Phenology of ten common plant species in western Saudi Arabia

Phenological patterns of nine perennial plants in an intertropical semi-arid Mexican scrub

“…These differ in the degree to which their biological activity is geared to rainfall pulses, as well as by their own water reserves (Noy-Meir, 1973). Plant life form has also been related to phenological pattern in desert plants (Lieberman, 1982;Kemp, 1983;Gutterman, 1991;Bertiller et al, 1991;Abd El-Ghani, 1997;Nilsen et al, 1991).…”

“…Because the most important limiting resource in desert ecosystems is water, temporal patterns of plant growth and reproduction have generally been related to its availability (Beatley, 1974;Kemp, 1983;Steyn et al, 1996;Fresnillo-Fedorenko et al, 1996;Abd El-Ghani, 1997). Plants in these environments have been categorized in two broad ecological groups, drought evaders and drought persistents.…”

Reproductive phenological pattern of Calotropis procera (Apocynaceae), an invasive species in Brazil: annual in native areas; continuous in invaded areas of caatinga

“…1). The flowering individuals showed AIs that were consistently high, ranging from 76.5% to 100%, indicating a high degree of syn- Calotropis procera has also been shown to have an evergreen leafing pattern in the deserts of Saudi Arabia (El-Ghani 1997). In the caatinga, most of the native species are deciduous, evergreen species accounting for only approximately 18% (Barbosa et al 2003).…”

“…In fact, the distribution of C. procera in Israel was shown to be drastically restricted by thermal conditions due to its "thermophilic" nature (Eisikowitch 1986). In Saudi Arabia, flowering was found to start early in the spring, when temperatures are still mild, last for four months, and finish two or three weeks before the arrival of the highest temperatures, which are usually around 50°C (El-Ghani 1997). In India, the species was also found to flower annually, for two months during the summer (Singh & Yadava 1974).…”

Leaf growth dynamics in four plant species of the Patagonian Monte, Argentina

“…Moreover, the availability of water in soil is more intimately related to foliage than precipitation (Ghazanfar 1997;Olivares and Squeo 1999;Peñuelas et al 2004;Shackleton 1999). Nevertheless, other climatic variables such as air temperature and photoperiod have also been recognized as factors that could influence growth (Abd El-Ghani 1997;Pavón and Briones 2001). Furthermore, considering that global climate change leads to global warming and also may result in changes in precipitation distribution and pattern it is important to understand how foliage are related to climatic variables (Cheng et al 2006;Easterling et al 2000).…”