Background/Question/Methods For the last 3 decades, the western-Negev dunes system undergoes a st... more Background/Question/Methods For the last 3 decades, the western-Negev dunes system undergoes a stabilization process in which shifting dunes gradually become stable and covered by biogenic soil-crust, due to the lack of soil-breaking agents, such as Bedouin activity (trampling, grazing, wood collection). Consequently, we are currently loosing the important shifting-sand habitat as well as the overall habitat heterogeneity of the entire landscape. In turn, the structure and composition of the faunal communities inhabiting the dunes, including the psammophilic rare and endemic species, change. In order to reactivate Aeolian activity on the dunes and subsequently restore the shifting-sand habitat, in June 2010 we broke the biogenic soil-crust and partially removed vegetation on extensive area on 8 different dunes, each having a manipulation and control plot. We monitored changes in the physical environment and the response of reptiles, rodents and ground beetles to these changes. Resul...
Background/Question/Methods For the last 3 decades, the western-Negev dunes system undergoes a st... more Background/Question/Methods For the last 3 decades, the western-Negev dunes system undergoes a stabilization process in which shifting dunes gradually become stable and covered by biogenic soil-crust, due to the lack of soil-breaking agents, such as Bedouin activity (trampling, grazing, wood collection). Consequently, we are currently loosing the important shifting-sand habitat as well as the overall habitat heterogeneity of the entire landscape. In turn, the structure and composition of the faunal communities inhabiting the dunes, including the psammophilic rare and endemic species, change. In order to reactivate Aeolian activity on the dunes and subsequently restore the shifting-sand habitat, in June 2010 we broke the biogenic soil-crust and partially removed vegetation on extensive area on 8 different dunes, each having a manipulation and control plot. We monitored changes in the physical environment and the response of reptiles, rodents and ground beetles to these changes. Resul...
Uploads
Papers by Udi Columbus