Where Desert Meets City:

Vulnerability and Recoverability of the Mojave Desert Ecosystem








Casinos at Primm

USGS conducts a Mojave Desert Ecosystem Science Program as part of its Place-Based Studies Program, to improve scientific understanding of  desert ecosystem processes and apply that understanding to land management needs.


New!

Monitoring of Ecosystem Dynamics in the Mojave Desert:  the Beatley Permanent Plots
 

Abstracts for the 2001 Desert Symposium, California State University's Desert Studies Center,
Zzyzx, California, April 20-23, 2001

Climate Variation since 1900 in the Mojave Desert Region Affects Geomorphic Processes and Raises Issues for Land Management
Richard Hereford and Robert H. Webb

Predicting the Effects of Dry Climate on Landscape Development in the Mojave Desert and Southern Colorado Plateau, with Implications for Resource Management
Richard Hereford

Geologic mapping projects in the Mojave Desert area sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey
David M. Miller, Douglas M. Morton, Ren A Thompson
 
 

"Ghost Towns Tell Tales of Ecological Boom and Bust"
 An article by Kathryn Brown in SCIENCE (Oct. 6, 2000; pp. 35 - 37) describes scientific research
on going as part of this and other USGS desert projects.  It highlights the key role of soil age in vegetation
and compaction recovery.

The Lasting Effects of Tank Maneuvers on Desert Soils and Intershrub Flora
Douglas V. Prose and Howard Wilshire; USGS Open File Report OF 00-512
        Recovery rates for Mojave vegetation and soils following military maneuvers with tanks in the 1940s and 1964.
 

Recovery of Perennial Vegetation in Military Target Sites in the Eastern Mojave Desert, Arizona
John W. Steiger and Robert H. Webb; USGS Open File Report OF 00-355

A study of the effect of the age of geomorphic surfaces on the recovery of desert vegetation in military target sites in the Mojave and Cerbat Mountains for northwestern Arizona.

Program Documentation

Studies in progress

Related Information


Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program

Our work is in collaboration with DOI and DOD land managers in the Mojave
desert through the joint Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program.

Mojave Desert Managers
 

USGS Place-Based Studies Program

This is one of six on-going interdisciplinary ecosystem projects managed
through the interdivisional Place-Based Studies Program.
Place-Based Studies


Page modified 9-July-2001
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The URL of this page: <http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/MojaveEco/>
Maintained by Susan Benjamin (sbenjamin@usgs.gov)