75 years of dryland science: Trends and gaps in arid ecology literature

Abstract

Growth in the publication of scientific articles is occurring at an exponential rate, prompting a growing need to synthesise information in a timely manner to combat urgent environmental problems and guide future research. Here, we undertake a topic analysis of dryland literature over the last 75 years (8218 articles) to identify areas in arid ecology that are well studied and topics that are emerging. Four topics—wetlands, mammal ecology, litter decomposition and spatial modelling, were identified as ‘hot topics’ that showed higher than average growth in publications from 1940 to 2015. Five topics—remote sensing, climate, habitat and spatial, agriculture and soils-microbes, were identified as ‘cold topics’, with lower than average growth over the survey period, but higher than average numbers of publications. Topics in arid ecology clustered into seven broad groups on word-based similarity. These groups ranged from mammal ecology and population genetics, broad-scale management and ecosystem modelling, plant ecology, agriculture and ecophysiology, to populations and paleoclimate. These patterns may reflect trends in the field of ecology more broadly. We also identified two broad research gaps in arid ecology: population genetics, and habitat and spatial research. Collaborations between population genetics and ecologists and investigations of ecological processes across spatial scales would contribute profitably to the advancement of arid ecology and to ecology more broadly.

Biogeography of global drylands

“…During the 20 th century, detailed studies of the distribution of vegetation were conducted in drylands from multiple continents (e.g. Shreve, 1942; Soriano, 1956; Keast et al ., 1959), and studies of the ecology of dryland vegetation and their interactions with humans, soils, microorganisms and abiotic factors have grown exponentially over the past two decades (Greenville et al ., 2017).…”

Contrasting effects of local environment and grazing pressure on the genetic diversity and structure of Artemisia frigida

“…Drylands are particularly relevant in this respect, because they cover 30-40% of the global terrestrial surface, and they are subject to harsh climatic conditions and often intensively grazed. However, there is a definitive lack of studies on population genetics among dryland species (Greenville et al 2017).…”

Bat ecology and conservation in semi‐arid and arid landscapes: a global systematic review

“…Dry environments are extremely diverse in terms of their land forms, soils, fauna, flora, water balance and human activities; they cover 41% of the Earth's land surface (Verheye 2006, Safriel & Adeel 2005 and are home to an estimated 64% of bird species, 55% of mammal species and 25% of amphibian species (Peel et al 2007, Davies et al 2012, Durant et al 2015. Therefore, it is important to summarise knowledge about the different aspects of biodiversity in these landscapes, especially in order to detect knowledge gaps and to identify trends and propose new research areas (Greenville et al 2017).…”

“…However, information about the bat communities that live in semi-arid and arid landscapes is scattered, patchy and focused on small-scale studies, and a systematic review is needed to detect knowledge gaps in the published literature and to prioritise geographical and conceptual research needs. Identifying topics and research directions can provide insights into how a discipline is changing over time (Greenville et al 2017), which can help researchers to identify challenges and biases in the field and to improve guidelines for the development of management and conservation plans for this threatened group of mammals.…”