The content and contributions of deposited aeolian organic matter in a dry land ecosystem of the Negev Desert,Israel |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Departamento de Geologia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain;2. Stratigraphy/Paleontology, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, the Netherlands;3. School of Geographical Sciences and Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK;4. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Unidad Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain;5. Paleomagnetic laboratory “Fort Hoofddijk”, Budapestlaan 17, 3584 CD Utrecht, the Netherlands;6. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Rios Rosas 23, Madrid, Spain;1. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;1. Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnology, Council on Archaeological Studies, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, P.O. Box 208277, New Haven, CT 06520, United States;2. Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester SO22 4NR, United Kingdom;3. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 2534 C.C. Little Building, 1100 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States;4. Department of Anthropology, Old World Archaeology Program, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Unit 1176, Storrs, CT 06269, United States;5. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, 0025, 15 Charents Street, Yerevan, Armenia;1. Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, Earth and Environmental Science Section, University of Geneva, Uni Carl Vogt, Boulevard Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1205 Genève, Switzerland;2. Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE), University of Geneva, Uni Carl Vogt, Boulevard, Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1205 Genève, Switzerland |
| |
| Abstract: | The northern Negev desert in Israel has a mosaic of two types of plant community patches. One is dominated by vascular plants (shrub patches) and the other by a nonvascular crust community (crust patches) consisting of cyanobacteria, bacteria, algae, mosses and lichens. The crust patches are sources of soil material and sediment – laden runoff water while the shrub patches are the sinks and function as ‘islands of fertility’ in the desert environment. Accumulation of resources is often a limiting factor in this ecosystem. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of high nutrient organic residues that are readily decomposable, to the aeolian deposition on the crust patches. During the five years of the study, three dominant groups were found in the organic matter: plant material, insect and snail residue (feces). The average accumulation of the aeolian deposition of the organic matter showed significant spatial and temporal differences. Similar quantities were found on the north and the south-facing slopes of the watershed with a minimum in the wadi. A significant difference in average accumulated organic matter for the five years was found. The maximum was for the third year (1995) and the minimum for the fifth year (1997). This may be due to the variations in the annual rainfall amount. The results showed that the origin of most of the organic matter content is from native sources. The highest and most significant amount was registered during the spring season, which is the flowering season in the northern Negev. This may explain the high quantity of plant material obtained and the great amounts of insect and snail (feces) residue that were also found during this season. Since the crust patches serve as a source of water and nutrients in this ecosystem, the organic residues that are of high nutrient quality and readily decomposable, contribute to the productivity of the shrub patches and thus of the overall ecosystem. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
