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For centuries, traditional high-altitude oases in Oman have depended on the cultivation of deciduous fruit trees. This study explores the effects of climate change on winter chill (estimated as Chilling Hours—CH and Chill Portions—CP), a prerequisite to overcoming dormancy and initiating flowering, in three Omani oases. The results are compared with findings from an earlier study which reported a decrease in the numbers of CH in high-elevation oases by an average of 1.2–9.5 CH year−1 between 1983 and 2008. Location-specific weather data were obtained by merging 15 years of in situ recordings with 28 years of observations from an official weather station near the top of the investigated watershed. Between 1991 and 2018, scenarios of the past few decades show chill reductions by 75, 35 and 18% when estimated in CP at the oases of Masayrat ar Ruwajah (1030 m a.s.l.), Qasha’ (1640 m a.s.l.), and Al ‘Ayn (1900 m a.s.l.), respectively. Over the course of the twenty-first century, the lowest-elevation oasis at Masayrat ar Ruwajah is projected to lose virtually all winter chill, whereas, despite significant chill losses, conditions are expected to remain viable for some of the currently grown species in the higher-elevation oases. These projected changes will compromise the cultivation of temperate fruit trees in the near future, affecting the sustainability of Omani oases. Our methods support results from earlier work performed at these locations and provide an updated procedure for assessing climate change effects on temperature-dependent systems.

Societal Impact Statement The oasis of al‐‘Ulā is subject to a vast development operation by the central government of the Saudi monarchy. Agriculture is not strictly speaking the first objective of this initiative, the emphasis being on tourism and thus on the vast historical heritage and landscape qualities of the region. Nevertheless, agriculture and, in particular, phoeniculture remain the main resource for the inhabitants. Characterizing the local date palm agrobiodiversity is key to the sustainable development of oases. In al‐‘Ulā, documenting indigenous knowledge about the locally predominant barnī variety and characterizing its genetic integrity and mode of propagation represents the essential leverage needed by farm development project planners to develop local production. Summary Understanding how farmers name and categorize their crops in relation to the way they are propagated is critical for a proper assessment of agrobiodiversity. Yet, indigenous knowledge is often overlooked in genetic studies, which may result in an underestimation of crop diversity, thereby preventing its conservation and mobilization for developing sustainable agroecosystems. Here, we focus on the barnī date palm variety, a local elite variety of al‐‘Ulā oasis, Saudi Arabia. We conducted an ethnobotanical survey on local phoeniculture practices and generated whole‐genome data to determine whether or not barnī palms are exclusively clonally (vegetatively) propagated. Further, we contrasted the genomes of barnī and two other palms from al‐‘Ulā with 112 Phoenix spp. to provide an initial insight into date palm diversity in this oasis. The survey reveals that the dates of the barnī palm bear distinct names, depending on their quality. Results show that barnī is a true‐to‐type cultivar, indicating clonal propagation by offshoots with name maintenance, even between distinct cultivating situations in al‐‘Ulā and a nearby oasis. Nonetheless, it is distinct from the prominent barnī cultivated in Oman. Its ancestry is comparable to other West Asian date palms, but another palm from this oasis shows influence from North Africa. What lies behind the cultivar name barnī in al‐‘Ulā and further afield in the Arabian Peninsula has been deciphered through the key disciplinary combination of social anthropology and genetics. Future studies will provide additional insights into the original genetic make‐up of this millennia‐old oasis. L'oasis d’al‐‘Ulā fait l'objet d'une vaste opération de développement par le gouvernement central de la monarchie saoudienne. L'agriculture n'est pas à proprement parler le premier objectif de cette initiative, l'accent étant mis sur le tourisme et donc sur le vaste patrimoine historique et les qualités paysagères de la région. Néanmoins, l'agriculture et en particulier la phœniciculture restent la principale ressource des habitants. La caractérisation de l'agrobiodiversité locale des palmiers dattiers est essentielle pour le développement durable des oasis. À al‐‘Ulā, la documentation des connaissances autochtones sur la variété locale barnī, prédominante, et la caractérisation de son identité génétique et de son mode de propagation représentent le levier nécessaire aux planificateurs de projets de développement agricole pour promouvoir la production locale. The oasis of al‐‘Ulā is subject to a vast development operation by the central government of the Saudi monarchy. Agriculture is not strictly speaking the first objective of this initiative, the emphasis being on tourism and thus on the vast historical heritage and landscape qualities of the region. Nevertheless, agriculture and in particular phoeniculture remain the main resource for the inhabitants. Characterizing the local date palm agrobiodiversity is key to the sustainable development of oases. In al‐‘Ulā, documenting indigenous knowledge about the locally predominant barnī variety and characterizing its genetic integrity and mode of propagation represents the essential leverage needed by farm development project planners to develop local production.

This article examines falaj system in relation to the tribal fabric of its beneficiary community. Falaj is a gently sloping underground tunnel or open channel that transfers groundwater or seasonal runoffs to the cultivated lands. Falaj acts as a core around which six socio-economic spheres form in a certain spatial order: shari’a public space, residential area, orchards, farmlands, pastures, and eventually falaj socio-economic hinterland. These spheres are the products of a systematic interaction between falaj, tribal communities and their economy. This article looks into the role of water in social cohesion within local communities and cooperation between tribal territories, which is conducive to the Omani variation of tribalism based on blood, soil and water. This type of tribalism is called hydro-tribalism whose socio-economic integrity is systematically contingent on accepting others in the group and cooperating with other groups. Some scholars mistakenly use the metaphor of “salad fabric” to describe Oman’s tribal composition, where different tribes live in harmony within the same territory but never melt into a homogeneous unity. However, this article likens hydro-tribalism to “solar system” where different groups remain in the orbits of their own tribal identities around a central falaj system, in the form of a complex socio-economic organization. This article concludes that falaj system is crucial in Oman’s sustainable development not only for the water that it can still supply to the country’s oases, but also for its social function that has always served to cement an organic relationship between different pieces of Oman’s social mosaic.

