News Release

The desert is dying

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Researchers from University of Bergen have found that trees, which are a main resource for desert people and their flocks, are in significant decline in the hyper-arid Eastern Desert of Egypt.

In places more than 50% of the mature trees have disappeared between 1965 and 2003, while almost no new trees have been recruited. Despite extreme aridity the main cause of tree mortality seems not to be climate, but commercial charcoal production. This indicates that the traditional and sustainable indigenous resource management, which desert people have developed through millennia, is changing.

Desertification has been recurrently discussed and questioned since the 1970s. The focus has been on desert borderlands, while changes in sparse but important vegetation resources within the desert core have been neglected.

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This study will be published on February 14, 2007 in PLoS ONE, the international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication from the Public Library of Science (PLoS).

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The following press release refers to an upcoming article in PLoS ONE. The release has been provided by the article authors and/or their institutions. Any opinions expressed in these releases or articles are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.

Citation: Andersen GL, Krzywinski K (2007) Mortality, Recruitment and Change of Desert Tree Populations in a Hyper-Arid Environment. PLoS ONE 2(2): e208. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000208

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000208
PRESS ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/pone-02-02-andersen.pdf

CONTACT:

Knut Krzywinski
Email: Knut.Krzywinski@bio.uib.no


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