Ecology Research
Studies conducted in Yatir forest under the direction of Prof. Dan Yakir of the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with the Desert Research Institute at Sde Boker, have shown that the trees function as a trap for carbon in the air. Shade provided by trees planted in the desert also reduces evaporation of the sparse rainfall.
Yatir forest is also a part of the NASA project FLUXNET, a global network of micrometeorological tower sites used to measure the exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and energy between terrestrial ecosystem and atmosphere.
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies conducts research at Yatir forest that focuses on crops such as dates and grapes grown in the vicinity of Yatir forest. The research is part of a project aimed at introducing new crops into arid and saline zones.
Read more about this topic: Yatir Forest
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