Deserts and the planet

1
Global environment and desert ecosystems
Deserts and the planet
Why deserts matter?
Non-deserts
Deserts
Cross-desert dust movement
Global wind system
Desert water
Desert soil
Desert vegetation

• Reduced visibility
• Human diseases

2
(No Transcript)
3
Deserts and the rest of the globe
Non-deserts
Deserts
Cross-desert dust movement
Global wind system
Desert water
Desert soil
Desert vegetation

• Reduced visibility
• Human diseases
• Rainforest fertilization
• Marine fertilization
• Coral disease

• Knowledge gaps
• How frequent?
• How far?
• Statistics on the frequency of dust
• How much is natural and how much is due to
  desertification?

Shifting sand dunes move from deserts to
non-deserts?
4
Overgrazing - shifting dunes
Dune crest
Controlled grazing - stable dunes
Rangelands in arid drylands satellite image
(bottom right) and air photo
5
Cross desert migrations

• Goods the silk road, the perfume road
• the drug road (?)
• Non-desert migratory birds

Desert exports

• Non-renewable resources
• Bioprospecting desert plant biochemicals

• Warmth-requiring agricultural commodities

6
(No Transcript)
7
Cross desert migrations

• Goods the silk road, the perfume road
• the drug road (?)
• Non-desert migratory birds

Desert exports

• Non-renewable resources
• Bioprospecting desert plant biochemicals

• Warmth-requiring agricultural commodities

• Fish

8
(No Transcript)
9
Cross desert migrations

• Goods the silk road, the perfume road
• the drug road (?)
• Non-desert migratory birds

Desert exports

• Non-renewable resources
• Bioprospecting desert plant biochemicals

• Warmth-requiring agricultural commodities

• Fish

• Solar energy

• Contribution of deserts to global science
• Physiology
• Ecology
• Geology

10
Mitigation of global climate

• By Carbon sequestration
• Soil conservation
• Afforestation
• By reducing albedo
• Vegetation conservation

11
(No Transcript)
12

• Non-deserts affect deserts
• Global warming and deserts
• Tourism