Skip to main content

The arid environment

  • Chapter
Plants for Arid Lands

Abstract

One person in every seven lives in an arid environment. The dry lands produce one fifth of the world’s food supplies; they yield one half of the world’s precious and semi-precious metals; they contain the bulk of the world’s reserves of oil and natural gas (Heathcote 1983). Between 1960 and 1984 the populations of arid and semi-arid lands have more than doubled.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adams, W.M. 1984. River control in West Africa. In The Niger and its neighbours: environmental history and hydrobiology, human use and health hazards of the major West African rivers,A.T. Grove (ed.), in press. Rotterdam: Balkema.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, A. (ed.) 1981. Climatic variations and variability: facts and theories. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonnefille, R. 1983. Evidence for a cooler and drier climate in the Ethiopian uplands towards 2.5 Myr ago. Nature 303: 487–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryson, R.A. and D. Baerreis 1967. Possibilities of major climatic modifications and their implications: north-west India, a case for study. Bull. Am. Met. Soc. 48: 136–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frakes, L.A. 1979. Climates throughout geological time. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faure, H. and J-Y. Gac 1981. Will the Sahelian drought end in 1985? Nature 291: 475–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gates, W.L. 1981. The climatic system and its portrayal by climate models: a review of basic principles. I. Physical basis of climate, II. Modelling of climate and climatic change. In Climatic variations and variability: facts and theories, A. Berger (ed.): 3–19. Dordrecht: ReideL

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, A.T. 1983. Evolution of the physical geography of the East African Rift Valley Region. In Evolution, time and space, R.W. Sims, J.H. Price and P.E.S. Whalley (eds): 117–156. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, A.T. 1984a. Changing climate, changing biomass and changing atmospheric CO2. Progress in Biometeorology 3: 5–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, A.T. 1984 b. Climate before the historical period. In press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, A.T. (ed.) 1984c. The Niger and its neighbours: environmental history and hydrobiology, human use and health hazards of the major West African rivers. Rotterdam: Balkema.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare, F.K. Climate and desertification. In Desertification: its causes and consequences, Secretariat, U.N. Conference on Desertification, Nairobi: 63–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oxford: Pergamon. Heathcote, R.L. 1983. The arid lands: their use and abuse. London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinchey, M.T. (ed.) 1979. Proceedings of the symposium on drought in Botswana. Gaborone: Botswana Society in association with Worcester, Mass. Clark University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, F.M.R. 1982. Provision of fuelwood for irrigation schemes: the case of the Bura Irrigation Settlement Project, Kenya. In Problems of the management of irrigated land in areas of traditional and modern cultivation, H.G. Mensching (ed.): 50–60. Hamburg: University Geography Department.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovda, V.A. 1977. Arid land irrigation and soil fertility: problems of salinity, alkalinity, compaction. In Arid land irrigation in developing countries, E.B. Worthington (ed.): 211–236. Oxford: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraus, E.B. 1955. Secular changes of tropical rainfall regimes. Q. J. R. Met. Soc. 81: 138–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, P.J. 1982. Persistence of subsaharan drought. Nature 299: 46–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meigs, P. 1953. World distribution of arid and semi-arid homoclimates. In Reviews of research on arid zone hydrology. Arid Zone Programme 1: 203–210. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Otterman, J. 1974. Baring high-albedo soils by overgrazing: a hypothesised desertification mechanism. Science 186: 531–533.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J.S. and A.W. Moore 1970. Detection of homoclimates by numerical analysis with reference to the Brigalow region (Eastern Australia). Agric. Met. 7: 455–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J.S. and A.W. Moore 1976. Classification of climate by pattern analysis with Australasian and southern African data as an example. Agric. Met. 16: 45–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Street, F.A. 1981. Tropical palaeoenvironments. Progress in Physical Geography 5: 157–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Street-Perrott, F.A. and N. Roberts 1983. Fluctuations in closed-basin lakes an an indicator of past atmospheric circulation patterns. In Variations in the Global Water Budget, A. StreetPerrott, M. Beran and R. Ratcliffe (eds): 331–345. Dordrecht: ReideL

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sud, Y.C. and M. Fennessy 1982. A study of the influence of surface albedo and July circulatión in semi-arid regions using the GLAS GCM. J. Clim. 2: 105–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornthwaite, C.W. 1948. An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geog. Rev. 38: 55–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyson, P.D., T.G.J. Dyer and M.N. Mametse 1975. Secular changes in South African rainfall: 1880–1972. Q. J. R. Met. Soc. 101: 817–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, G.L. 1983. Late glacial circulation over central North America revealed by aeolian features. In Variations in the global water budget, A. Street-Perrott, M. Beran and R. Ratcliffe (eds): 317–330. Dordrecht: Reidel

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, M.A.J. and D.A. Adamson (eds) 1982. A land between two Niles. Rotterdam: Balkema.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worthington. E.B. (ed.) 1977. Arid land irrigation in developing countries. Oxford: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1985 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Grove, A.T. (1985). The arid environment. In: Wickens, G.E., Goodin, J.R., Field, D.V. (eds) Plants for Arid Lands. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6830-4_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6830-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-04-445330-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-6830-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics