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Drylands Deserts and Desertification

16-18 November 2020

Book of Abstracts

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Contents KEYNOTE ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Migration and Climate Change: Defining issues for Global Health ................................................ 8

Prof. Bernadette N. Kumar ............................................................................................................... 8

LECTURERS – arranged alphabetically by Lecturer’s First Name: ................................................... 9

Clay dispersion: An important factor in channel runoff generation in a semi-arid area, with low

rain intensities ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Prof. Aaron Yair .................................................................................................................................. 9

Perspectives on desertification as a determinant of public health in Nigeria .............................. 10

Prof. Adetoun Mustapha ................................................................................................................. 10

Grapevine berry development: Understanding environmental and cultural impacts on berry

weight loss and shriveling. .................................................................................................................. 11

Prof. Alain Deloire ............................................................................................................................ 11

The utility of UAV high resolution imagery and point cloud data for canopy characteristics, LAI

retrieval and Evapotranspiration and Transpiration in commercial vineyards in California ...... 12

Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua .................................................................................................................... 12

Biosphere-atmosphere chemical interactions during drought and heat waves in dryland

ecosystems ........................................................................................................................................... 13

Prof. Alex Guenther ......................................................................................................................... 13

Managing irrigation water as a function of its quality ...................................................................... 14

Dr, Alon Ben-Gal .............................................................................................................................. 14

Can Desalination Be A Sustainable Technology for Dryland Countries Who Seek To Mitigate

Climate Change? .................................................................................................................................. 15

Prof. Alon Tal .................................................................................................................................... 15

Integrated Foliar Nutrients Application Improve Cereals Growth and Productivity under

Moisture Stress Condition in Semiarid Climates ............................................................................. 16

Dr. Amanullah ................................................................................................................................... 16

Driving down the costs of solar-powered electrodialysis desalination, drip irrigation, and the

combination of the two ......................................................................................................................... 17

Prof. Amos Winter ............................................................................................................................ 17

Mapping and Monitoring Saline and sodic Soil Reclamation in Semi-arid and Arid

Environments of India Using Geo-information Tools ...................................................................... 18

Dr. A.N. Singh ................................................................................................................................... 18

Decentralized solar powered membrane filtration: Opportunities in desert environments ....... 20

Dr. Andrea Schaefer ........................................................................................................................ 20

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Identifying weak links in the hydraulic chain of grapevines: insights into the impacts of water

stress on water uptake and transport physiology ............................................................................ 22

Dr. Andrew McElrone ....................................................................................................................... 22

Human Agency and Resilience to Holocene Desertification in the Eastern Mongolian Gobi .. 23

Prof. Arlene Rosen ........................................................................................................................... 23

Bedouin Contemporary Resilience: The Struggle for Dominating Local Governance .............. 24

Prof. Avinoam Meir ........................................................................................................................... 24

Cultural Landscapes and Paleoenvironmental Change at the end of the Pleistocene: The

Earliest Peopling of the Atacama Desert and its Descendent Until Present ............................... 26

Dr. Calogero M. Santoro ................................................................................................................. 26

Are multiple disasters caused by climate change in Australia: really unprecedented and

unpredictable? ...................................................................................................................................... 27

Prof. Colin MacDougall .................................................................................................................... 27

Selective Transport of Phosphorous Through Anion Exchange Membranes ............................. 28

Prof. David Jassby ........................................................................................................................... 28

Acquiring Needed Water Without Depriving Neighbors or Wildlife ............................................... 29

Dr. Elaine Solowey ........................................................................................................................... 29

Effects of variable irrigation practices during extreme heat events on grapevine physiology

and berry chemistry ............................................................................................................................. 30

Dr. Elisabeth Forrestel ..................................................................................................................... 30

A different landscape: toward a novel approach to sedentarization processes in arid and

Semi-arid environments ...................................................................................................................... 31

Dr. Emir Galilee ................................................................................................................................ 31

Characterization of bed load discharge in unsteady flow events in an ephemeral channel in

semi-arid region .................................................................................................................................... 32

Mr. Eran Halfi .................................................................................................................................... 32

Satellite retrieval of vineyard leaf area index and impact of vine canopy structure and interrow

cover crop on retrieval algorithm........................................................................................................ 33

Dr. Feng Gao .................................................................................................................................... 33

Characterization of Microbiological Water Quality and Prevalence of Waterborne Diseases in

Marigat Urban Centre Baringo County, Kenya ................................................................................ 34

Prof. George Ogendi ........................................................................................................................ 34

Desert Societies and Imperial Powers: Conflicts, Resilience, and Coexistence in the Near

East during the First Millennium CE .................................................................................................. 35

Prof. Gideon Avni ............................................................................................................................. 35

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Resilience vs. Collapse in the Eastern Asian Dryland-Steppe Belt: Historic and Archaeological

Perspectives on Responses to Climatic Anomalies ........................................................................ 36

Prof. Gideon Shelach-Lavi, ............................................................................................................. 36

The delicate balance of defining grapevine drought tolerance ..................................................... 37

Prof. Gregory Gambetta .................................................................................................................. 37

Climatic uncertainty and the architecture of survivability ............................................................... 38

Prof. Isaac A. Meir (Sakis), ............................................................................................................. 38

Behavioural and physiological responses of insects to climate change and consequences at

the community level: the example of a host-parasitoid system in cereal fields .......................... 39

Prof. Joan Van Baaren .................................................................................................................... 39

Plot-and-berm agroecosystems in aeolian sand hinterlands around the Mediterranean basin:

A case of regional agri-cultural connectivity? .................................................................................. 40

Dr. Joel Roskin ................................................................................................................................. 40

Design and applications of vapor-gap membranes for water and resource recovery ............... 42

Asst. Prof. Jongho Lee .................................................................................................................... 42

Temperature shift between vineyards modulates berry phenology, primary and secondary

metabolism in a varietal collection of wine grapevine..................................................................... 43

Mr. Kelem Gashu ............................................................................................................................. 43

Use of an Evapotranspiration Toolkit for Near-Real-Time Irrigation Management: Advantages

and Limitations ...................................................................................................................................... 44

Dr. Kyle Knipper ............................................................................................................................... 44

Survival strategists among the Bedouins living in the driest regions of the Sinai Peninsula .... 45

Mr. Leizer Bergman ......................................................................................................................... 45

Modelling drought-induced dieback of Aleppo pine at the arid timberline ................................... 46

Ms. Lisa Wingate and Mr. Jérôme Ogée ..................................................................................... 46

Amplified aeolian-fluvial sedimentation and landscape evolution along the southern margins

of the northwestern Negev Dunefield (Israel) since the late Pleistocene .................................... 47

Mr. Lotem Robins ............................................................................................................................. 47

Recent Advances in Ion Selectivity with Capacitive Deionization ................................................ 49

Prof. Louis C.P.M. de Smet ............................................................................................................ 49

Evaluation of a Remote Sensing-based toolkit to monitor vine water use and status for

irrigation scheduling in California vineyards. .................................................................................... 50

Dr. Maria Mar Alsina ........................................................................................................................ 50

Mapping evapotranspiration over viticultural landscapes using multi-sensor remote sensing. 51

Dr. Martha Anderson ....................................................................................................................... 51

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Understanding forests in a warming world through model-data integration ................................ 52

Prof. Naomi Christina Tague .......................................................................................................... 52

A new method to estimate sensible heat fluxes from wavelet analysis of semi-high frequency

radiometric canopy temperature ........................................................................................................ 53

