Slope Dynamics and Its Control in a Climate Change Scenario: Co-evolution of Soils and Vegetation Under Changing Climatic Conditions at a Desert Fringe

Dry land areas are often regarded as highly sensitive to climate change. Many researchers assume a positive relationship between average annual rainfall, water resources, vegetation cover, species diversity, etc. Such an approach disregards the fact that with decreasing average annual rainfall the number of rainstorms; storm rain amounts and water availability may be highly dependent on the relationship between rainfall and surface properties. Later properties influence greatly the degree to which rainwater will percolate or will be transformed into runoff, thereby significantly affecting the spatial redistribution of water resources. The northern Negev desert offers unique conditions for the study of the possible effects of climate change along a rainfall gradient under changing surface conditions.