Ecological condition and invasiveness of Fraxinus pennsylvanica in different ecotopes of the arid Caspian region.

The study investigated ash development in an arid region, focusing on its invasive spread mechanisms at organismic and ecosystem levels under varying moisture conditions. Conducted in the Northern Caspian region's Volga-Urals interfluve, it examined the effects of arid climate, soil salinity, and limited moisture on plant communities. The features of ash functioning at the organismal and ecosystem levels with permanent and partial deficiency of productive moisture in the soil, as well as with its optimal availability, were investigated.

A dataset of soil microstructure features and the weather conditions affecting them from 2005 to 2021 in the Caspian Depression.

The soil cover of semi-desert territories is sensitive to modern climatic changes, responding to a change in the composition of soil complexes. Soil microstructure features reflect minor changes in microrelief or fluctuations in the level of groundwater. This property of soil microstructure to memorize soil formation conditions is used for subsequent characterization of changes in long-term climatic trends.

Evaluation and selection of indicators for land degradation and desertification monitoring: types of degradation, causes, and implications for management.

Indicator-based approaches are often used to monitor land degradation and desertification from the global to the very local scale. However, there is still little agreement on which indicators may best reflect both status and trends of these phenomena. In this study, various processes of land degradation and desertification have been analyzed in 17 study sites around the world using a wide set of biophysical and socioeconomic indicators.

Evaluation and selection of indicators for land degradation and desertification monitoring: methodological approach.

An approach to derive relationships for defining land degradation and desertification risk and developing appropriate tools for assessing the effectiveness of the various land management practices using indicators is presented in the present paper. In order to investigate which indicators are most effective in assessing the level of desertification risk, a total of 70 candidate indicators was selected providing information for the biophysical environment, socio-economic conditions, and land management characteristics. The indicators were defined in 1,672 field sites located in 17 study areas in the Mediterranean region, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.