Dr. Nicolas Bambach ....................................................................................................................... 53

Are desert societies permanently at risk of collapse? Ways to include arid environments in the

present social-ecological system model ........................................................................................... 54

Dr. Noa Avriel-Avni ........................................................................................................................... 54

Time-series clustering of remote-sensing retrievals for defining management zones in a

vineyard ................................................................................................................................................. 56

Dr. Noa Ohana-Levi ......................................................................................................................... 56

Runoff generation, rill erosion and time-scales for hyper-arid abandoned alluvial surfaces, the

Negev desert, Israel ............................................................................................................................. 57

Prof. Noam Greenbaum .................................................................................................................. 57

Dating gully incision into an abandoned alluvial surface along the eastern termination of the

Altyn Tagh Fault ................................................................................................................................... 58

Dr. Nimrod Wieler ............................................................................................................................. 58

Ecological interactions under climate change: How shifts in vegetation cover may affect

desert lizards?....................................................................................................................................... 59

Dr. Ofir Levy ...................................................................................................................................... 59

The effect of runoff collecting basins’ geometry on soil water evaporative losses .................... 60

Prof. Pedro Berliner ......................................................................................................................... 60

Development of a batch reverse osmosis (RO) system for high-recovery .................................. 61

Prof. Phillip Davies ........................................................................................................................... 61

Sediment yields in hyper-arid areas of the Middle East exemplified by Nahal Nehushtan,

Israel ....................................................................................................................................................... 62

Dr. Rachel Armoza-Zvuloni ............................................................................................................. 62

Thar Desert in a Flux ........................................................................................................................... 63

Dr. R.P. Dhir ...................................................................................................................................... 63

Reconstruction of the Holocene flood record for the Southern Judea Desert using Palaeoflood

hydrology ............................................................................................................................................... 64

Mr. Rami Zituni ................................................................................................................................. 64

Phosphate Fertilization Management in Israel: Where Irrigation and Water-Treatment

Technologies Meet ............................................................................................................................... 66

Dr. Ran Erel....................................................................................................................................... 66

Novel electrospun membranes for membrane distillation .............................................................. 68

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Prof. Ranil Wickramasinghe ........................................................................................................... 68

An integrated process of anaerobic membrane bioreactor, microalgae cultivation, and

hydrothermal carbonization for treatment of food industry wastewater and resource recovery

................................................................................................................................................................ 69

Dr. Roy Bernstein ............................................................................................................................. 69

Energy recovery from waste activated sludge in a circular economy approach ........................ 70

Dr. Roy Posmanik ............................................................................................................................ 70

A novel community-scale, solar-powered approach to treating unsafe surface water for

drinking .................................................................................................................................................. 71

Prof. Samuel Dorevitch ................................................................................................................... 71

Material strategies to overcome fouling, wetting, and scaling in membrane distillation ............ 72

Asst. Prof. Shihong Lin .................................................................................................................... 72

Impact of Regulated Deficit Irrigation Strategies on Grape Quality in the Semi Arid Region of

the Okanagan Valley (BC, Canada) .................................................................................................. 73

Dr. Simone Castellarin ..................................................................................................................... 73

Extracting flash flood distribution and frequencies in arid regions using post flood spectral

indices .................................................................................................................................................... 74

Dr. Sivan Isaacson ........................................................................................................................... 74

Long term degradation and rapid restoration of the Negev’s Agroecosystems –lessons

learned towards sustainable dryland management ........................................................................ 75

Dr. Stefan Leu ................................................................................................................................... 75

Drought resilience improvement in temperate-climate vineyard ecosystems ............................. 76

Prof. Stefano Poni ............................................................................................................................ 76

Isotopes changing through time: Stories from tree rings ............................................................... 77

Prof. Steven Leavitt .......................................................................................................................... 77

The Permutations of Collapse: Climate, Mobility, and Negev Societies ...................................... 78

Prof. Steven Rosen .......................................................................................................................... 78

The “landscape of heat”: behavioural thermoregulation and its impact in a warming world .... 79

Dr. Susan Cunningham ................................................................................................................... 79

Plant nutrition as a function of irrigation water quality .................................................................... 80

Prof. Uri Yermiyahu .......................................................................................................................... 80

Resilience of Ancient Desert Societies, a View from the Southern Negev, Israel ..................... 81

Dr. Uzi Avner ..................................................................................................................................... 81

Highlighting Partners in Health’s Experience of Addressing Climate Disasters ......................... 82

Mr. Victor Kanyema ......................................................................................................................... 82

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The GRAPEX project: Understanding vineyard evapotranspiration in order to develop remote

sensing tools to detect stress and reduce water use ...................................................................... 83

Dr. Williams Kustas .......................................................................................................................... 83

Engineering Polymer Membranes with Controlled Surface Patterns for Enhanced Water

Treatment .............................................................................................................................................. 84

Prof. Yifu Ding ................................................................................................................................... 84

Late shoot pruning improves wine quality of field grown Vitis vinifera cv. Malbec. .................... 85

Dr. Yishai Netzer .............................................................................................................................. 85

Geodiversity as a key for human survival in the harshest deserts on earth................................ 86

Dr. Yoav Avni .................................................................................................................................... 86

Geological evolution inducing natural desertification in the arid zone of the Middle East – past,

present and future ................................................................................................................................ 87

Dr. Yoav Avni .................................................................................................................................... 87

Distributed RO/NF Water Desalination and Purification Systems: Energy and Pressure

Optimal Operation, Operational Flexibility and Fouling Mitigation ................................................ 88

Prof. Yoram Cohen .......................................................................................................................... 88

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KEYNOTE

Migration and Climate Change: Defining issues for Global Health Prof. Bernadette N. Kumar

President EUPHA Section for Migrant and Ethnic Minority Health

Co- Chair Lancet Migration

Chair Global Society on Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health

Norwegian Institute of Public Health

The UCL Lancet Commission on Migration Health (2018) calls migration the defining issue

of our times, essential to growing economies and an integral part of the socio-cultural

fabric of our societies. It is imperative to understand why this is the case, how migration

health has evolved and where we are headed. Despite the positive impacts of migration

globally, with international labor workers contributing to economies worldwide, migrants

often face challenges that threaten basic human rights, including the right to health clearly

evident from the COVID 19 pandemic. Global commitments to the Sustainable

Development Goals, Universal Health Coverage, equity in health, and international

agreements aim to improve the responses to migration, however global health policies are

still not migrant inclusive. With rising populism and xenophobic rhetoric in many countries,

societies ought to be engaged effectively to counter misinformed narratives, harmful

migration policies should be discouraged and provision of universal access to health care

ensured. Another defining issue of our times is climate change. Climate change means

that people have to move often involuntarily. People used to a certain way of living, certain

livelihoods, lifestyles, health risks and advantages will experience change. There are

definitely very strong intersections between climate change and migration. Therefore, we

must view these with the intersectionality lens and using a cross-cutting approach, which

means we need to break down the silos. Migration and agricultural economy are

interlinked: rural societies change due to rural- urban migration and that definitely affects

agricultural economies. At the same time, agricultural economies are not what they used to

be 25 years ago-30 years ago. The only way prevent migration in these settings is

therefore ensuring sustainable living conditions conducive to livelihoods. Many of the gaps

in research, policy and practice remain unmet and as the fields of migration health and

climate change evolve, these ought to be bridged through changes in policy and practice.

