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A 36,200 cal yr B.P. vegetation history was developed from macrofossils and pollen from 55 packrat middens from 1287 to 1442 m elevation in the Peloncillo Mountains of southeasternmost Arizona, USA. Today, these elevations are dominated by semidesert grassland with a mixture of Chihuahuan and Sonoran Desert shrubs, including an eastern disjunct population of jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis). From 36,200 to 15,410 cal yr B.P., rocky areas just above large, pluvial lakes that occupied what are now dry playas supported Pinus edulis, Juniperus osteosperma, Juniperus cf. coahuilensis, Quercus cf. turbinella and a rich understory of summer-flowering C4 annuals and grasses, indicating abundant summer rains and mild winters....
1. Soil disturbance by animals affects the availability of water, nutrients, sediment and seeds, which are critical for the maintenance of functional ecosystems. We examined long-lived faunal structures across six vegetation communities in the northern Chihuahuan desert of New Mexico, USA, testing the proposition that disturbances in undesertified grassland differ in magnitude and effect from those in desertified grassland. 2. Vertebrate and invertebrate disturbances totalled 18.9 structures ha−1 across 18 sites. The most common were pits and mounds of American badgers (Taxidea taxus, 32%), nests of the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli (18.8%) and mounds of kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis, 31%). 3. Desertification...
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The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across the western U.S. using Landsat imagery from 1985-2021. The RCMAP product suite consists of nine fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, and tree, in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, we have trained time-series predictions directly from 331 high-resolution sites collected from 2013-2018 from Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) instead of using the 2016 “base” map as an intermediary....
Tags: AZ, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, Black Hills, Blue Mountains, All tags...
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These data were compiled for a networked field-trial restoration experiment (RestoreNet) that spans the southwestern US, including 21 distributed field sites. The objective of our study was to understand the environmental factors and restoration practices (including seed mixes and soil manipulation) that increase plant establishment and survival to ultimate improve restoration outcomes in dryland environments. These data represent point-in-time plant density and height measurements at our field sites at the time of monitoring. These data were collected at 21 arid and semi-arid sites, located throughout Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and California. These data were collected by USGS Restoration Assessment and Monitoring...
Categories: Data; Tags: Arizona, Botany, California, Chihuahuan Desert, Climatology, All tags...
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Human footprints at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA, reportedly date to between ~23,000 and 21,000 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of seeds from the aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa. These ages remain controversial because of potential old carbon reservoir effects that could compromise their accuracy. We present new calibrated 14C ages of terrestrial pollen collected from the same stratigraphic horizons as those of the Ruppia seeds, along with optically stimulated luminescence ages of sediments from within the human footprint–bearing sequence, to evaluate the veracity of the seed ages. The results show that the chronologic framework originally established for the White Sands footprints is robust...
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DLCC’s Vegetation Map Pilot is a project envisioned initially as a supervised classification of two or three small areas of the DLCC. DLCC technical stakeholders advised changing from a supervised classification to an object oriented classification (OOC) method.This report presents the findings, feasibility, and lessons-learned during the exploration and object oriented classification process and results of the two sites on the United States-Mexico border, this is needed information before considering a full-scale, Vegetation Mapping Project, to include bigger areas or the totality of the Desert LCC region.
Categories: Data; Tags: Academics & scientific researchers, Aquascalientes, Aquascalientes, Arizona, Arizona, All tags...
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A Vision for the Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert, shared by two nations, is one of the most biologically rich desert ecoregions in the world, alive with large mammals, birds, reptiles and an unmatched diversity of cactus species. The desert’s rivers, streams and springs are considered to be of global significance, home to fish species found nowhere else on earth. Our vision is a Chihuahuan Desert where governments, local communities, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, landowners, and other stakeholders are working together to ensure that the richness and diversity of wildlife, habitats, natural communities, and ecological processes of the Chihuahuan Desert are conserved and, where necessary,...
