Wadi Hadf

NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS TRlBULUS is the name of the Bulletin of the Emirates Natural History Group. The Group was founded in 1976, and over the next fourteen years, 42 issues of a duplicated Bulletin were published. The revised format of TRIBULUS, introduced in 1991, permits the inclusion of black and white and colour photographs, not previously possible. TRIBULUS is published twice a year, in April and October. The aim of the publication is to create and maintain in standard form a collection of recordings, articles and analysis on topics of regional archaeology and natural history, with the emphasis on the United Arab Emirates and adjacent areas. Papers, short notes and other contributions are welcomed from anyone but should not have been published elsewhere. Guidelines are set out below. The information carried is as accurate as the Editorial Board and Advisory Panel can determine, but opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. Correspondence and enquires should be sent to: The Editor, TRIBULUS, Emirates Natural History Group, P.O. Box 2380, Abu Dhabi U.A.E. Editorial Board: Advisory Panel: H. E. Sheikh Nahayan bin Mubarak AI Nahayan, Patron, Professor Jens Eriksen (Life Sciences) Rob Western, Chief Editor, Professor Graham Evans (Earth Science) Peter Hellyer, Managing Editor, Professor Dan Potts (Archaeology) Simon Aspinall, Deputy Editor, Dr. Saif AI Ghais (Marine Science and Conservation) Dr. Michael Gillett Dr. David Jones (Fauna) Steve James Dr. Geoffrey R. D. King (Archaeology) The plant motif above is of the genus Tribulus, of which The animal motif above is of a tiny golden bull, there are six species in the UAE. They all have pinnate excavated from the early Second Millennium grave at leaves, yellow flowers with free petals and distinctive Qattarah, AI Ain. The original is on display in AI Ain five -segmented fruits. They are found throughout the Museum, and measures above 5 cm by 4 cm. country, except in coastal sabkha. Manuscripts should be typed, on one side only, and double-spaced, and should be accompanied by a disc for material in excess of 500 words in length. A short abstract should precede the article, with the address(es) of the author(s) at the end. Photographs may be submitted and should be either glossy black -and-white or colour prints or colour slides, which should be clearly captioned. Line drawings and maps should be in black ink on strong white or translucent paper. References should give the author& 39;s name, with the year of publication in brackets, and with the list of articles, showing title and publisher, in date order. Scientific names should follow customary nomenclature in Latin, while the English and, if appropriate, available Arabic names should also be supplied. International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 1019 - 6919. systems (e.g. Wadi al-Bih, W. Ghalilah, W. Maqalayli, W. Khabb Shamsi, Fig.l), dissect these mountains. They are filled with conglomerate overlain with alluvial gravels and silt and periodically scoured by torrent floods. Except for a few minor pools, no source of surface water exists and the deeply -incised wadis are all dry except following winter rain (Western 1985). The climate of the UAE is classified as hyper -arid. More rainfall and lower temperatures occur in the mountain area, with up to 190 mm average annual precipitation (Boer 1997). Dew at night and sometimes even fog, which may extend inland for up to 100 km also improves the water supply in the mountains, especially for poicilohydric organisms such as bryophytes (Deil & Muller-Hohenstein 1996, Western 1989). This reduces the harsh climatic conditions in winter and early spring. There is a large amount of scree, cliffs, overhangs, boulders and fissures where water has brought down silts and fine -earth, thus providing a great number of niches for drought -adapted or drought-tolerant desert mosses and liverworts of mainly circum-Tethyan andlor xerothermic Pangaean origin (Frey & Kurschner 1988