Thirsty work: Testing the risk reduction model of mid- to late-Holocene stone points with distance decay from freshwater in northern Australia

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110331
Author(s):  
Tim Ryan Maloney
Keyword(s):  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Risk Minimisation ◽  
The World ◽  
Primary Water ◽  
Semi Arid

A key tenant of risk reduction models in archaeology the world over is that changes in resource availability drove mobility increases and created a need for an extension of stone tool use life. This manuscript directly addresses the question, is retouch intensity of tools related to distance from freshwater, by using extant localities of major Gorges, Rivers and water holes in the southern Kimberley region of northern Australia. Previous research has argued that retouched stone points during the mid to late-Holocene were part of a risk minimisation strategy, within broader technological organisation models. Modelling the distance from primary water sources, in arid to semi-arid regions of the southern Kimberley, reduction intensity of points is found to increase with distance from water sources consistently. This research provides an appropriate test of existing risk minimisation models and highlights global significance for similar studies where retouch tool reduction and forager mobility are linked to environmental change.

scholarly journals Survey of ancient water technologies in semi-arid and arid regions: traditional knowledge for the future

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1278-1286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry W. Mays
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Sustainability Problems ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Water Resources Sustainability

There are many people on Earth today that live with severe water shortages and severe lack of sanitation, particularly among the poor. These people for the most part do not understand the knowledge base of methodologies of harvesting and conveying water and sanitation methods that have been around for thousands of years. A survey of ancient water technologies used in semi-arid and arid regions is presented in this paper. The survey will include methodologies used by Mesopotamians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Nabataeans. The attempt here is to explore how these traditional methods developed by the ancients in semi-arid and arid regions of the world could possibly be used to help solve the present-day water resources sustainability problems, especially in developing parts of the world. The advantages of the traditional knowledge of ancient water technologies are explored with the goal of determining ways to help poor people with water shortages and sanitation.

scholarly journals Production System Diversification and Livelihood in the Drylands of North Central Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2750
Author(s):  
Benjamín Figueroa-Sandoval ◽  
Martín A. Coronado-Minjarez ◽  
Eduviges J. García-Herrera ◽  
Artemio Ramírez-López ◽  
Dora M. Sangerman-Jarquín ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
North Central ◽  
Livelihood Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Semi Arid

Drylands (arid and semi-arid regions) are important regions in the world; they have been disregarded and considered poor undeveloped regions due to their ecological limitations. Farmers in these regions tend towards diversification of production systems in order to achieve livelihood security, and this phenomenon has not been extensively studied. The objective of this study was to create a typology of the production systems present in the Mexican north central drylands, using variables related to production, socioeconomics, and social capital. 1044 interviews were conducted in the semi-arid region of north central Mexico. Analysis of the data allowed for the observation of nine types of production systems distributed in three groups: Subsistence, commercial, and off-farm income systems. The differences observed within these systems are due to generational gaps, gender differences, market orientation, and social capital. It can be concluded that the diversification of the dryland production systems allows for an understanding of why generic public policies have failed to mitigate poverty in these regions. The implications of the study refer to the reconfiguration of Mexican policies for the development of the drylands.

scholarly journals THE IMPORTANCE OF QUINOA (QUINOA CHENOPODIUM WILLD.) CULTIVATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A REVIEW

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-356
Author(s):  
A. FATHI ◽  
F. KARDONI
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
World Population ◽  
Cereal Grain ◽  
The World ◽  
Semi Arid

Quinoa is a dicotyledonous species for seeds and, therefore, is not known as a cereal grain and is a pseudograin, which is introduced nowadays as a new crop in the world. Population growth and the need for more food put additional pressure on the environment, especially on water resources and agronomic ecosystems. This has led to more attention to plants that grow at different latitudes and altitudes. Climatic and environmental changes affect agricultural inputs, especially water resources. So, the best way of adapting to the current situation is the introduction of low-water, salt resistant, and drought-tolerant plants to the recent climatic changes. Water scarcity has become a serious problem in many countries. This restriction has had a significant impact on the development of countries. The plants which grow in arid and semi-arid regions are often exposed to adverse environmental factors, such as drought or salinity. Salinity and drought stress, more than any other factor, decrease crop yields around the world. These two abiotic stresses are the main limiting factors for crop production, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Quinoa is an exceptional plant that can adapt to adverse conditions and can serve as a solution to the challenge of global food security. Recent droughts that occurred in the world have prompted governments to include plants in their development plans, which are adapted to the country's existing water and soil conditions and have high nutritional value. This way, quinoa cultivation can ensure their food security in the coming years.

