dryland

[drahy-land]

noun

1. Often drylands. a tract of land having dry, often sandy soil, as on the floor of a valley.

   Acres of the drylands have been reclaimed by irrigation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dryland¹

1175–1225; Middle English. See dry, -land

Example Sentences

A lot of my research has been on dryland birds in New Mexico, many of which have drab gray or brown plumage.

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Han Chen's team's results highlight the complex linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem function, and climate change in dryland forests.

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The team utilized 57 years of inventory data -- spanning from 1958 to 2015 -- of dryland biomes in Canada, finding that climate warming does not adversely affect forests with resource-gaining characteristics.

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Oases are important habitats and water sources for dryland regions, sustaining 10% of the world's population despite taking up about 1.5% of land area.

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The researchers used satellite data to look for green, vegetated areas within dryland areas, indicating an oasis, and tracked changes over 25 years.

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