Life adapted to precariousness: The ecology of drylands

Authors

  • Jaime Martinez-Valderrama University of Alacant (Spain).
  • Emilio Guirado University of Alacant (Spain).
  • Fernando T. Maestre University of Alacant (Spain).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.22006

Keywords:

aridity, droughts, biodiversity, adaptations, desertification

Abstract

Drylands occupy approximately 40 % of the Earth’s surface. Their peculiar hydrological system, with water as the main limiting factor, together with other characteristics such as the variability of rainfall and their ecological heterogeneity, make these regions one of the main and most relevant sets of biomes on the planet. Beyond their stereotypical conception as places with low economic and ecological profiles, these territories have enormous biodiversity and support 40 % of the world’s population. Global warming is increasing atmospheric aridity, meaning that the strategies developed over millennia by the inhabitants of these areas represent a model we can learn from. Preserving these places is essential to combat climate change, and to do so we must have an in-depth understanding of their structure and functioning.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Jaime Martinez-Valderrama, University of Alacant (Spain).

PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and postdoctoral researcher at the Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Alicante (Spain). He is a specialist in desertification, system dynamics modelling, and global change

Emilio Guirado, University of Alacant (Spain).

PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Almeria and postdoctoral researcher at the Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Alicante (Spain). He is a specialist in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, with a remote sensing and deep learning perspective

Fernando T. Maestre, University of Alacant (Spain).

PhD in Biology from the University of Alicante. He is Full Professor of Ecology at the Rey Juan Carlos University (currently on a leave of absence) and is a distinguished researcher at the University of Alicante (Spain) where he directs the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab. He specialises in dryland ecology, desertification, and the impacts of climate change on these ecosystems

References

Cherlet, M., Hutchinson, C., Reynolds, J., Hill, J., Sommer, S., & von Maltitz, G. (Eds.). (2018). World Atlas of Desertification. Publication Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/9205

D’Odorico, P., Bhattachan, A., Davis, K., Ravi, S., & Runyan, C. (2013). Global desertification: Drivers and feedbacks. Advances in Water Resources, 51, 326–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.01.013

FAO. (2011). Highlands and drylands. (N. Berrahmouni, R. Romeo, D. McGuire, S. Zelaya, D. Maselli, & T. Kohler, Eds.). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

FAO. (2019). Trees, forests and land use in drylands: The first global assessment. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/3/ca7148en/ca7148en.pdf

FAO. (2021). The state of the world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture. Systems at breaking point. Synthesis report. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7654en

Hewitt, K. (1997). Regions at risk. A geographical introduction to disasters. England. Longman.

Le Houérou, H. N. (1984). Rain use efficiency: A unifying concept in arid-land ecology. Journal of Arid Environments, 7, 213–47.

Lucatello, S., & Huber-Sannwald, E. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals and drylands: Addressing the interconnection. In S. Lucatello, E. Huber-Sannwald, I. Espejel, & N. Martinez-Taguena (Eds.), Stewardship of future drylands and climate change in the Global South (pp. 27–40). Springer.

Maestre, F. T. (2012). Plant species richness and ecosystem multifunctionality in global drylands. Science, 214, 214–218. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1215442

Maestre, F. T., Benito, B. M., Berdugo, M., Concostrina-Zubiri, L., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Eldridge, D. J., Guirado, E., Gross, N., Kefi, S., Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Y., Ochoa-Hueso, R., & Soliveres, S. (2021). Biogeography of global drylands. New Phytologist, 231(2), 540–558. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17395

Maestre, F. T., Salguero-Gomez, R., & Quero, J. L. (2012). It is getting hotter in here: Determining and projecting the impacts of global environmental change on drylands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1606), 3062–3075. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0323

Martinez-Valderrama, J. (2016). Los desiertos y la desertificación. Ediciones Catarata.

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA). (2005). Drylands. In R. Hassan, R. Scholes, & N. Ash (Eds.), Ecosystems and human well being: Scenarios (pp. 623–662). Island Press.

Mirzabaev, A., Wu, J., Evans, J., Garcia-Oliva, F., Hussein, I. A. G., Iqbal, M. M., Kimutai, J., Knowles, T., Meza, F., Nedjraoui, D., Tena, F., Turkeş, M., Vazquez, R. J., & Weltz, M. (2019). Desertification. In J. M. P. R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia, V. Masson-Delmotte, H.-O. Portner, D. C. Roberts, P. Zhai, R. Slade, S. Connors, R. van Diemen, M. Ferrat, E. Haughey, S. Luz, S. Neogi, M. Pathak, J. Petzold, J. Portugal Pereira, P. Vyas, E. Huntley, ... J. Malley (Eds.), Climate change and land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems (pp. 249–343). UNEP. https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-3/

Plaza, C., Zaccone, C., Sawicka, K., Mendez, A. M., Tarquis, A., Gasco, G., Heuvelink, G. B., Schuur, E. A. G., & Maestre, F. T. (2018). Soil resources and element stocks in drylands to face global issues. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32229-0

Reynolds, J. F., Kemp, P. R., Ogle, K., & Fernandez, R. J. (2004). Modifying the –pulse-reserve– paradigm for deserts of North America: Precipitation pulses, soil water, and plant responses. Oecologia, 141, 194–210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1524-4

UN. (2015, 25 September). General Assembly Resolution 70/1, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, A/RES/70/1. http://undocs.org/A/RES/70/1

UNCCD. (2017). The global land outlook (1st ed.). United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

UNEP-WCMC. (2007). A spatial analysis approach to the global delineation of dryland areas of relevance to the CBD Programme of Work on Dry and Subhumid Lands. Dataset based on spatial analysis between WWF terrestrial ecoregions (WWF-US, 2004) and aridity zones (CRU/UEA; UNEPGRID, 1991). Dataset checked and refined to remove many gaps, overlaps and slivers (July 2014).

Vanham, D., Alfieri, L., Florke, M., Grimaldi, S., Lorini, V., Roo, A. De, & Feyen, L. (2021). The number of people exposed to water stress in relation to how much water is reserved for the environment: A global modelling study. Lancet Planet Health, 5, 766–774. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00234-5

Downloads

Published

2023-02-23

How to Cite

Martinez-Valderrama, J., Guirado, E., & Maestre, F. T. (2023). Life adapted to precariousness: The ecology of drylands. Metode Science Studies Journal, (13), 9–15. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.22006
Metrics
Views/Downloads
  • Abstract
    1771
  • PDF
    612

Issue

Section

Drylands. Opportunities, challenges, and threats

Metrics

Similar Articles

> >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)