What are current conditions for important park natural resources? What are the critical data and knowledge gaps? What are some of the factors that are influencing park resource conditions? Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCAs) evaluate and report on the above for a subset of important natural resources in national park units (hereafter, parks). Focal study resources and indicators are selected on a park-by-park basis, guided by use of structured resource assessment and reporting frameworks. Considerations include park resource setting and enabling legislation (what are this park's most important natural resources?) and presently available data and expertise (what can be evaluated at this time?). In addition...
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Natural landscapes in the Southwestern United States are changing. In recent decades, rising temperatures and drought have led to drier conditions, contributed to large-scale ecological impacts, and affected many plant and animal species across the region. The current and future trajectory of climate change underscores the need for managers and conservation professionals to understand the impacts of these patterns on natural resources. In this regional assessment of the Southwest Climate Change Initiative, we evaluate changes in annual average temperatures from 1951–2006 across major habitats and large watersheds and compare these changes to the number of species of conservation concern that are found within these...
Drought and freezing are both known to limit desert plant distributions, but the interaction of these stressors is poorly understood. Drought may increase freezing tolerance in leaves while decreasing it in the xylem, potentially creating a mismatch between water supply and demand. To test this hypothesis, we subjected Larrea tridentata juveniles grown in a greenhouse under well-watered or drought conditions to minimum temperatures ranging from -8 to -24 �C. We measured survival, leaf retention, gas exchange, cell death, freezing point depression and leaf-specific xylem hydraulic conductance (k?). Drought-exposed plants exhibited smaller decreases in gas exchange after exposure to -8 �C compared to well-watered...
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These bat location estimates have been reported by Bogan and others (In press) and come in the form of a GIS shape file. Three species of nectar-feeding phyllostomid bats migrate north from Mexico into deserts of the United States (U.S.) each spring and summer to feed on blooms of columnar cacti and century plants (Agave spp). However, the habitat needs of these important desert pollinators are poorly understood. We followed the nighttime movements of two species of long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae and L. nivalis) in an area of late-summer sympatry at the northern edges of their migratory ranges. We radiotracked bats in extreme southwestern New Mexico during 22 nights over two summers and acquired location...
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The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across western North America using Landsat imagery from 1985-2023. The RCMAP product suite consists of ten fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, tree, and shrub height in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, high-resolution training was revised using an improved neural-net classifier and modelling approach. These data serve as foundation to the RCMAP approach. The training database was...
Tags: AB, AZ, Alberta, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, All tags...
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The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across western North America using Landsat imagery from 1985-2023. The RCMAP product suite consists of ten fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, tree, and shrub height in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, high-resolution training was revised using an improved neural-net classifier and modelling approach. These data serve as foundation to the RCMAP approach. The training database was...
Tags: AB, AZ, Alberta, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, All tags...
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The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across the western U.S. using Landsat imagery from 1985-2021. The RCMAP product suite consists of nine fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, and tree, in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, we have trained time-series predictions directly from 331 high-resolution sites collected from 2013-2018 from Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) instead of using the 2016 “base” map as an intermediary....
Tags: AZ, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, Black Hills, Blue Mountains, All tags...
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The need to monitor change in sagebrush steppe is urgent due to the increasing impacts of climate change, shifting fire regimes, and management practices on ecosystem health. Remote sensing provides a cost-effective and reliable method for monitoring change through time and attributing changes to drivers. We report an automated method of mapping rangeland fractional component cover over a large portion of the Northern Great Basin, USA, from 1986 to 2016 using a dense Landsat imagery time series. 2012 was excluded from the time-series due to a lack of quality imagery. Our method improved upon the traditional change vector method by considering the legacy of change at each pixel. We evaluate cover trends stratified...
Tags: AZ, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, Black Hills, Blue Mountains, All tags...