Global academic institutions, civil society, UN agencies, and governments must

collaborate to address the principles of intersectionality in research, and to hold

stakeholders accountable. Radical action is crucial; to transform evidence at local,

regional, and global levels, to contribute to improving health and preventing morbidity and

mortality for migrants and nationals, and to strive towards leaving no one behind.

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LECTURERS – arranged alphabetically by Lecturer’s First

Name:

Clay dispersion: An important factor in channel runoff generation in a

semi-arid area, with low rain intensities Prof. Aaron Yair

The Department of Geography, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Water Session: Flash Floods in the Arid Environment

Overland flow is usually regarded as an important contributor to storm channel flow. This

observation is certainly applicable to dryland areas, where base flow is often irrelevant,

particularly in small watersheds. This study examines channel runoff generation in the

extensive loess-covered areas that characterize the mildly arid area of western Israel,

where the average annual rainfall is 280 mm. Hydrological data point to a peculiar

hydrological behavior of the ephemeral streams that experience a high frequency of

sporadic channel flow events. Even in extreme rain events, peak discharges are

exceptionally low, indicative of a limited contributing area. Hydrographs are characterized

by very steep rising and falling limbs, usually representative of saturated areas, located in

the vicinity of the runoff recording station. Based on this observation, we advanced the

hypothesis that storm runoff originated in the limited area of the active channel, with

negligible runoff from the adjoining hillslopes. We argue that a quasi-permanent surface

seal, at the top of the alluvial deposit, drastically limits the hydraulic conductivity of the

alluvial fill, allowing runoff generation at very low rain intensities. The occurrence of the

surface seal is ascribed to the combination of two main factors. A high clay content

(~40%), where the dominant clays are smectite and illite, characterized by a laminar

structure and a high-water absorption capacity. The swelling of the clay particles

considerably reduces the porosity of the alluvial material, allowing runoff generation at very

low rain intensities while limiting the depth of water penetration in the channel itself. Data

presented fit the concept of “Partial Area Contribution” identified in humid areas. However,

the application of this concept to dryland areas is based on completely different reasons.

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Perspectives on desertification as a determinant of public health in

Nigeria Prof. Adetoun Mustapha

Nigerian Institute for Medical Research and Imperial College,London, England

Human Session: Desertification and Public Health

Nigeria is one of the countries in West Africa that is suffering from the cumulative negative

effects of population growth, anthropogenic activities, urbanisation, unsustainable water

and land management and climate variability, resulting in rapid desertification. According

to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 15% of Nigeria land is prone to

desertification. The effect is pronounced in the northernmost part of Nigeria, which is the

major producer of agricultural products and the food basket of the country. Climate

dependent activities and agriculture provides income and employment for most of the

population. Desertification is therefore threatening rural livelihoods and causing food

insecurity, malnutrition in children, unemployment, forced migration and amplifying poverty

and conflicts over access to land and resources

Land ownership and control is a delicate issue in Nigeria. There is no legal recognition of

citizenship based on residency – migrants’ group are seen as settlers because they do not

control land and are often alienated from their host community’s natural resources. After

recurrent droughts in the Sahel region, pastoralists have gradually moved southwards

where they reportedly graze cattle in farms triggering deadly conflicts with farmers. The

herders and farmers clashes are threatening the unity of the country and promoting

activities of regional militia. Studies have linked severity of desertification to exposure to

heat waves and decrease host resistance to viruses such as influenza and parasites such

as malaria; vector borne disease such as cholera, increased prevalence of skin

malignancies, and loss of plants of medicinal importance in northern Nigeria

Nigeria is a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

and the Nigerian government is implementing several policies and programmes to combat

desertification including the Great Green Wall project among others. The speed of

implementation and adequacy of these as well as involvement of all relevant stakeholders

have been subject of debate. The magnitude of environmental health risks posed by

desertification in Nigeria has not been adequately quantified. For a country projected to

become the world’s third most populous country by the year 2050, the public health

implications of desertification need to be addressed. How this topic can become a priority

in public health research agenda and ways various collaboration can support the

attainment will be discussed.

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Grapevine berry development: Understanding environmental and

cultural impacts on berry weight loss and shriveling. Prof. Alain Deloire

Montpellier University, l'Institut Agro, France

Food Session Vineyards and Viticulture

Berry shrivelling is an important phenomenon that occurs through grape berry water loss

due to the alteration of the fruit water budget when transpiration and potential water back

flow to the plant exceeds the import of water into the berry through the phloem and xylem.

Berry shrivelling can have a significant economic impact, reducing yields by up to ≥25%

with consequences on berry composition and the resulting wine. Its occurrence and

consequences are expected to increase due to predicted climate warming, shifting grape

development, and ripening into warmer periods (i.e., heat waves).

Berry fresh mass loss is variable between seasons, sites, and vineyards and it seems to

be accelerated by higher temperatures, water constraints and/or stress and excessive

bunch sun exposure. Berry shrivelling can occur, before (as early as bloom, affecting the

ovaries) or after veraison in red and white varieties.

A recent study on individual Shiraz berries (Montpellier l’Institut Agro vineyard; vines

trained in vertical shoot positioning under fertirrigation) revealed interesting and original

results comparing normal to shrivelled berries in terms of fresh mass, °Brix, probable

alcohol and quantity of sugar per berry (mg/berry). The results clearly demonstrated that

the increase in probable alcohol/°Brix per berry (post plateau of berry sugar loading) is not

due to berry sugar accumulation during ripening but only to berry water loss. This

conforms with previous results on the same cultivar (McCarthy and Coombe 1999; Rogiers

et al., 2006; Rogiers and Holzapfel 2015).

Late ripening berry shrivel in Shiraz may begin at around 90 days after flowering, but it is

not evident every season. While loss in mesocarp cell vitality and cell membrane integrity

precedes the onset of shrivel, the internal biochemical and physiological events that lead

to these developmental processes remain largely unknown. However, it was demonstrated

that hypoxia (low oxygen) in the berry mesocarp may contribute to the onset of cell death

(Xiao et al., 2018a). Previous studies have shown that high temperature and dehydration

can exacerbate the extent of cell death and berry dehydration (Bonada et al., 2013; Xiao et

al., 2018b), and this can be ameliorated with shade covers (Caravia et al., 2016). It is

interesting to note that unlike seeded wine grapes, table grapes do not tend to undergo

this late ripening loss in cell vitality. Ultimately, berry shrivelling will affect grape and wine

composition and sensory profiles (Suklje et al., 2016).

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The utility of UAV high resolution imagery and point cloud data for

canopy characteristics, LAI retrieval and Evapotranspiration and

Transpiration in commercial vineyards in California Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua

Utah State University, USA

Ecosystem Session: Remote Sensing in Viticulture

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have facilitated the development of

novel approaches for crop monitoring applications, from vegetation indices to

evapotranspiration (ET) and soil moisture estimation. In addition to the orthomosaic

products from the UAV optical sensors, 3D (point cloud) information derived from

photogrammetric algorithms, are becoming part of crop monitoring applications such as

yield estimation. In this study, we document the advantages of UAV information in

clumped canopy environments as in orchards and vineyards for estimation of canopy

characteristics that support estimation of Evaporation and Transpiration. On this regard,

we will discuss the experience of application of UAV information in commercial vineyards

by the Utah State University AggieAir small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) Program as

part of the ARS-USDA GRAPEX Project (Grape Remote sensing Atmospheric Profile and

Evapotranspiration eXperiment) conducted since 2014 over multiple vineyards located in

California. In this study, example of UAV point cloud characteristics, developed algorithms

to process this information, canopy derived products, and their influence on ET and

Transpiration estimation are presented and discussed.