Land use/cover (LUCC) change in arid oasis–desert ecotones has significant implications for spatial governance in ecologically fragile regions. To better capture the temporal and spatial complexity of land transitions, this study developed a vector tracing method by integrating time-series remote sensing data with vector-based transfer pathways. Analysis of northern Oman from 1995 to 2020 revealed the following: (1) Arable land and impervious surfaces expanded from 0.51% to 1.09% and from 0.31% to 0.98%, respectively, while sand declined from 99.03% to 97.01%. Spatially, arable land was concentrated in piedmont irrigation zones, impervious surfaces near coastal cities, and shrubland and grassland along the Al-Hajar Mountains, forming a complementary land use mosaic. (2) Human activities were the dominant driver, with typical one-way chains accounting for 69.76% of total change. Sand was mainly transformed into arable land (7C1, 7D1, 7E1; where the first part denotes the original type, the letter denotes the year of change, and the last digit denotes the new type), impervious surfaces (7C6, 7D6, 7E6), and shrubland (7E4). (3) Water scarcity and an arid climate remained primary constraints, manifested in typical reciprocating chains in the oasis–desert interface (7D1E7, 7A1B7, 7C1D7) and in the arid vegetation zone along the Al-Hajar Mountain foothills (7D3E7, 7C3D7), together accounting for 24.50% of total change. (4) The region exhibited coordinated transitions among oasis, urban, and ecological land, avoiding the common conflict of cropland loss to urbanization. During the study period, transitions among arable land, impervious surfaces, forest, shrubland, and wetland were rare (Type 16: 3.31%, Type 82: 2.89%, Type 12: 0.04%, Type 18: 0.01%). The case of northern Oman provides a valuable reference for collaborative spatial governance in ecologically fragile arid zones. Future research should integrate socio-economic drivers, climate change projections, and higher-temporal-resolution data to enhance the applicability of the chain-spectrum method in other arid regions.

Aim The main purpose of this work is to understand the origin, history, historical biogeography and mechanisms of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) domestication. Location Seeds of uncultivated Phoenix individuals from isolated Oman populations, cultivated date palm varieties of various geographical origins and other related Phoenix species were analysed. Additionally, well‐preserved seeds from Egyptian archaeological sites (14th century bc to 8th century ad) were compared with the morphometric reference model based on the analysis of modern material. Methods Elliptic Fourier transforms (EFT), a morphometric method applied to shape outline analysis, were used to characterize seed shape and to quantify morphological diversity in P. dactylifera and related species. Results Analysis of seed outlines by EFT (1) showed that P. dactylifera can be differentiated from other Phoenix species and (2) enabled the quantification of patterns of shape differentiation in the genus Phoenix at different taxonomic, geographical and chronological levels. Date palm agrobiodiversity, partitioned in distinct morphotypes, appeared to be complex in terms of geographical structure. Allocation of archaeological seeds to different modern Phoenix forms and date palm morphotypes allowed us to reveal ancient forms consumed and/or exploited in Egypt and finally to determine spatial and temporal changes in agrobiodiversity. Main conclusions Based on the morphological diversity quantified in P. dactylifera and related species, we characterized ancestral seed shape features present in uncultivated populations. The geographical distribution pattern of seed shapes points to human dispersal routes that spread cultivation from one or more initial ‘domestication centres’. Finally, this work provides a powerful tool to identify ancient forms as demonstrated by the analysis of well‐preserved Egyptian archaeological seeds, dating from the 14th century bc to the 8th century ad. Results open new and fascinating perspectives on the investigation of the origins and chrono‐geographical fluctuation of date palm agrobiodiversity.

Fruit production systems that rely on winter chill for breaking of dormancy might be vulnerable to climatic change. We investigated decreases in the number of winter chilling hours (0-7.2°C) in four mountain oases of Oman, a marginal area for the production of fruit trees with chilling requirements. Winter chill was calculated from long-term hourly temperature records. These were generated based on the correlation of hourly temperature measurements in the oases with daylength and daily minimum and maximum temperatures recorded at a nearby weather station. Winter chill was estimated for historic temperature records between 1983 and 2008, as well as for three sets of synthetic 100-year weather records, generated to represent historic conditions, and climatic changes likely to occur within the next 30 years (temperatures elevated by 1°C and 2°C). Our analysis detected a decrease in the numbers of chilling hours in high-elevation oases by an average of 1.2-9.5 h/year between 1983 and 2008, a period during which, according to the scenario analysis, winter chill was sufficient for most important species in most years in the highest oasis. In the two climate change scenarios, pomegranates, the most important tree crop, received insufficient chilling in 13% and 75% of years, respectively. While production of most traditional fruit trees is marginal today, with trees barely fulfilling their chilling requirements, such production might become impossible in the near future. Similar developments are likely to affect other fruit production regions around the world.

Known for its legendary hospitality, beautiful desert landscapes, tranquil oases and 1,000 miles of coastline along the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, the Sultanate of Oman's seafaring history dates back millennia. Exploring its glorious maritime past--a defining part of its cultural identity--the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center in Washington DC is hosting the exhibition From Sinbad to the Shabab Oman: A Seafaring Legacy through Sep 30, 2017. The exhibition, located in the Cultural Center's second floor gallery, features informational kiosks and large wall-mounted video screens offering information and history on these port cities. Also told are the stories of Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Ahmad Ibn Majid, Oman's most famous sailor and navigator, hailed as the Lion of the Sea.