Dryland Ecosystems
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems
Issue
10
First Page
271
Publisher
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Last Page
307
Publication Date
2007
Abstract
Drylands occupy approximately 40% of the Earth’s land surface and have low inputs of mean annual precipitation (P) relative to mean annual potential evapotranspirational (ET) losses (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 1979) proposed the following classification scheme for drylands: hyper-arid zone (P/ET <0.03), arid zone (P/ET 0.03–0.20), semi-arid zone (P/ET 0.20–0.05) and subhumid zone (P/ET 050–0.75). The majority of studies summarised in this chapter were conducted in arid and semi-arid zones with mean annual precipitation ≤300 mm.
Recommended Citation
Hartley, A. E., Barger, N., Belnap, J., and Okin, G. S., 2007, Dryland ecosystems, in Marschner, P., and Rengel, Z., eds., Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems, Volume 10: Berlin, Springer, p. 271-308.
Comments
This article may be accessed here.
The publisher retains the copyright to this work and may require a subscription to access the published version.
Please use publisher's recommended citation.