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Biosphere-atmosphere chemical interactions during drought and heat

waves in dryland ecosystems Prof. Alex Guenther

University of. California, Irvine, USA

Ecosystem Session: A Torch in the Dark…

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) are produced by terrestrial ecosystems and

emitted into the atmosphere where they participate in chemical reactions that determine

the atmospheric distributions of air pollutants and short-lived climate forcers including

organic aerosol, ozone and methane. BVOC are the dominant global emission of reactive

organics into the atmosphere and are included in most air quality and climate models with

simple representations that broadly describe the observed behavior under optimal

ecological conditions. It is well known BVOC emissions are sensitive to abiotic (e.g.,

drought and heat waves) and biotic (e.g., herbivores and microbes) stresses but these

processes are difficult to quantify and are currently either omitted or highly simplified in

numerical models. We assess the role of BVOC in biosphere-atmosphere chemical

interactions during drought and heat waves in dryland ecosystems by synthesizing

observations from Yatir forest and other field sties with laboratory investigations of drought

and heat stress-induced BVOC emission and incorporating the results into the BVOC

emission component of a regional chemistry and transport model. Model simulations using

the MEGAN BVOC emission model embedded in the WRF-Chem chemistry and transport

model are used to investigate the impact of drought and heat stress induced BVOC

emission on atmospheric chemical composition and determine the potential for significant

interactions and feedbacks. MEGAN simulations with and without stress are used to

quantify the potential sensitivity of BVOC emission response. WRF-Chem regional model

simulations are used to demonstrate how the stress-induced changes can influence

atmospheric chemistry and ecosystem functioning to assess potential interactions and

feedbacks.

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Managing irrigation water as a function of its quality Dr, Alon Ben-Gal

Agricultural Research Organization – Volcani, Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental

Sciences, Gilat Research Center, Israel

Water Session: Water in Agriculture

Water scarcity and the need for increased agricultural production have led to greater

utilization of non-conventional, marginal- to low-quality, sources of water for irrigation.

These water sources mainly recycled municipal waste water and brackish groundwater,

are typically characterized by high concentrations of contaminants including salts.

Agronomic success when irrigating with water high in salts is contingent upon water

management in which salts are disallowed from accumulating in crop root zones. Salinity

management most often entails application of excess water for leaching and drainage

collection and disposal. Addition of salt to agricultural systems causes degradation of soils

and negative effects to crops. Leaching of salts leads to contamination of deep soils and

groundwater or to drainage waters requiring treatment and disposal solutions.

An additional aspect of water-source and quality specific management is found in plant

nutrition-fertilization practices. Interactions between salts and nutrient minerals in soils and

plants require rethinking of traditional fertilization methods and regimes.

The recent addition of desalinated water to address chronic water shortages in dry regions

including Israel, may coincidentally provide opportunity for a more sustainable solution for

agriculture. Desalination can supply very high-quality water to irrigate high-value, salt-

sensitive crops and leads to reduction of salinity of recycled wastewater. While allowing

less leaching and therefore more sustainable irrigation, the utilization of desalinated water

comes with its own set of challenges including cost, unpredictable actual contents of

minerals when mixed with other water sources in distribution systems, and requirements

for provision of minerals, removed in desalination processes but needed in agricultural

applications.

Recent research has provided understanding and tools for optimizing water and nutrient

use efficiency as a function of water quality. These include models for crops response

which recently have been coupled with economic data to offer tools for decision making for

planners and growers.

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Can Desalination Be A Sustainable Technology for Dryland Countries

Who Seek To Mitigate Climate Change? Prof. Alon Tal

Tel Aviv, University, Israel

Water Session: Water & Energy

Desalination has proven to be a transformative technology for dryland countries that suffer

from chronic water shortages. Given the extraordinary proliferation of seawater

desalination plants around the world, Israel offers an instructive case study. It is a country

that for a decade has relied on desalination for most of its municipal water supply. This

reliance on sea water for meeting the country’s hydrological needs is anticipated to

increase over the next decades as the local population is set to double. The presentation

details the extraordinary environmental benefits that desalination has brought the country.

But during an age when stabilizing atmospheric concentration of carbon has become

axiomatic among environmental policy makers, is desal a sustainable alternative in light of

the planet’s climate change crisis? Indeed, there are many environmental impacts

associated with desalination technologies, but the one area of particular concern involves

its considerable carbon footprint. This lecture will offer a brief description of Israel’s desal

experience with a focus on the future capacity that will be required and its associated

energy requirements and emissions. Because Israel’s desalination facilities are among the

most energy-efficient in the world, these projections can offer a “best-case-scenario” for

other countries who are considering the transition to reliance on seawater for municipal or

even agricultural water supply. The presentation will seek to provide answers to questions

such as: Will the anticipated doubling in desal capacity undermine national efforts to

mitigate greenhouse gas emissions? Can Israel’s desalination plants become more

energy efficient? What would be a responsible energy component for a dryland country’s

desalination strategy. And given the growing scarcity of water on the planet, what are the

implications of desalination for global mitigation efforts?

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Integrated Foliar Nutrients Application Improve Cereals Growth and

Productivity under Moisture Stress Condition in Semiarid Climates Dr. Amanullah

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, The University of

Agriculture, Peshawar-Pakistan

Food Session: Nutrition and Management of Drylands

The increase in world population, especially in developing countries where soil fertility and

health are decreasing continuously leading to soil degradation and desertification. Water

scarcity in developing countries mostly under semiarid climates is one of the major

problems that decrease crop growth and yield leading to food security problems.

Integrated foliar nutrients management system could improve crop growth, yield and yield

components of crops under arid and semiarid climates. There is lack of research to study

the impact of integrated foliar nutrients management in field crops. Therefore, field

experiments were conducted for many years (2008-2013) with an objective to investigate

the impact of integrated foliar nutrients management on cereals productivity (wheat and

maize) under the semiarid condition at the Agronomy Research Farm, The University of

Agriculture Peshawar. The objective of these experiments was to investigate the impact of

sole and integrated foliar application on wheat and maize productivity under moisture

stress condition in semiarid climate. Foliar treated plots had higher yield and yield

components than control plots. From wheat experiments it was concluded that combined

(integrated) foliar application of Zn + B increases yield components and grain yield of

wheat under dryland as well as irrigated conditions. Combined foliar application of

micronutrients (Zn+B) was better than combined application of macro nutrients (P+K) in

terms yield and yield components. Combined application of B + macro nutrients (P+K)

increased yield and yield components than combined application of Zn + macro (P+K)

nutrients. Combined application of K + micronutrients (Zn+B) was better than combined

application of P + micronutrients (Zn+B). Foliar application of micronutrients at booting

stage of wheat was more beneficial in terms of yield and yield components. From maize

experiments, it was concluded that foliar P and Zn treated plots (rest) had better

performance in terms of improved growth, higher yield and yield components than control

(no foliar spray). Application of foliar P at the rate of 3% and Zn at the rate of 0.3%

improved growth, increased yield and yield components of maize under moisture stress

condition. Foliar potassium and zinc improved growth and increased yield and yield

components in maize over control. Application of foliar potassium @ 2% and foliar zinc @

0.2% are more beneficial in terms of higher yield and yield components. Early application

of foliar P, K and Zn at boot stage had positive impact on growth, yield and yield

components of maize as compared to late spray of both nutrients (P and Zn) at silking.

