Transcript shifting dunes

Global environment and desert ecosystems
Deserts and the planet
Why deserts
matter?
Deserts
Non-deserts
Cross-desert dust movement
Global wind system
Desert soil
•Reduced visibility
•Human diseases
Desert water
Desert vegetation
Deserts and the rest of the globe
Non-deserts
Deserts
Cross-desert dust movement
Global wind system
Desert soil
•Reduced visibility
•Human diseases
•Rainforest fertilization
•Marine fertilization
•Coral disease
Desert water
Desert vegetation
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?
Overgrazing shifting dunes
Dune
crest
Controlled grazing stable dunes
Rangelands in arid drylands – satellite image (bottom right) and air photo
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
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
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
Mitigation of global climate
•By Carbon sequestration
Soil conservation
Afforestation
•By reducing albedo
Vegetation conservation
Non-deserts affect deserts
•Global warming and deserts
•Tourism