Desert Ecology

La Reserva de la Biósfera de Mapimí fue de una de las primeras reservas de Latinoamérica. Es un sistema desértico en el que a pesar de las las limitantes hídricas y/o altas temperaturas, se presenta una importante diversidad de vertebrados, siendo las aves y mamíferos los de mayor riqueza. Sin embargo, existen presiones antrópicas que han generado diversos problemas para la conservación de algunas de las especies de la reserva. En este artículo, se exponen los diferentes grupos de vertebrados con algunas de sus especies más emblemáticas, así como los beneficios que proveen al sistema y sus principales amenazas. Así mismo, se exponen algunos de los retos para la conservación de la reserva.

Water affect vegetation pattern of dry lands. The present study was designed to study the vegetation of Cholistan desert along moisture gradients. In Cholistan desert rainwater is collected in manmade ponds locally known as Toba (water body/pond in english). These Toba's are source of drinking water for human as well as cattles. Qualitative and Quantitative characteristics of species were measured using quadrat method in the vicinity of ponds (Toba's). A total of 4800 different sized quadrats were used for measuring density, frequency, cover and other qualitative attributes of trees, shrubs and herbs around 100 ponds (Toba's). Preliminary results showed the presence of 49 plant species belonging to 25 families around these ponds. Poaceae is dominant family with 12 species. Dominant species include Capparis deciduas, Salsola imbricata, Cenchrus ciliaris. While rare species include Dalbergia sisso, Abutilon indicum, Heliotropium strigosum. Results revealed that moisture gradient have pronounced effect on distribution of vegetation up to distance of 100 m. Vegetation goes on decline with increase in distance from water bodies. Herbs and trees are most abundant along the boundary of water body while number of shrubs is increasing with increase of distance from water body. The palatable species present in vicinity of Toba is on decline due to over grazing. It is recommended to introduce new palatable species near to the Tobas that can flourish in monsoon season to provide fodder for cattle. Such introduction of ethno-ecologically important plant species for pastoralism can be helpful for reducing grazing pressure on few of the available browsed species. This study will provide a baseline for other studies in the field of ecology, ethnobotany, pastoralism, hydrobiology etc. Introduction Cholistan is a vast desert in southern part of Bahawalpur division of Punjab province in Pakistan. 8% of total land area of Punjab is covered by Cholistan desert and two third of Bahawalpur civil division. Cholistan desert extends over an area of 26000 2 km between 27°42ʹN and 29°45ʹN latitude and 69°52ʹE and 75°24ʹE longitude having an altitude of about 112 m above sea level. It is located in south of Bahawalpur in Punjab extending up to Nara and Thar deserts of Sindh (Akhter and Arshad, 2006). It is unable to fulfill the water needs of local people and their livestock. Ground water is very deep and brackish and cannot be used even for livestock, therefore rainfall is main source of water. The average rainfall is about 166 mm. At many localities in desert runoff is high during normal rainfall events. The rainwater is collected in manmade ponds locally known as " Toba ". These Tobas are not constructed according to any scientifically approved design. These Tobas are generally made on " dahars " i.e compact soil patches. Seepage in these tobas is negligible than the evaporation due to high temperature. About 1500 tobas have been constructed by local people in Cholistan area (Ahmad et al., 2008) but now less than 500 are in running condition due to ordinary design of Tobas. These tobas are source of water to livestock in wet season and dictates the mass movement of livestock from one Toba to another (CDA, 2006). Water lasts just for 3-4 months in these Tobas due to high temperature, seepage and heavy storms in summer season. Storage capacity of Tobas is reducing rapidly due to siltation especially during monsoon season (PCRWR, 2004). Cholistani pastoralists move over long distances in desert in search of good pastures and water. Quality and quantity of water in tobas is factor behind their migration. The better the quality/quantity of water longer the stay of nomads at that toba. There are no hard and specific rules for migration. Pastoralists start to move towards the lesser Cholistan from the mid of February as forage starts to decline around the tobas in Greater Cholistan desert due to increase in grazing pressure. Ethnoecology is the study of how people manipulate and use the resources in the environment. While pastoralism is the branch of agriculture related to livestock rearing. As in the Cholistan desert whole economy depends on earning from livestock and due to absence of basic facilities of health and food the have to depend on local resources of desert. The present study was designed with an aim to determine the role of tobas (water bodies) on pastoral life style in the Cholistan desert. The particular objectives of the study were to analyze the