scholarly journals Bias-corrected and spatially disaggregated seasonal forecasts: a long-term reference forecast product for the water sector in semi-arid regions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Lorenz ◽  
Tanja C. Portele ◽  
Patrick Laux ◽  
Harald Kunstmann
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Seasonal Forecasts ◽  
Blue Nile ◽  
Model Biases ◽  
The World ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. Seasonal forecasts have the potential to substantially improve water management particularly in water scarce regions. However, global seasonal forecasts are usually not directly applicable as they are provided at coarse spatial resolutions of at best 36 km and suffer from model biases and drifts. In this study, we therefore apply a bias-correction and spatial-disaggregation (BCSD) approach to seasonal precipitation, temperature and radiation forecasts of the latest long-range seasonal forecasting system SEAS5 of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). As reference we use data from the ERA5-Land offline land surface re-run of the latest ECMWF reanalysis ERA5. By that, we correct for model biases and drifts and improve the spatial resolution from 36 km to 0.1°. This is exemplary performed over 4 predominately semi-arid study domains across the world, which include the river basins of the Karun (Iran), the São Francisco (Brazil), the Tekeze-Atbara and Blue Nile (Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea), and the Catamayo-Chira (Ecuador and Peru). Compared against ERA5-Land, the bias-corrected and spatially disaggregated forecasts have a higher spatial resolution and show reduced biases and better agreement of spatial patterns than the raw forecasts. Furthermore, the lead-dependent drift effects are remarkably reduced in the BCSD-forecasts. However, our analysis also showed that computing monthly averages from daily bias-corrected forecasts can lead to statistical inconsistencies particularly during periods and seasons with strong temporal climate gradients or heteroscedasticity. During such periods, particularly the lowest- and highest-lead forecasts can show remaining biases. Our dataset covers the whole (re-)forecast period from 1981 to 2019, for which we provide bias-corrected and spatially disaggregated daily ensemble forecasts for precipitation, average, minimum and maximum temperature as well as for shortwave radiation from the initial date to the coming 214 days. This sums up to more than 100,000 forecasted days for each of the 25 (until the year 2016) and 51 (from the year 2017) ensemble members and each of the 5 analyzed variables. The full repository is made freely available to the public via the World Data Centre for Climate at https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/SaWaM_D01_SEAS5_BCSD (Domain D01, Karun Basin (Iran), Lorenz et al., 2020b), https://doi. org/10.26050/WDCC/SaWaM_D02_SEAS5_BCSD (Domain D02: São Francisco Basin (Brazil), Lorenz et al., 2020c), https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/SaWaM_D03_SEAS5_BCSD (Domain D03: Tekeze-Atbara and Blue Nile Basins (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan), Lorenz et al., 2020d), and https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/SaWaM_D04_SEAS5_BCSD (Domain D04: Catamayo-Chira Basin (Ecuador, Peru), Lorenz et al., 2020a). It is currently the first publicly available daily high-resolution seasonal forecast product that covers multiple regions and variables for such a long period. It hence provides a unique test-bed for evaluating the performance of seasonal forecasts over semi-arid regions and as driving data for hydrological, ecosystem or climate impact models. Therefore, our forecasts provide a crucial contribution for the disaster preparedness and, finally, climate proofing of the regional water management in climatically sensitive regions.

Morphological and genetic variation within the widespread species Acacia victoriae (Mimosaceae)

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti R. Ariati ◽  
Daniel J. Murphy ◽  
Stuart Gardner ◽  
Pauline Y. Ladiges
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Genetic Divergence ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Parsimony Analysis ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Central Australia ◽  
Semi Arid

Morphological variation in Acacia victoriae, a species widespread in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia, was analysed by phenetic methods of classification and ordination. Three morphological groups were identified on the basis of phyllode characters and are treated as subspecies. Populations with short, elliptic and tomentose phyllodes are confirmed as A. victoriae subsp. arida Pedley; this form occurs mainly in central Australia. Populations with linear to oblong, non-tomentose phyllodes are referred to subsp. victoriae; this subspecies is the most variable and widely distributed across Australia. Populations with very long, narrow phyllodes, distributed in northern Australia from the Kimberley to Queensland, are described as fasciaria subsp. nov. A small number of non-tomentose specimens with broad elliptic phyllodes from central Australia require further assessment. Thirteen accessions previously sequenced for internal spacer regions and external spacer regions of ribosomal nuclear DNA showed genetic divergence. Six accessions of subsp. fasciaria formed a clade in a parsimony analysis, confirming that the long phyllode form is genetically distinct.

scholarly journals Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.: A Multi-Benefit Potential to Be Exploited

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 951
Author(s):  
Mafalda Alexandra Silva ◽  
Tânia Gonçalves Albuquerque ◽  
Paula Pereira ◽  
Renata Ramalho ◽  
Filipa Vicente ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Prickly Pear ◽  
Opuntia Ficus Indica ◽  
Antioxidant Power ◽  
The World ◽  
Semi Arid

Consumer interest in foods with enhanced nutritional quality has increased in recent years. The nutritional and bioactive characterization of fruits and their byproducts, as well as their use in the formulation of new food products, is advisable, contributing to decrease the global concerns related to food waste and food security. Moreover, the compounds present in these raw materials and the study of their biological properties can promote health and help to prevent some chronic diseases. Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (prickly pear) is a plant that grows wild in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, being a food source for ones and a potential for others, but not properly valued. This paper carries out an exhaustive review of the scientific literature on the nutritional composition and bioactive compounds of prickly pear and its constituents, as well as its main biological activities and applications. It is a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins and bioactive compounds. Many of its natural compounds have interesting biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic and antimicrobial. The antioxidant power of prickly pear makes it a good candidate as an ingredient of new food products with fascinating properties for health promotion and/or to be used as natural extracts for food, pharmaceutic or cosmetic applications. In addition, it could be a key player in food security in many arid and semi-arid regions of the world, where there are often no more plants.

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