Drought
hideA drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and harm the local economy. This global phenomenon has a widespread impact on agriculture. The United Nations estimates that an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation, and climate instability. Lengthy periods of drought have long been a key trigger for mass migration and played a key role in a number of ongoing migrations and other humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.
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News tagged with drought
Drought resistance explained
10 hours ago |
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Much as adrenaline coursing through our veins drives our body's reactions to stress, the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is behind plants' responses to stressful situations such as drought, but how it does ...
Hybrid bluegrasses analyzed for use in transition zone
Nov 04, 2009 |
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The transition zone can be one of the most challenging places to maintain high-quality turfgrass; changeable growing conditions in these regions often prove too hot for some grasses and too cold for others. Finding turfgrass ...
Drought tolerant cowpea can improve crop yield in arid West Africa
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Even the highly drought-resistant cowpea (a long type of legume) now has an increasingly difficult time surviving in the Sahel countries where climate change has resulted in shorter and less frequent rainy seasons. Wageningen ...
Beijing's first snow of season 'artificially induced'
Nov 01, 2009 |
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Chinese meteorologists covered Beijing in snow Sunday after seeding clouds to bring winter weather to the capital in an effort to combat a lingering drought, state media reported.
Soil moisture and ocean salinity satellite ready for launch
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 29, 2009 |
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A new European Earth observation satellite will be launched in the early hours of Monday morning (2 November 2009) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
Expect the unexpected when adapting to climate change in Africa, says researcher
Oct 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Nations, communities and families in Africa need to safeguard their homes and livelihoods against the unpredictable effects of climate change, according to a discussion paper written by Imperial ...
Research May Help Plants, Humans Survive Stress, Disease
Oct 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New technology to analyze gene expression at the level of different cell types offers new insights in the ways that plants and animals react to the environment and how they change when they ...
Scientists reveal secrets of drought resistance
Oct 22, 2009 |
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A team of biologists in California led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego has solved the structure of a critical molecule that helps plants survive during droughts. ...
Research for Organic Farming - Soya Thrives on Nitrogen From the Air
Oct 20, 2009 |
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For the first time, the capacity of soya plants to absorb nitrogen from the air has been precisely determined in dry areas of Eastern Austria. The primary aim of this project, backed by the FWF Austrian Science ...
Researchers develop genetic map for cowpea, accelerating development of new varieties
Oct 13, 2009 |
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Cowpea, a protein-rich legume crop, is immensely important in many parts of the world, particularly drought-prone regions of Africa and Asia, where it plays a central role in the diet and economy of hundreds ...
'Killer' Southeast drought low on scale, says study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 01, 2009 |
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A 2005-2007 dry spell in the southeastern United States destroyed billions of dollars of crops, drained municipal reservoirs and sparked legal wars among a half-dozen states—but the havoc came not from exceptional ...
Scientists map potato genome, hope to improve crop yield
Sep 24, 2009 |
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It's been cultivated for at least 7,000 years and spread from South America to grow on every continent except Antarctica. Now the humble potato has had its genome sequenced.
Global warming may dent El Nino's protective shield from Atlantic hurricanes, increase droughts
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- El Niño, the periodic eastern Pacific phenomenon credited with shielding the United States and Caribbean from severe hurricane seasons, may be overshadowed by its brother in the central Pacific ...
UN seeks better data on hurricanes, droughts
Aug 31, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The United Nations opened talks Monday on setting up a better weather surveillance system worldwide so all nations can get earlier, more accurate warnings about hurricanes, droughts and floods.
Kenya's hippos hard hit by drought
Aug 30, 2009 |
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Kenya's persistent and bruising drought is having a serious impact on the country's wildlife, one of its main tourist attractions, obliging the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to feed hippos to keep them alive.
