Rendzina A type of brown earth soil typical of humid to semi-arid grasslands over calcareous rocks. The rendzina is rich in lime and has an upper humus-rich horizon.
The dominant plants are sages (Lamiaceae) and evergreen oaks and, in drier areas, chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), manzanita (Arctostaphylos pungens), and species of Ceanothus.
You'd think rain would be good for California in the middle of its historic drought, but so much rain in so little time on such dry ground can bring serious flooding.
That's only a small share of the total acreage that could benefit, about half a million acres in all, so it will be vital to prioritize areas at greatest risk of fire or drought.
Decades of overgrazing, climate change-induced droughts, and poor farming practices are stripping not only the Sudanian grasslands of their once fertile topsoil but hundreds of other regions like it across the world.
This region has a semiarid climate, and for 50 years after its settlement, it supported a low-intensity agricultural economy of cattle ranching and wheat farming.
Ducks are birds that feed and breed in areas where there is a lot of water, but their habitats have been shrinking in recent decades because of the droughts.
It can turn an arid desert in to an oasis; convert a stream to white water rapids in the monsoon season, and breathe life into the harshest places on earth.
This fire has shown the potential with the terrain and the weather we've been experiencing and the fuel load from the drought, that it has almost a mind and a behavior of its own.
In the United States, there's California where in one single year a historic drought cost the state over 10,000 jobs and nearly $2 billion in lost revenue.
Indonesian police say most of the fires that triggered this are set by people who are using the slash and burn methods of clearing farmland in the dry summer months.