|
Desert Dry Wash
Desert dry wash is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) occurring in the flat bottoms of canyons and drainages that lack water at or near the surface most of the year, and are subject to periodic severe flooding events.Pam MacKay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, 2nd Ed., p. 20-23 Desert dry wash is contrasted with desert riparian vegetation, which occurs in desert canyons and drainages where there is year-round water at or near the surface. Plants must either be able to survive the severe flooding conditions or be able to reestablish themselves before the next flooding event. Some of these plants have evolved so that in order for their seeds to germinate, the seeds must be scarified or abraded by tumbling sand, gravel, and rocks during the flooding event. They must then quickly send down roots deep enough to be able to tap into deep underground water reserves, in order to survive the dry period after the flooding. Common dominant species of the desert dry wash include smoke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetation Type
Vegetation classification is the process of classifying and mapping the vegetation over an area of the earth's surface. Vegetation classification is often performed by state based agencies as part of land use, resource management, resource and environmental management, environmental management. Many different methods of vegetation classification have been used. In general, there has been a shift from structural classification used by forestry for the mapping of timber resources, to floristic community mapping for biodiversity management. Whereas older forestry-based schemes considered factors such as height, species and density of the woody canopy, floristic community mapping shifts the emphasis onto ecological factors such as climate, soil type and floristic associations. Classification mapping is usually now done using geographic information systems (GIS) software. Classification schemes Following, some important classification schemes. Köppen (1884) Although this scheme is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large areas, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on or in a human body. A biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere. Etymology The term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for '' biotic community'' of Möbius (1877). Later, it gained its c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Riparian
Desert riparian is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) occurring in the bottoms of valleys, canyons, and other watercourses that have water at or near the surface most of the year.Pam MacKay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, 2nd Ed., p. 20-21 The visual character is of large, lush, perennial green trees surrounded by dry desert vegetation and soil coloration. The area may be in a patch surrounding a spring such as an oasis, or in a strand following the course of water flow, such as a bosque. The soil in this biome is typically moist and ranges from rocky and sandy to silty alluvium. This biome has seasonal variation, with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Precipitation mostly occurs during the winter, and ranges from 8 to 25 cm each year. It is contrasted with the desert dry wash vegetation type, in which water at or near the surface is lacking most of the year, such as arroyos. Over 80% of known desert wildlife species use desert riparian areas. Comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psorothamnus Spinosus
''Psorothamnus spinosus'', or ''Delea spinosa'', is a perennial legume tree of the deserts in North America. Common names include smokethorn, smoketree, smoke tree, smokethorn dalea, and corona de Cristo. Distribution ''P. Spinosus'' is native to the desert washes in the Colorado Desert in Southern California, the Sonoran Desert in western Arizona, and most of eastern Baja California state including several northern Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) islands, The tree is common in Joshua Tree National Park, where it is called the smoketree. The range of ''P. spinosus'' is centered north-south along the Lower Colorado River Valley ranging northwest into the eastern Mojave Desert, west into mostly all of the Colorado Desert-(subsection of Sonoran Desert), and east of the Colorado River in southwestern Arizona's Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chilopsis Linearis
''Chilopsis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants containing the single species ''Chilopsis linearis''. It is known commonly as desert willow''Chilopsis linearis''. USDA PLANTS. or desert-willow''Chilopsis linearis''. NatureServe. 2012. because of its -like leaves, but it is not a true willow being instead a member of the family. It is a |
Senegalia Greggii
''Senegalia greggii'', formerly known as ''Acacia greggii'', is a species of tree in the genus ''Senegalia'' native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in Mexico. The population in Utah at 37°10' N is the northernmost naturally occurring ''Senegalia'' species anywhere in the world. Common names include acacia bush, catclaw acacia, catclaw mesquite, Gregg's catclaw, paradise flower, wait-a-minute bush, and wait-a-bit tree; these names mostly come from the fact that the tree has numerous hooked prickles with the shape and size of a cat's claw which tend to hook onto passers-by; the hooked person must stop ("wait a minute") to remove the prickles carefully to avoid injury or shredded clothing. (The common name "cat's claw" is also used to refer to several other plant species, including ''Uncaria tomen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambrosia Salsola
''Ambrosia salsola'', commonly called cheesebush, winged ragweed, burrobush, white burrobrush, and desert pearl, is a species of perennial shrub in the family Asteraceae native to deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam MacKay, 2nd Ed. 2013, p. 263 This species, notable for its foul smell, easily hybridizes with the white bur-sage (''Ambrosia dumosa''). Range and habitat It is common on sandy desert flats, desert dry washes, and is weedy in disturbed sites in creosote bush scrub, shadscale scrub, Joshua tree woodland, and Pinyon juniper woodland, ranging from Inyo County, California, to northwestern Mexico. It grows in sandy and gravelly soil, and sometimes on lava formations at elevations of . It is native to the southwestern United States (Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah) and northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Baja California, Baja California Sur), where it is a common plant of the local deserts, where it thrives on sandy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baccharis Sergiloides
''Baccharis sergiloides'' is a species of ''Baccharis'' known by the common name desert baccharis.Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam MacKay, 2nd ed., 2013, Distribution The plant is native to the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, where it grows in wet areas in dry desert and woodland habitat, such as streambeds. It is found in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Deserts in the States of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Sonora, and Baja California. Description ''Baccharis sergiloides'' is a shrub producing many erect, branching stems approaching 2 m (6 ft) in maximum height. The leaves are mostly oval shape and up to about long. The leaves generally fall by the time the plant blooms. The shrub is dioecious, with male and female plants producing flower heads of different types. The head is enclosed in a layer of phyllaries which are glandular and sticky. The fruit is a ribbed achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomes
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large areas, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on or in a human body. A biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere. Etymology The term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for ''biotic community'' of Möbius (1877). Later, it gained its cur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deserts And Xeric Shrublands
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habitat type vary greatly in the amount of annual rainfall they receive, usually less than annually except in the margins. Generally evaporation exceeds rainfall in these ecoregions. Temperature variability is also diverse in these lands. Many deserts, such as the Sahara, are hot year-round, but others, such as East Asia's Gobi, become quite cold in winter. Temperature extremes are a characteristic of most deserts. High daytime temperatures give way to cold nights because there is no insulation provided by humidity and cloud cover. The diversity of climatic conditions, though quite harsh, supports a rich array of habitats. Many of these habitats are ephemeral in nature, reflecting the paucity and seasonality of available water. Woody-ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deserts And Xeric Shrublands In The United States
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location. Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter, and the resulting fragments and rubble strewn over the de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North American Desert Flora
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is related to the Old High German ''nord'', both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *''ner-'', meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word ''borealis'' comes from the Greek '' boreas'' "north wind, north", which, according to Ovid, was personified as the wind-god Boreas, the father of Calais and Zetes. ''Septentrionalis'' is from ''septentriones'', "the seven plow oxen", a name of ''Ursa Major''. The Greek ἀρκτικός (''arktikós'') is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word ''Arctic''. Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian, ''kefer'' can mean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
