Azaiez Ouled Belgacem

This study aims to determine the expected level and time to peak at the maximum
level of adoption of spineless cactus (SC) technology introduced in the State of Qatar, to
investigate the factors influencing adoption of this technology, and to...

Tajikistan’s rangelands are mostly mountainous and consist of summer and winter pastures. Vegetation structure and composition in these diverse landscapes are generally influenced by environmental factors. The objective of this study was to assess...

Resting or grazing exclusion is an effective practice widely adopted to restore degraded, arid rangelands. To understand its effect on plant diversity, we studied Hill’s diversity indices during two growing seasons (2017–2019). The experiment...

Long-term protection of arid ecosystems changes the vegetation and soil structures. The quantification of aboveground biomass and carbon content are among the principal indicators to evaluate these changes. Most methods used to quantify these...

Climate change and degradation of natural resources pose daunting challenges in arid and semi-arid rangelands of southern Mediterranean region. Overcoming these challenges requires considerable management actions efforts. In this context, the current...

The global warming resulting from anthropogenic activities is considered a major threat for the biodiversity in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide. North African countries in western Mediterranean basin, including Tunisia, are expected to...

Direct seeding techniques often result in unsatisfactory outcomes in rangeland rehabilitation, primarily because of low seedling emergence and poor establishment. Seed processing techniques aimed at improving seedling emergence have gained interest...

The Sahel region is subject of several controversies over the current trends of its ecosystems. Some consider that despite the rain recovery, this region remains in a regressive dynamics, while others consider that they are in re-greening, according...

Global climate variability and change (and framing system) pose a serious threat to food
and to nutritional security, with increased concerns of agricultural risks and vulnerability to
pests and diseases. The nature and magnitude of the risks and...

Plants are important components of any rangeland. However, the importance of desert rangeland plant diversity has often been underestimated. It has been argued that desert rangelands of Tunisia in good ecological condition provide more services than...

In dry areas, natural plant communities are mainly affected by climatic stress and human disturbances – overgrazing, ploughing and biomass harvesting – that accelerate their degradation. Management techniques, including creation of national parks...

Soil and water salinity is a major environmental problem in the dry Mediterranean regions, affecting rangeland production. This study investigated the effects of salinity on the wild perennial grass (Poaceae) species Stipa lagascae R. & Sch., a...

The main objective of this study is to assess the rate of adoption of innovations introduced by the Arabian
Peninsula Regional Program (APRP) of ICARDA and identify main constraints that limit the adoption process of
these new technologies in the GCC...

Food security is a critical issue for the Arabian Peninsula countries due fast population growth, reduced domestic food production and the tighter global food markets because of trading partners‘ strained export surpluses. Water scarcity is a major...

Plant biomass is usually assumed to be positively correlated with canopy cover. Measurements of
canopy cover can now be easily and precisely made through image processing of high-resolution
digital photography. This study aims to determine rapid...

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of climate change on the geographical
distribution of selected native species from two areas from West Asia and North Africa.
Three species representing two genera were selected for assessment of their...

Protection of designated areas within rangelands is widely
considered to be the most effective and the practical way
to conserve plant diversity and maintain ecosystem
composition and structure. Thus, the effect of protection
(two levels of grazing)...

Ecosystems protected from heavy grazing impacts, such as national parks and refuges, are generally considered to sustain higher plant species diversity and better ecosystem composition and structure compared to heavily grazed areas. To evaluate the...

The study was carried out at two sites (Menzel Habib and national park of Sidi Toui) of southern Tunisia which provided an aridity gradient to evaluate the effect of long term protection on the regeneration of Stipa lagascae R. and Sch., a high range...