The desert and desertification are concepts with unstable, unfixed definitions that haunt current politics and aesthetics. MANUAL FOR A FUTURE DESERT proposes a full-spectrum scanning of the desert and its multiple implications across cultural, technological, political, and ecological concerns. Emerging from an artistic research program conducted in the Chihuahuan Desert on western Texas, this book is a time-space capsule; it collects routes, tools, and understandings on the desert in order to address and act upon issues that shape present and future realities. It is a manual for tapping into the exigency of the desert; it determines the coordinates for finding a future desert without deserting the future.

Edited by Ida Soulard, Abinadi Meza & Bassam El Baroni
Texts by Gloria Anzaldúa, Agency Architecture, Olga Bannova, Bassam El Baroni, Amanda Beech, Antoine Bousquet, Ingrid Burrington, Aaron S. Davidson, Diana K. Davis, Melissa Dubbin, Keller Easterling, Fabien Giraud, Bruce Glasrud, Alfredo Gonzáles-Ruibal, Jonathan R. Harvey, Jeremy Lecomte, Stephanie LeMenager, Abinadi Meza, Laura Huertas Millán, Jason Bahbak Mohaghnegh, Reza Negarestani, Chris Taylor, Ida Soulard.

This study reports on the bio-ecology of desert truffles collected from the Northern Algerian Sahara. It aims (i) the identification of desert truffle species with a morphometric characterization, (ii) the determination of their geographical distribution, and (iii) the description of the edaphic, climatic and geomorphological characteristics of their natural habitat. The harvest of 78 truffle fruiting bodies from seven different locations resulted in the identification of three species of the family Terfeziaceae: Terfezia arenaria (Moris) Trappe, Terfezia claveryi Chatin and Tirmania nivea (Desf) Trappe. These hypogeous ascomycetes live in mycorrhizal association with Helianthemum lippii (Cistaceae). Desert truffles grow in heterogeneous soils of sandy texture, moderately calcareous (10.19 ± 1.37%), slightly alkaline (7.87 ± 0.22), with low organic matter (0.86 ± 0.1%) and slight phosphorus contents. The development of desert truffles is closely linked with high rainfall amount occuring during the fall season and/or winter. The truffles colonize desert depressions "Dayas" and beds of Wadis, since these geomorphological zones accumulate rainwater, which promotes the development of both truffles and its host–plant.

Modern scholarship on the medieval Sahara has focused on a handful of famous entrepôt sites that have their origins in the 8th century or later, and as a result we still understand very poorly the nature and extent of Saharan oasis settlement and agriculture in the golden age of Saharan trade. This article presents the first securely dated chronology for oasis development in the northwest Sahara based on three seasons of archaeological survey and a comprehensive radiocarbon dating programme in the Wadi Draa, Morocco. The Draa Valley contains some of the largest, most populous and most productive oases in the Sahara, as well as serving as an important travel corridor for trading caravans coming from West Africa to access the Atlas passes and reach Marrakech. Focusing on evidence from a large zone of abandoned oases on the Kasr Bounou Plain, this article demonstrates that while oasis agriculture and settlement was taking place between the 4th-8th centuries-well before the Muslim conquest of Morocco-there was a significant increase in settlement and agricultural exploitation from the 9th century. This phenomenon is marked by the appearance of substantial mudbrick settlements, along with irrigation and field systems, and is coterminous with the development of the medieval trading entrepôt of Sijilmasa. A settlement boom and significant investment in irrigated oasis agriculture occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries, contemporary with Almoravid and Almohad rule of the Draa, followed by a retraction and abandonment of much of the oasis by the 16th century. The new evidence from the Draa challenges the long-held belief that sedentarization and irrigated oasis agriculture were unique to the medieval period in the northwest Sahara.