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Driving down the costs of solar-powered electrodialysis desalination,

drip irrigation, and the combination of the two Prof. Amos Winter

Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Laboratory, Department of Mechanical

Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ,USA

Water Session: Water in Agriculture

This talk will present innovations from the MIT Global Engineering and Research (GEAR)

Lab to aggressively reduce the costs of solar-powered desalination and drip irrigation, with

the aim of making the technologies affordable for resource- constrained, off-grid markets

throughout the world. Community-scale electrodialysis (ED) desalination systems for

brackish groundwater require half the specific energy, and produce one-third the water

wastage, as reverse osmosis (RO) systems. GEAR Lab has created PV-ED control and

system optimization strategies, whereby the pumping flow rate and electrochemical power

are actively controlled to match available solar irradiance. We have demonstrated that

these PV-ED systems can directly utilize 76% of captured solar energy, need minimal to

no battery capacity, can produce water 54% faster than an equivalently-sized PV-ED

system that runs on constant power, and can meet near price-parity with on-grid RO

(inclusive of the cost of the PV power system) in terms of levelized cost of water. In a

parallel research effort, GEAR Lab has created ultra-low pressure, pressure- compensated

drip irrigation (DI) emitters to reduce required pumping power and facilitate solar-powered

irrigation. These devices were realized by creating predictive, parametric design theory to

describe the fluid-structure mechanics within the emitter that control water flow, to

minimize activation pressure. During two years of field pilots in Jordan and Morocco,

GEAR Lab’s emitters have demonstrated >50% pumping power reduction while

maintaining required water distribution uniformity compared to standard products. They

can reduce the cost of a solar-powered DI system by 40% compared to current industry

design practice. Our team is currently embarking on co-optimized desalination-drip

systems, which show promise for economic viability because of the combined energy and

water savings achieved through the PV-ED and PV-DI subsystems.

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Mapping and Monitoring Saline and sodic Soil Reclamation in Semi-arid

and Arid Environments of India Using Geo-information Tools Dr. A.N. Singh

Ex. Director, Remote Sensing Applications Center, Uttar Pradesh, India

Food Session: Nutrition and Management of Drylands

About 57 per cent of land area in India is reported to be degraded, of which the lands

under cultivation are the most degraded, followed by the grazing lands and the forests.

Soil salinity and sodicity has degraded 6.73 M ha in the semi-arid and arid climatic regions

of the country, significantly affecting its productivity and in several cases turning it

completely barren. It is estimated that due to the intensive use of natural resources in view

of the population pressure, and climate change effects, these lands may further increase

to 16.2 M ha by the year 2050 (ICAR-CSSRI Vision 2050). To counter their further

increase, large scale sodic land reclamation has been taken up in the states of Punjab,

Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest

sodic land area, about 0.40 M ha area has been reclaimed under the Uttar Pradesh Sodic

Land Reclamation Project. The project, supported through a World Bank loan, was carried

out during 1993- 2018 in three phases. An important aspect of the project has been the

extensive use of geo-informatics in project planning, implementation, and monitoring which

included initially the use of aerial photographs and subsequently the multi-date, multi-

sensor, multi-spectral data from Landsat and IRS satellites. A multi-stage remote sensing

approach was adopted to cater to the requirement of reclamation programme. While the

large reclamation sites in different districts were selected based on the Landsat TM

derived map, the field plots for reclamation were selected based on 1:15,000 scale aerial

photographs in the first phase, IRS LISS III (23 m) and high-resolution Pan (6 m) merged

data in the second phase, and IRS LISS-IV data (multi-spectral, 6m) in the third phase.

Land levelling, field bunding, provision of adequate drainage, use of Gypsum as a

reclaiming agent, and keeping the land under rice-wheat crop rotation with a green

manuring crop in the summer season, were the important components of the reclamation

technology.

In order to assess the success of reclamation, land use change was monitored after a

period of five years using high resolution IRS data. The land use change monitoring at field

plot level showed that between 73 to 91% of the severely sodic barren plots had been

converted to rice- wheat cropping, indicating that reclamation had a significant positive

impact on increasing cropping intensity and long-term sustainability. The increase in

average cropping intensity from the pre-reclamation period of 124% to nearly 200% during

post-reclamation has led to higher total farm production, helping the small farm holders not

only achieve self-sufficiency in the availability of food grains for their family consumption,

but also additional income. Environmental impact assessment has been carried out by

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studying pre- and post- project soil quality, ground water level and its quality, surface water

quality, as well as floral and faunal biodiversity. These studies, involving the use of

Geographical Information System (GIS), have shown positive improvements in soil quality,

floral and faunal biodiversity, whereas no adverse impact was found on the quality of

ground and surface water. The project has thus been able to not only achieve food self-

sufficiency for the farm families, but has also helped in national food security and

environmental sustainability.

-20-

Decentralized solar powered membrane filtration: Opportunities in

desert environments Dr. Andrea Schaefer

Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology, Germany

Water Session: Water and Energy:

Water availability in desert environments remain a grave concern – and has always been a

matter of survival. With climate change this need will be further exacerbated as

temperatures rise becomes more severe and water resources more scarce. Renewable

energy powered membrane filtration – or desalination – cannot increase the quantity of

water. The advanced treatment can however make water that is unfit for consumption

potable as is illustrated in Figure 1 at the example of a site in Tanzania, East Africa.

Decentralized – or autonomous – treatment systems are typically small, do not rely on

infrastructure and need to be robust to withstand operation in the harsh environment that

characterizes deserts. Providing the energy for operation, specifically the operation of the

high pressure pump required for nanofiltration or reverse osmosis, renewable energy is an

obvious choice. In deserts where solar irradiance is typically abundant, photovoltaics or

solar energy are suitable so long as sand storms and dust as well as excessive heat can

be managed.

The research on directly coupled renewable energy powered membrane filtration system

of the Schäfer-Richards teams began in Australia two decades ago. Brackish

groundwaters were treated in the Australian outback that contained a wealth of

contaminants ranging from salts through to natural uranium. The direct coupling means

that the renewable energy resource is neither converted nor stored, resulting in a

fluctuation of energy with solar irradiance, while water is stored for periods of shutdown

(bad weather, nights).

Treating brackish water is a significantly more economic option to seawater desalination,

because the salinity and hence the pressure requirements are lower. Contaminants that

occur in brackish groundwater, in addition to salinity, may include nitrates, arsenic,

fluoride, uranium and many more. Organic matter contents is bound to increase with

climate change, while micropollutants, such as pesticides, are increasing in occurrence

globally. Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis can remove many of these contaminants,

while the generation of a concentrate remains a challenge in remote areas. Evaporation

ponds may be a viable option in desert environments. The formation of inorganic scaling

through salt precipitation is a further operational challenge.

This lecture intents to provide an overview of renewable energy powered

nanofiltration/reverse osmosis and inspire a discussion about the suitability of such

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technologies in the desert context. Issues may span from typical water contaminants to the

operational issues such as extreme temperatures.

