Vegetation of the Creosotebush Area of the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico

Gardner, J. L.

doi:10.2307/1948655

Cited by 79 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…During this period large areas of the American Southwest converted from grasslands to woody shrublands in part because of selective herbivory, seed dispersal, and trampling of vegetation (Gardner 1951, Buffington and Herbel 1965, Schlesinger et al 1990). The loss of grass cover gave rise to widespread erosion and formation of coppice dunes (Gile 1966, Herbel et al 1972, Gibbens et al 1983) and increased spatial and temporal heterogeneity of soil moisture and nutrients (Wright 1982, Schlesinger et al 1996, Peters et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Banded vegetation‐dune development during the Medieval Warm Period and 20th century, Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA

Weems

Monger

2012

Ecosphere

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Abstract. With the advent of systematic high-resolution satellite photography, striking geometric shapes of banded vegetation several km 2 in size, but not apparent from the ground, have been documented for many areas of the arid and semiarid world. Banded vegetation, in which dense perennial vegetation alternates with bands of bare soil may originate from geomorphic processes, ecological self-organization, or human land use. In the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico prominent arc-shaped bands of vegetation and dunes occur along the contact of a piedmont slope (bajada) and basin floor. The origin and chronology of this banded vegetation-dune complex was investigated using early aerial photography (1936)(1937)(1938)(1939)(1940)(1941)(1942), landscape photography (1918), vegetation and soil surveys (1858, 1918), soil stratigraphy, 13 C/ 12 C ratios, and 14 C dating. These methods reveal two periods of eolian deposition. The first began in the Medieval Warm Period (ca. AD 900-1300) and was followed by a period of landscape stability during the Little Ice Age (ca. AD 1500 to 1850). The second began in the late-1800s when widespread desertification occurred throughout the American Southwest. Banded vegetation was initiated after formation of erosional scarplets that functioned as obstacles upon which eolian sand accumulated, thus becoming a dam to overland flow and causing strips of vegetation to form. Banded vegetation in this study is an emergent pattern produced by a coupled ecologic-geomorphic-climatic system. The stratigraphic record produced by this system enables us to compare current ecological responses to climate change with baseline prehistorical responses to climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Banded vegetation‐dune development during the Medieval Warm Period and 20th century, Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA

Weems

Monger

2012

Ecosphere

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“…It controls many important variables that affect vegetation patterns, such as infiltration, available water holding capacity, and cation exchange capacity (Duniway et al, 2007;Hallmark and Allen, 1975). Soil texture is included as a geopedological category because of its long-and widelyrecognized influence on vegetation patterns (Browning et al, 2008;Gardner, 1951;Little and Campbell, 1943;Wondzell and Ludwig, 1995).…”

Section: Geopedological Categories and Their Linkage To Vegetation Pamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil texture, especially gravel content, has long been recognized as an important factor for vegetation patterns on piedmont slopes (Gardner, 1951). In the arid zone of the piedmont slope, the dominant vegetation alliance is creosotebush shrubland on skeletal soils, which comprise 16.4% (8985 ha) of the total 54,668-ha piedmont slope division (Fig.…”

Section: Piedmont Slopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Creosotebush occurs on numerous soils and landforms in the Southwest, although rarely in mobile sand, gypsum, or clayey soils with relatively low oxygen content (Buffington and Herbel, 1965;Gardner, 1951;Lunt et al, 1973). In southern New Mexico creosotebush primarily occurs on coarse-textured soils on bajada slopesda habitat on which it has greatly expanded its area during the last 150 years (Gibbens et al, 2005;McCraw, 1985).…”

Section: Creosotebush On Gravelly Piedmont Slopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geomorphic-vegetation relationships using a geopedological classification system, northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA

Michaud

Monger

Anderson³

2013

Journal of Arid Environments

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a b s t r a c tDrylands typically have distinctive vegetative patterns that reflect the underlying physical landscape. We use a geopedological classification to organize the landscape into five categories from broad scale to fine scale: (1) physiographic divisions which describe regional topography, such as mountains and basin floors; (2) regolith type which identifies residuum versus transported sediments; (3) parent materials which describe mineralogy; (4) landforms which provide meso-scale descriptions of topography; and (5) soil texture, a fine-scale variable important for infiltration, erodibility, and available water holding capacity. The study was conducted in a 1753 km 2 area of the White Sands Missile Range and easternmost Jornada Experimental Range and revealed the following.(1) At the broadest scale, mesquite is dominant on the basin floor when the parent material is siliceous sand, but (2) biological soil crust becomes dominant in the basin floor when the parent material is gypseous. (3) Creosotebush is dominant on rocky soils of the piedmont slopes regardless of parent material, but (4) grasslands become dominant on the bajadas upslope in the semiarid zone and into the semiarid mountain uplands regardless of bedrock type. This method provides a way of supplementing ecologic-edaphic studies and provides a framework within which mechanisms can be explored.

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“…By mid-century, numerous scientifi c articles addressed the issue of increasing extent and/or density of mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) (Allred 1949, Brown 1950, creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) (Gardner 1951), and juniper (Juniperus spp.) (Johnson 1962, Burkhardt andTisdale 1969).…”

Section: Expansion Of Woodlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rangeland resource trends in the United States: A technical document supporting the 2000 USDA Forest Service RPA Assessment

Mitchell¹

2000

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Vegetation of the Creosotebush Area of the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico

Cited by 79 publications

References 19 publications

Banded vegetation‐dune development during the Medieval Warm Period and 20th century, Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA

Banded vegetation‐dune development during the Medieval Warm Period and 20th century, Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA

Geomorphic-vegetation relationships using a geopedological classification system, northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA

Rangeland resource trends in the United States: A technical document supporting the 2000 USDA Forest Service RPA Assessment

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