This book invites us to reflect on the restoration of terrestrial
ecosystems in the context of a region whose identity
is still under construction, Latin America and the Caribbean,
immersed in a social, economic, ecological and political
crisis, whose roots originate historically and politically
in colonialism and in the prevailing model of capital
accumulation. For the first time, insights and practical
experiences on restoration are gathered from most Latin-
American and Caribbean countries. Furthermore, this
book offers a social approach to restoration, which will
likely become preponderant in this field and in this region.
The authors claim that a Latin-American knowledge
of restoration is under construction and that this discipline
can be a significant tool to empower local populations,
which might, in turn, lead to a collective action of
change.
Case studies from 11 countries of the region were compiled,
involving multiple voices that emerge beyond generalist
principles and with a bottom-up approach. The main
idea of the book is to open a debate about the identity of
ecological and social restoration in this region.
This book is targeted to restoration specialists, volunteers,
environmental managers, researchers, politicians and
NGOs working on the complexity of socioecological restoration
in a region with unavoidable social problems. It is
intended for people with similar concerns to those of the
chapters' authors. This work tries to integrate a movement
on the rise, almost silent, born with its own narratives of
successes and failures that do not hinder its development.
Finally, the determination and commitment of Latin-
American and Caribbean social actors to restore not only
natural values but also social, ethical and cultural ones is
remarkable.

Whilst camped at Ooldea, South Australia, between 1919 and 1935, the amateur anthropologist Daisy Bates CBE recorded the daily lives, lore and oral traditions of the Aboriginal people of the Great Victoria Desert region surrounding Ooldea. Among her archived notes are stories regarding the Aboriginal astronomical traditions of this region. One story in particular, involving the stars making up the modern western constellations of Orion and Taurus, and thus referred to here as "The Orion Story", stands out for its level of detail and possible references to transient astronomical phenomena. Here, we critically analyse several important elements of "The Orion Story", including its relationship to an important secret-sacred male initiation rite. This paper is the first in a series attempting to reconstruct a more complete picture of the sky knowledge and star lore of the Aboriginal people of the Great Victoria Desert.

The desert and arid steppes of Mongolia and northern China were geographically central to the spread of pastoralism and the rise of pastoralist states, but research on the organizational strategies of pre-pastoralist hunter-gatherers and the spread of herding has been extremely limited. Until recently, catalogues of sites collected by Westerners in the 1920s and 1930s comprised the body of English-language publications on Gobi Desert prehistory. This article introduces a wealth of new site-specific and interpretive data, drawing on English-language sources as well as Russian-and Mongolian-language publications to create a synthesis for the prehistory of the Gobi Desert from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum to the adoption of herding. Special emphasis is placed on the relationship between a major shift in desert ecosystems, comparable to the 'greening of the Sahara', the establishment of an oasis-based broad-spectrum foraging strategy, and progressive desertification and deforestation after 2000 BC. We conclude that an oasis-based adaptation was contemporaneous with the expansion of forests and wetlands and persisted throughout the early stages of herding. A major decline in these economies occurs after 1000 BC, in conjunction with continuing trends towards heightened aridity and major societal changes across Northeast Asia. The persistent coexistence of Bronze Age burials and microblade-based habitation sites around oases, as well as similarities in material culture, suggest that these groups overlapped geographically or were the same entity.

Товчлол: Монгол болон Умард Хятадын говь, говь хээрийн бүс нутаг нь газарзүйн хувьд мал аж ахуй болон түүнд суурилсан нүүдэлчдийн төрт улсууд бүрэлдэн бий болоход нөлөөлсөн чухал бүс нутаг юм. Гэвч эдгээрийн суурь болсон эртний анчин, түүвэрлэгч нарын нийгмийн бүтэц, мал аж ахуйн тархалтын талаарх судалгаа туйлын бага хийгджээ. Саяхныг хүртэл 1920-1930-аад оны үед барууны судлаачдын говьд хийсэн түүхийн өмнөх үеийн судалгааны бүтээлүүд хожмын англи хэлээр бичигдсэн цөөн хэдэн эрдэм шинжилгээний ажлуудын  гол хэрэглэгдэхүүн болсоор иржээ. Харин энэхүү өгүүлэл нь сүүлийн жилүүдэд тухайн бүс нутагт хийгдсэн монгол, англи, орос хэл дээрх археологийн судалгааны эх хэрэглэгдэхүүнд тулгуурлан мөстлөгийн сүүл үеэс мал аж ахуйн үүсэл хүртэлх үеийн говь нутгийн түүхийн өмнөх үеийн асуудлуудыг нэгтгэн дүгнэсэн юм.