-22-

Identifying weak links in the hydraulic chain of grapevines: insights into

the impacts of water stress on water uptake and transport physiology Dr. Andrew McElrone

USDA-ARS, UC Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology, USA

Food Session: Viticulture and Vineyards

Water scarcity threatens the economic viability of viticulture in dry growing regions of the

western US, and changing climatic conditions could exacerbate this situation. Growers

commonly employ conservation techniques like deficit irrigation, where less water is

applied than is needed to match vineyard evapotranspiration (ET) demands. This practice

depletes soil water over time and induces water stress in vines. Water stress in grapevines

results in decreased growth and fruit yield, but is often used to control vigor and improve

fruit quality. Many physiological processes in grapevines are disrupted by water stress, but

the severity and timing of disruption vary between roots, stems and leaves. Some literature

suggests that grapevines are hyper-susceptible to drought-induced hydraulic dysfunction.

Here I will summarize a compilation of our hydraulic physiology, X-ray microCT, neutron

radiography, sap flow, and modelling efforts on various Vitis genotypes that demonstrate

most hydraulic dysfunction in grapevines occurs outside the xylem (i.e. in fine root cortical

and epidermal cells, where water is initially absorbed, and in leaf mesophyll cells, where

water evaporates before exiting the stomata). A thorough understanding of the

mechanisms impacted by water deficits is needed to effectively implement precision

irrigation strategies tailored to a given genotype and to maximize vineyard water use

efficiency. Such information would enable growers to better approach stress thresholds of

vines thereby limiting detrimental effects such as reduced fruit ripening or future bud

fruitfulness, and could also accelerate germplasm screening to identify improved plant

material that better tolerates water stress.

-23-

Human Agency and Resilience to Holocene Desertification in the

Eastern Mongolian Gobi Prof. Arlene Rosen

University of Texas at Austin, USA

Human Session: Resilience of Desert Societies

The archaeology of the eastern Mongolian Gobi Desert provides us with excellent examples of the

adaptability of human societies to rapidly changing environments. Researchers once believed

prehistoric populations in dryland regions were at the mercy of increasing desertification

throughout the Holocene. They assumed these societies were compelled to turn to pastoralism in

response to desertification, and subsequently, herding economies themselves intensified

landscape degradation. However, new research in the Mongolian Gobi Desert indicates a different

trajectory of human interaction with this desert steppe environment. Here the progression from

forager to herder reveals adaptability, resilience and a sustainable existence over the course of

millennia.

Our research in the eastern Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia demonstrates that since the retreat

of the Pleistocene 11,700 years ago, the landscape and vegetation of the region has profoundly

changed. In the Middle Holocene, lakes and wetlands punctuated the landscape. These ultimately

disappeared due to temperature shifts and southward movement of the East Asian Monsoon.

Wetland patches are critically important to mobile foragers in semi-arid environments. They provide

year-round natural “stores” of plant and animal resources and often, seasonal migrations are

tethered around these lush mosaic environments. New geoarchaeological and phytolith research at

Zaraa Uul, Sukhbaatar Province, Mongolia shows that former Pleistocene lakebeds supported

small freshwater ponds and wetlands during the Middle Holocene. These marshes formed a rich

environment for hunter/gatherers who found reliable sources of grass seeds, rhizomes of sedges,

and a variety of animals concentrated near these water sources. The reliably resource-rich points

on the semi-arid landscape minimized subsistence risk, and facilitated movement of hunter-

gatherers throughout this region of the otherwise inhospitable Gobi Desert, up until the period of

time when pastoralists began to dominate this landscape, ca. 3500 years ago.

The entrance of pastoralists to the region coincided with the disappearance of the former wetlands,

and the beginning of true desertification. Geoarchaeological and phytolith research at the Ikh Nart

Nature Reserve, Dornogobi Province, suggests that the herders and their sheep/goats and cattle

introduced the lusher Stipa grass varieties and shrubs from more northerly steppe zones, thus

contributing to the “improvement” of the vegetation communities despite the retreat of the East

Asian Monsoons and increasing range of the dryland zones. This allowed a sustainable existence

in this region, and increasing social complexity. These findings are in profound contrast to

assumptions that pastoralists contribute to the degradation of dryland environments.

-24-

Bedouin Contemporary Resilience: The Struggle for Dominating Local

Governance Prof. Avinoam Meir

Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben Gurion University of the

Negev, Israel

Human Session: Resilience of Desert Societies

Understanding resilience of contemporary Israeli Indigenous Bedouin in the Negev desert

rests on several assumptions. First, they may not be generalized as struggling necessarily

for classical desert survival, as only a negligible number of small communities in remote

areas in the eastern Negev and Negev Highlands may be represented as such. Second,

resilience may not necessarily be approached in terms of natural bio-physical resources

solely and in facing climate change, but may assume a multifaceted dimensionality

including social-cultural-political resources. Third, in a more-than-bio-physical-resources

perspective, resilience should be looked at as closely associated with the notion of place

and its broad spatio-temporal relationality, whereby bio-physical resources are one among

many components. And fourth, place-based resilience of the Bedouin as a desert

community has been acquired historically through desert pastoral-semi nomadic

subsistence to become an inherited cultural quality imported now into their contemporary

semi-urbanized labor market life.

With these assumptions as scaffoldings, the resilience of contemporary post-nomadic and

post-pastoral Bedouin will be examined in the arena that turns out to be crucial for them—

municipal politics. In particular this resilience is manifested in their struggle for domination

of local governance in their localities. Based on a recent study, this question is explored as

a process spanning the pre-1948 to present day period through the dynamics of

domination of local governance. The State of Israel has been compelling the Bedouin to

resettle into seven towns, but as of today only about half of the 270,000 Bedouin have

resettled, the rest are still living in unrecognized squatter villages. As a consequence of the

power of Bedouin place-based and land steadfastness, eleven (as of now) such villages

are now in a process of recognition and becoming municipalized.

Most of these localities are located within what the Bedouin regard as their traditional

pastoral-nomadic territories. Hence, there has been a sustained tension between the

Bedouin and the state over the issue of who indeed dominates local governance in

Bedouin localities. For reasons of national ideology, national security, national partisan

politics and regional development targeted primarily to the Jewish population, the state has

been consistently maneuvering to retain municipal control through non-democratic

measures, administrative-bureaucratic apparatus and legislative tools so as to eliminate

local and regional effects of Bedouin municipal-territorial dominance. In contrast the

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Bedouin have been reacting with civil action and legal measures to transfer domination of

local governance into their hands at all spatial scales of municipal bodies—local councils

and regional councils.

Thus, from a phase of virtually full domination of their tribal semi-nomadic local

governance in the pre-state period, through a phase of lost-domination in early statehood

years and early stages of semi-urbanization, through to contemporary recognition of some

villages, the Bedouin have been gradually extricating domination of local governance from

state grip and becoming dominant in municipal affairs of their localities. This process has

been powered by a long-term tension between governance up-scaling predilection by the

Israeli settler-state and down-scaling predilection by the Indigenous Bedouin. The

Indigenous Bedouin have been realizing their value of historical place-based resilience

and relationality of their localities with their culture and bio-physical environment, rejecting

in fact the modern governance imposed upon them.

