Knowledge of the total (overall) and individual herbaceous vegetation species relating to a distinctive site might help in the development of management strategies for a large number of threatened herbaceous species. This paper assesses the total and functional group herbaceous biomass, species richness, evenness, and diversity at four elevation classes in Borana rangelands of arid thorn bush savanna grasslands in Southern Ethiopia. At each elevation class, a grid of 20 × 20 m main plot was placed, and individual herbaceous species samples were collected randomly from five 1 m2 quadrants within the main plot. Using a single-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), the effects of four elevation classes were considered on whole-vegetation, grasses, graminoid, and forb species diversity, evenness, richness, and biomass. A total of 49 herbaceous species were recorded. Of the total identified herbaceous species, three grass species and two graminoid species were found across all studied elevation classes, but the forb species did not overlap along the studied elevation classes. The total richness, diversity, and evenness of herbaceous species were considerable and significant along elevation classes. The grass, graminoid, and forb species richness, diversity, and evenness responded differently, and the functional group of species may be a good indicator of the community processes of grassland across elevation classes. The contribution of forb richness to the total richness was more pronounced than grass and graminoid, which indicates the shift of savanna grassland to grazing tolerant herbaceous species. The results suggest that the pooled data analysis of herbaceous vegetation community structure and biomass could obscure complicate trends of the functional group at elevation classes and for managing herbaceous species in savanna grasslands, the management models should focus on the functional group species composition, community structure, and biomass.

Flow dynamics and sand deposition processes over nebkhas were investigated using computational fluid dynamics simulations, wind tunnel experiments, and field measurements. The computational fluid dynamics simulations showed that nebkha width affects both the elongation and broadening of the wind shadows. The length of the wind shadows decreased as the wind shear velocity increased, following a power function, irrespective of the width and height of the nebkha. There are some uncertainties about the effect of the aspect ratio of the nebkha on the formation of wind shadows as a result of the omission of the transport of sand in the simulations. It is suggested that the length of wind shadows is dependent on the absolute values of nebkha width and height rather than the nebkha aspect ratio. Although the numerical results were consistent with the results of the wind tunnel experiments, the wind tunnel experiments showed that the height of the nebkha had a negative effect on the elongation of the shadow dunes. The sedimentary structures revealed by ground‐penetrating radar surveys of the dunes in the Taitema Dry Lake, in the eastern Taklimakan Desert, China, showed that the formation of shadow dunes can be divided into three phases. Shadow dunes are initially controlled by horizontal separation flow and then elongate following the same growth mechanisms as linear dunes, eventually breaking up into isolated barchans or short, temporary linear dunes. However, the formation of shadow dunes does not necessarily call for the three phases depending on the local wind regime and sediment supply.