Мөн зохиогчид өнөөгийн “Сахаарын цөлийн ногоорол” хэмээх үзэгдэлтэй жишиж болохуйц эртний экосистемийн томоохон өөрчлөлт, хүмүүсийн “Баянбүрд” түшиглэсэн амьдралын хэв маяг болон НТӨ 2000 оноос хурдацтайгаар явагдаж эхэлсэн цөлжилт гэх зэрэгт онцгой анхаарал хандуулан тэдгээрийн хоорондын уялдаа холбоог судалсан байна.

Эртний хүмүүсийн баянбүрд түшиглэсэн амьдралын хэв маяг нь ойн болон чийглэг хөрст бүс тэлэн өргөжсөнтэй нэг цаг хугацаанд явагдаж мал аж ахуйн хөгжлийн эхний үе шат хүртэл үргэлжилсэн хэмээн зохиогчид үзжээ. Харин энэхүү амьдралын хэв маяг нь Зүүн хойд Азийг хамарсан хэт хуурайшилт болон тухайн үеийн нийгмийн бүтцэд томоохон өөрчлөлт гарч эхэлсэн зэрэг шалтгааны улмаас НТӨ 1000 оноос хойш аажмаар хумигдаж эхэлсэн байна. Зохиогчид говь хээрийн бүсэд өргөн тархсан баянбүрдүүдийн ойр орчимд хүрлийн үеийн булш оршуулга болон ижил хэлбэрийн бичил ялтас бүхий бууц суурингууд олноор тохиолдож байгаа нь эдгээр дурсгалуудыг үлдээсэн бүлгүүд нэг дор эсвэл хоорондоо холгүй амьдарч байсныг харуулахаас гадна нэг угсааны хүмүүс байх магадлалтайг цохон тэмдэглэжээ.

Ethnopharmacrological relevance: Desert truffles are edible hypogeous fungi, highly appreciated by the inhabitants of hot-desert settlements. Native Saharan people use truffles for food, promoting tourism, increasing fertility, and treatment of eye diseases and fatigue.
Aim of the study: This study consists of a cross-sectional survey focusing on the knowledge, use and ethnomycological practices of desert truffles among the native people of the Algerian Northern Sahara.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted through direct interviews with 60 truffle-hunters in the regions of Ouargla and Ghardaia.
Results: Three species were harvested and consumed by the surveyed subjects: Terfezia claveryi was the most appreciated and most expensive species, followed by Terfezia areanaria moderately preferred, then Tirmania nivea the least appreciated and least expensive. Among the 60 interviewees, 90% rely on the abundance of symbiotic plants (Helianthemum lippii) to harvest truffles, 65% begin harvesting from mid-February to March, after rains of the autumn (38 %) and winter (36%), particularly in the Wadi beds (37%) and Daya landscapes (32%). Interviewees harvested truffles mainly for home consumption; however 26.7% sell any harvest surplus, and of those only 15% generate significant revenue from this source, and 73% considered the sale of desert truffles to have low financial value. Desert truffles are used in traditional medicine, especially against eye infections (22%), weakness (19%) and to promote male fertility (19%). In the case of desert truffles for consumption, the surveyed population preferred to prepare the truffles with couscous and meat, or in porridge. Respondents used price as the main criterion for deciding whether to purchase desert truffles.
Conclusions: The surveyed trufflers use the knowledge passed from one generation to the next to help ensure a good harvest of truffles during each foray into the desert. Our findings highlight the various uses of truffles in the Sahara Desert, and how these relate to the lifestyle of local people.
Keywords: Algeria; Northern Sahara; Ethnomycology; desert truffles; traditional knowledge; medicinal use.