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Cultural Landscapes and Paleoenvironmental Change at the end of the

Pleistocene: The Earliest Peopling of the Atacama Desert and its

Descendent Until Present Dr. Calogero M. Santoro

Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile

Human Session; Resilience of Desert Societies

After the last glacial maximum (ca. 17,000 to 10,000-9,000 years cal B.P.) America had

exceptional conditions for hunter-gatherer groups. The Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT), in the

core of the Atacama Desert in northernmost Chile was full of vegetation and animals that

flourished as consequence of an abnormal increase in rainfall in the high Andes that

flowed toward the Pacific. The permanent riparian flows and subterranean water enabled

dense network of gallery forests, oases and springs that housed fauna currently extinct

(such as megaterium, American horse, palaeollama) and modern extirpated taxa (vicuñas,

guanaco, birds and rodents). The first immigrants who arrived around 13,000 expanded

over this Pampa. Sooner they learned how to manage local regional and supra-regional

resources applying different technologies to all kind of materials, to produce different

artifacts. Besides typical snapped stones, the extraordinary conservation of organic

material have allowed us to find remains of cordage and weaving made out of plant and

animal fibers, human hair, mineral pigments, sea shells used as ornaments, bone artifacts,

and carved wood. The first human inhabitants of the Pampa (pampinos) generated a

whole socio-cultural world and circuits of mobility and social interaction that reached the

Pacific coast, high Andean territories (80 to 100 km away respectively) and beyond into

the eastern Andean valleys and the tropical forest (800 km).

Around 10,000 to 9,000 cal year B.P. this ecosystem collapsed and people moved away

from the PdT toward the coast and the Andes, where inter-independent way of life were

developed. Around 3,500 cal years B.P. another pluvial anomaly made people to come

back to the PdT as former wetland and ravines flourished, with less water flow though. As

hunting gathering strategies were not sufficient to support an increasing number of people

that demanded a wide range of goods (pottery, textiles, metal objects, baskets, etc.), a

strong transformative program that encompassed cultivated crops and trees were

introduced and artificially irrigated in the Atacama Desert. This economy was

complemented by fish and shellfish brought from the Pacific coast. This sedentary way of

life that remained until ca. 1000 years cal BP, and its concomitants green revolution,

produced major ecological transformations of certain fertile loci within the Desert. All of the

crops we buy and consume today from local farming were introduced in that epoch (for

instance maize, beans, chili peppers, quinoa, potatoes, sweet potatoes), including an

iconic fruit tree, the algarrobo (cfr. carob tree) as well as the chañar.

-27-

Are multiple disasters caused by climate change in Australia: really

unprecedented and unpredictable? Prof. Colin MacDougall

Flinders University, Adelaide Australia

Human Session: Desertification and Public Health

Australia changed early in 2020 due to a succession of disasters, in the form of droughts

and fires, soon to be followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, fierce contenders

for the word of the year include unprecedented, new normal, pivoting and green shoots. As

if these disasters emerged from nowhere and the scientific and policy communities had to

quickly invent new strategies. On the contrary, the scale of climate change warnings has

been matched only by Australian political and commercial intransigence and denial: fuelled

by well-funded anti science movements. Our landscape, industry and way of life are

profoundly changing to overcome policy neglect about climate change denial. Disaster

researchers and organisations are responding by reframing the old view of a sudden and

short event as persistent, consistent. A strong evidence base is informing our

understanding of recovery pathways. Political science is helping us to understand how

climate change denial is organised and funded. Meanwhile, young Australians are

organising and imagining a more sustainable planet.

-28-

Selective Transport of Phosphorous Through Anion Exchange

Membranes Prof. David Jassby

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Water Session: Advanced functional materials in water treatment applications

The selective extraction of phosphorous from wastewater remains a challenge.

Phosphorous, in the form of phosphate, is a valuable commodity chemical that is widely

used in many industrial applications, but is particularly valuable as a fertilizer. Wastewater

(municipal and certain industrial streams) is rich in phosphate, but this phosphate is largely

lost in the treated effluent (i.e., discharged into the environment) or trapped in biosolids.

While struvite precipitation is a viable option, it often requires the addition of magnesium

and a pH adjustment. Therefore, the ability to extract phosphate from wastewater in its

pure form without additional chemical modifications is an attractive target. In this

presentation, we present our preliminary findings regarding the development of a

phosphate-specific membrane. The membrane is based on the formation of a composite

organic-inorganic framework, where the inorganic component form specific and reversible

complexes with phosphate, while the organic fraction functions as an anion exchange

membrane that prevents the passage of competing anions. Using this material, we

demonstrate excellent selectivity towards phosphate, and propose a novel platform

towards the selective extraction of other valuable compounds.

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Acquiring Needed Water Without Depriving Neighbors or Wildlife Dr. Elaine Solowey

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ketura, Israel

Human Session: Gender, Leadership and Environment

Deserts are increasingly coming under cultivation due to population pressure, the spread

of cities into agricultural land and the shortage of new agricultural lands to utilize. Many

current agricultural endeavors in arid and hyper-arid zones are patently unsustainable in

their use of land, water and materials. It is some areas necessary to use arid and hyper

arid zones for food production. But because of the difficult and fragile soils the agricultural

endeavors themselves should be designed for long term preservation conservation and

reclamation. If possible, water thrifty native plants should be used. They should be planted

in sustainable formats with wise use of local water resources and an eye to preventing

wind and water erosion. A farm in an arid zone with a small extra water budget should be

encouraged to invest in some native low water use plants. There are some underutilized

sources of water in hyperarid zones that can be tapped The use of a swale is a strategy

allowing for the harvest of a short term crop For water collection an area can be dug as a

liman, covered with stones or plastic Another under-utilized source of water can

sometimes be found in the earth as there is often water between 1 and 3 meters under the

ground. Extraction methods can be as simple as a hand pump for direct distribution or as

complex as a feed into a drip system. It is important to know that these systems require

some investment in labor, in materials and in design.

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Effects of variable irrigation practices during extreme heat events on

grapevine physiology and berry chemistry Dr. Elisabeth Forrestel

University of California at Davis, USA

Food Session: Viticulture and Vineyards

Future climate will expose vineyards to extreme heat events of greater frequency, intensity

and duration. These extreme events will be coupled with higher evaporative demand under

warming climates and increased drought potential across many wine growing regions of

the world, including California. In grapevine and other speciality crops, these higher

temperatures, which occur during critical developmental stages, result in reduced

photosynthetic capacity, delayed ripening, as well as reduced yield and quality. As growers

primarily respond to extreme heat via irrigation, understanding cultivar-specific water

demands will better inform grower decisions and increase water use efficiency. However,

little information exists on current irrigation and cultivar-specific responses to extreme

heat. To evaluate the use of irrigation applied prior to and during heat waves (HWs), and

its effect on grapevine physiology and berry composition, we exposed Vitis vinifera cv.

Cabernet Sauvignon vines to three differential irrigation treatments across two seasons in

an established vineyard in the Lodi AVA of the Central Valley of California. The baseline

treatment was under water deficit (60% ET), while the 2x baseline ET and 3x baseline ET

treatments had double and triple the irrigation of the baseline, respectively. Throughout

HWs in the 2019 season there was a significant reduction in gas exchange, an increase in

leaf temperature, and lower evaporative cooling in the baseline treatment, while no

differences were observed between 2x and 3x treatments. However, after HWs the

baseline treatment showed signs of recovery from physiological stress. Skin tannin and

anthocyanin content, the onset of anthocyanin synthesis, pH, and acidity were affected

negatively by underwatering (60% ET) or overwatering (3x). Additionally, the baseline

treatment had the highest total soluble solids (TSS), and the lowest yield. Furthermore,

significant changes in anthocyanin hydroxylation and profile were found due to differential

irrigation, where the 2x treatment had a higher proportion of dihydroxylated anthocyanins

and malvidins. HW1, which took place pre-veraison, had a significant effect on the

changes seen among treatments on berry composition and yield, while HW2 accentuated

the differences found in berry composition. This study highlights the detrimental effects of

insufficient or excess water applications during heat waves on grapevine physiology and

berry composition. Our preliminary work moves towards generating better irrigation

management guidelines during heatwaves, which will be critical under increasing heat and

drought in many agricultural regions around the world.

