Background/Question/Methods Dew is often attributed as a major source of water in the desert. In arid environments, the importance of dew lies in its reliability and availability as a stable source of water throughout the year, compared... more
Background/Question/Methods Dew is often attributed as a major source of water in the desert. In arid environments, the importance of dew lies in its reliability and availability as a stable source of water throughout the year, compared with sporadic rainfall events. There is however, an ongoing debate about the importance of dew in ecosystems in general, and especially in plants as a water source. The dew in plants is especially important in water limited environments, such as the Negev in Israel. The Negev is an arid ecosystem, which receives rain only during the winter (October to March), similar to the northern part of the Sahara Desert. However the contribution of dew in plants still remains a mystery. We seeked to determine the fraction of dew absorbed directly by three different plant species in the desert, and the importance of this coverage to the development and survival of plants in the desert. In this project we used a wide range of tools including innovative methods to ...
