from his more than four decades of study of deserts—to bring their own perspectives. Scientists, artists, desert contemplatives, poets, and writers bring the desert into view and investigate why these places compel us to walk through their sands and beneath their cacti and acacia. We observe the spines and spears, stings and songs of the desert anew. Unexpected. Surprising. Enchanting. Like the desert itself, each essay offers renewed vocabulary and thoughtful perceptions. The desert inspires wonder. Attending to history, culture, science, and spirit, The Nature of Desert Nature celebrates the bounty and the significance of desert places. Contributors Thomas M. Antonio Homero Aridjis James Aronson Tessa Bielecki Alberto Búrquez Montijo Francisco Cantú Douglas Christie Paul Dayton Alison Hawthorne Deming Father David Denny Exequiel Ezcurra Thomas Lowe Fleischner Jack Loeffler Ellen McMahon Rubén Martínez Curt Meine Alberto Mellado Moreno Paul Mirocha Gary Paul Nabhan Ray Perotti Larry Stevens Stephen Trimble Octaviana V. Trujillo Benjamin T. Wilder Andy Wilkinson Ofelia Zepeda

Coastal Dunes

Coastal Dunes PDF

Author: M. L. Martínez

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-09-14

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 3540740023

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In this book, coastal dune specialists from tropical and temperate latitudes cover a wide set of topics, including: geomorphology, community dynamics, ecophysiology, biotic interactions and environmental problems and conservation. The book offers recommendations for future research, identifying relevant topics where detailed knowledge is still lacking. It also identifies management tools that will promote and maintain the rich diversity of the dune environments in the context of continuing coastal development.

Plants of the Oregon Coastal Dunes

Plants of the Oregon Coastal Dunes PDF

Author: Alfred M. Wiedemann

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13:

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Plants of the Oregon Coastal Dunes offers a useful, informative guide for visitors to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area or anyone spending time on the state's remarkable beaches. The standard reference on the Oregon dunes for thirty years, this handy guide identifies those plants most likely encountered and serves as a general introduction to the ecology of dune areas. The first two sections explain the natural history of dunes and describe plant communities associated with dunes and how they change over time. The final section provides an easy-to-use key to ninety common dune plants. Each species profile includes a photograph, a detailed description, and information on habitat and range.

Deserts and Desertification

Deserts and Desertification PDF

Author: Yajuan Zhu

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2022-02-16

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1839627174

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A desert is an ecosystem in an arid zone in which sand dunes cover the land and sandstorms often occur. Although desert vegetation is sparse, it plays an important role in ecosystem structure and function. Desertification is one of the most severe environmental problems today. Land desertification can be controlled through many measures, such as eco-villages, eco-agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and the combination of engineering and biology. This edited volume provides new insights into the pattern of desert ecosystems and the progress of desertification control. It is a useful resource for researchers in ecology, forestry, and land desertification control.