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A different landscape: toward a novel approach to sedentarization

processes in arid and Semi-arid environments Dr. Emir Galilee

Ben Gurion Institute for the study of Israel and Zionism, Ben Gurion University of the

Negev, Israel

Human Session: Resilience of Desert Societies

Rent landscape: toward a novel approach to sedentarization processes in arid and Semi-

arid environments

Between the end of the 19th century and the mid-20th century the region of the Negev has

gone thru long and consistent change. The change was a combination of the utilizations of

natural resources and economical patterns, social structure, believes and culture. The

cultural landscape of the region characterized in patterns of nomads in process of

sedentarization.

Most of the scholars of nomadic societies in the world, especially in the Negev dealt with

sedentarization processes as a forced/orchestrated, "Top-own" process made by the

central regime. Scholars who come from different perspectives focused on the

orchestrated aspects the process (Yiftahel 2008 Yahel 2019 Shmuely and Khamaisi 2011).

These researches mainly ignored the internal changes within the nomadic society itself. In

1980 Salzman and Sadala has identified different processes of sedentarisation among

nomads. Part of this processes are internal changes within the societies themselves and

not just forced or responses to the act of the central government.

In this presentation, based on fieldwork among the Negev Bedouins in the past two

decades, I want to present a novel approach to the sedentarization process of the Negev

Bedouins. I would like to present the "bottom up" processes rely on the internal changes of

the Bedouin society itself.

My presentation will analyses the gradient of aridity of the Negev in a cultural perspective,

material culture, utilization of natural resources, the characterization and evolution of

buildings, and the tension and corporation between pasturing and agriculture in the arid

and semi-arid areas of the Negev (Galilee 2019).

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Characterization of bed load discharge in unsteady flow events in an

ephemeral channel in semi-arid region Mr. Eran Halfi

Dead Sea and Arava Science Center; Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Water Session: Flash Floods in the Arid Environment

There are many methods and equations for estimating bedload flux in steady flow

conditions. Yet, very little is known about the effect of very unsteady flows, such as flash

floods, on bedload flux. The unpredictable nature of the floods together with many logistic

difficulties and safety issues in monitoring explain this gap in knowledge. Global climate

change may increase flood event occurrence, making their understanding even more

crucial. This research focuses on two durations of flash floods where the flow is most

rapidly changing: a) flash flood bore arriving on dry river bed and b) flash flood bore

arriving on a column of moving water. During those times hydraulics parameters and

bedload transport are monitored and there relation is examined and characterized.

The methodology of our study is based on the demonstrated ability of the Eshtemoa

gauging station to automatically monitor the variation of bedload flux depending on flow

and bed characteristics, along with innovative equipment including hydrophones and

geophones for capturing acoustic signals of bedload sediments (1 Hz), video cameras for

continuous monitoring of water surface velocity (by the LSPIV method to determine its

structure and velocity) and 3-D velocimetry for characterizing turbulence (40 Hz).

Additional to these, a well-planned deployment was carried out, including alerting sensors

and cellular transmission, enabling to be onsite when bores arrive.

During the winters of 2015-2019, eleven flow events were monitored out of which three

flow events were sufficiently large to transport significant amounts of bedload. An

innovative mass aggregation based calibration between the acoustic indirect sensor and

the direct slot sampler allow determination of bedload flux at a frequency of 1 Hz. The

results indicate an increase of the turbulent nature (increase of the turbulent kinetic energy

and the instantaneous vertical velocities), shear stress and bedload flux during the rising

limb in the first two minutes of bore arrival.

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Satellite retrieval of vineyard leaf area index and impact of vine canopy

structure and interrow cover crop on retrieval algorithm Dr. Feng Gao

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, Hydrology

and Remote Sensing Lab, USA

Ecosystem Session: Remote Sensing in Viticulture

Leaf area index (LAI) is an essential biophysical parameter in most land-surface models,

governing the partitioning of energy, carbon, and water fluxes between the soil and canopy

components of the land-surface system. Ground measurement of LAI is labor-intensive

and time-consuming. LAI retrieval using routine remote-sensing data provides an indirect

estimation of LAI with spatial and temporal variability. The remote-sensing LAI retrieval

can be conducted using the empirical relationship of LAI and vegetation indices or through

the inversion of a physical radiative transfer model. In the previous study, we have

developed an approach that uses the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

(MODIS) LAI data product as a reference to retrieve Landsat LAI. This method has been

successfully incorporated into the disaggregated ALEXI (DisALEXI) evapotranspiration

model to map energy fluxes at 30 m resolution over vineyards as part of the Grape

Remote sensing Atmospheric Profile and Evapotranspiration eXperiment (GRAPEX)

project. The approach produces Landsat LAI data product that is consistent with MODIS.

Recently, the approach has been applied to the Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS)

data to generate a more frequent (3-4-day) 30-m resolution LAI. Comparing to LAI field

measurements over the GRAPEX experimental sites from 2017 to 2019, HLS LAI captures

the spatial and temporal variability. However, the agreement varies on measurement dates

and sites. This could be due to different vine plant structure, interrow cover crop, or

clumping factor. In this presentation, we will assess HLS LAI across different sites and

years. The causes of differences will be analyzed. Sampling size and spatial heterogeneity

will be assessed using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and the Vegetation and

Environment monitoring New MicroSatellite (VENµS) imagery. An improved method that

combines MODIS LAI samples and field measurements will be presented. The challenges

of satellite retrieval of vineyard leaf area index will be discussed.

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Characterization of Microbiological Water Quality and Prevalence of

Waterborne Diseases in Marigat Urban Centre Baringo County, Kenya Prof. George Ogendi

Department of Environmental Science, Egerton University, Kenya

Human Session: Desertification and Public Health

Access to safe water is a precondition for health and is a basic human right. It is however

worth noting that approximately 20% of the global population lack access to potable water

whereas over 30% lack access to basic sanitation. The situation is much worse in the arid

and semi-arid lands (ASALs) in the developing countries. It is because of the foregoing

water and sanitation situation that 3.4 million deaths are reported annually. An assessment

of the microbiological water quality and prevalence of waterborne diseases was conducted

in Marigat, a sprawling urban area in the ASALs of northern Kenya. We employed a mixed

methods research design in this study: Field sampling followed by laboratory

measurements, and a Cross-sectional household survey. A structured questionnaire was

administered to household heads. Ten water samples were collected from the drinking

water sources and at the household level (Point of Use) during the dry and wet seasons

and analyzed for E. coli and TC bacteria using the MPN method. Health records of

persons that sought healthcare services at various Marigat health centres were reviewed

to determine prevalence of waterborne diseases. The E. coli levels in household water

samples ranged from 200cfu/100ml to 2500cfu/100ml, whereas the range was

25cfu/100ml to 4575cfu/100ml for Total Coliforms. The study findings indicated that there

was a significant association between level of education and covering of water storage

container (P< 0.05). There was a significant interaction between the point of water sources

and season in terms of E. coli and TC (P < 0.01) TC (P< 0.05) respectively. Nearly half of

the respondents indicated that diarrhea and typhoid were the most prevalent waterborne

diseases in children under the age of 5 years during dry season. Typhoid and cholera

were more prevalent duri