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These heatmaps show a top 3 stressor or service, as ranked by participants, and the concentration of participants who reported as working in each municipality or county who also voted for that stressor or service across the landscape. This map shows the percentage of participants from each county and municipality who ranked Discharge of Untreated Wastewater as a top 3 ecosystem stressor in the Riparian Habitat Fragmentation and Lossl category in their region. Symbology represents the percentage of participants with 0% = dark green, 0.0001 % - 24.99% = light green, 25% - 49.99% = yellow, 50% - 74.99% = orange, 75% - 100% = red. All counties and municipalities identified by participants as areas where they work were...
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LandScope America—a collaborative project of NatureServe and the National Geographic Society—is a new online resource for the land-protection community and the public. By bringing together maps, data, photos, and stories about America’s natural places and open spaces, our goal is to inform and inspire conservation of our lands and waters.
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The Sevilleta LTER supports a long-term, integrated, interdisciplinary research program addressing key hypotheses on pattern and process in aridland ecosystems. Sevilleta LTER research includes studies in desert grassland and shrubland communities, and riparian and mountain forests emphasizing pulse driven processes in space and time. Key drivers (e.g., climate, fire, water, resource availability) govern dynamics in each landscape component. Our focus on how biotic and abiotic drivers affect spatial and temporal dynamics of aridland ecosystems allows us to conduct long-term research that addresses important basic theories and yet has significant relevance to regional, national and international priorities. The...
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The Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project (SWReGAP) is an update of the Gap Analysis Program’s mapping and assessment of biodiversity for the five-state region encompassing Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. It is a multi-institutional cooperative effort coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program. The primary objective of the update is to use a coordinated mapping approach to create detailed, seamless GIS maps of land cover, all native terrestrial vertebrate species, land stewardship, and management status, and to analyze this information to identify those biotic elements that are underrepresented on lands managed for their long term conservation or are “gaps.”
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Archaeologists and researchers in allied fields have long sought to understand human colonization of North America. Questions remain about when and how people migrated, where they originated, and how their arrival affected the established fauna and landscape. Here, we present evidence from excavated surfaces in White Sands National Park (New Mexico, United States), where multiple in situ human footprints are stratigraphically constrained and bracketed by seed layers that yield calibrated radiocarbon ages between ~23 and 21 thousand years ago. These findings confirm the presence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum, adding evidence to the antiquity of human colonization of the Americas and providing...


map background search result map search result map LandScope America Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project Natural Resource Condition Assessments Sevilleta GIS Vector Datasets Managing Changing Landscapes in the Southwestern United States Ecoregion-Based Conservation in the Chihuahuan Desert Radio telemetry data on nighttime movements of two species of migratory nectar-feeding bats (Leptonycteris) in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, late-summer 2004 and 2005 Vegetation Map Pilot Report Riparian - Habitat Fragmentation and Loss Stressors - Discharge of Untreated Wastewater Remote Sensing Shrub/Grass National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Back-in-Time (BIT) Annual Herbaceous Products for the Western U.S., 1985 - 2018 Data release for Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum RestoreNet subplot data for 21 sites within major dryland ecoregions throughout the southwestern United States, 2018 - 2021 Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2021 Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Non Sagebrush Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2021 Data release for Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Non Sagebrush Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023 Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023 Data release for Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum Data release for Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands Radio telemetry data on nighttime movements of two species of migratory nectar-feeding bats (Leptonycteris) in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, late-summer 2004 and 2005 RestoreNet subplot data for 21 sites within major dryland ecoregions throughout the southwestern United States, 2018 - 2021 Riparian - Habitat Fragmentation and Loss Stressors - Discharge of Untreated Wastewater Managing Changing Landscapes in the Southwestern United States Ecoregion-Based Conservation in the Chihuahuan Desert Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project Vegetation Map Pilot Report Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Non Sagebrush Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023 Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023 Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2021 Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Non Sagebrush Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2021 Remote Sensing Shrub/Grass National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Back-in-Time (BIT) Annual Herbaceous Products for the Western U.S., 1985 - 2018 LandScope America Sevilleta GIS Vector Datasets Natural Resource Condition Assessments