Sahara Mustard in the Southwest
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Baja California's Sonoran Desert
Baja California’s Sonoran Desert By Debra Valov What is a Desert? It would be difficult to find any one description that scarce and sporadic, with an would fit all of the twenty or so deserts found on our annual average of 12-30 cm (4.7- planet because each one is a unique landscape. 12 inches). There are two rainy seasons, December- While an expanse of scorching hot sand dunes with March and July-September, with the northern the occasional palm oasis is the image that often peninsula dominated by winter rains and the south comes to mind for the word desert, in fact, only by summer rains. Some areas experience both about 10% of the world’s deserts are covered by seasons, while in other areas, such as parts of the sand dunes. The other 90% comprise a wide variety Gulf coast region, rain may fail for years on end. of landscapes, among these cactus covered plains, Permanent above-ground water reserves are scarce foggy coastal slopes, barren salt flats, and high- throughout most of the peninsula but ephemeral, altitude, snow-covered plateaus. However, one seasonal pools and rivers do appear after winter characteristic that all deserts share is aridity—any storms in the north or summer storms (hurricanes place that receives less than 10 inches (25 and thunderstorms—chubascos) in the south. There centimeters) of rain per year is generally considered are also a number of permanent oases, most often to be a desert and the world’s driest deserts average formed where aquifers (subterranean water) rise to less than 10 mm (3/8 in.) annually. -
The Sonoran Desert Borderlands
Geographic Area Information The Sonoran Desert Borderlands Photograph by CampPhoto / iStock / Getty Images Plus ABOUT The United States-Mexico border is roughly 3,219 kilometers (2,000 miles) long, stretching from the coast of the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The Sonoran Desert is located on both sides of the border and covers more than 258,999 square kilometers (100,000 square miles) in the U.S. states of California and Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora. The Sororan Desert is a rich, diverse, and delicate ecosystem, home to a highly diverse array of plant and animal species, some of which are critically endangered. Conservation efforts in the Sonoran Desert have involved organizations in both Mexico and the United States working together to connect habitat and migrations paths for animals. HUMAN IMPACTS In this fragile and diverse borderlands ecosystem, one of the most sever human impacts is the existing barrier (a combination of wall and fencing) that marks the U.S.-Mexico border. There is currently no continuous wall or fence marking the border, but there are segments of the border where there is a near-continuous barrier; one such area is the Sonoran Desert. Construction of a border barrier is ongoing, posing additional ecological concerns for the region. But it is not only the wall that impacts the region; the wall brings with it other human impacts, such as light pollution from stadium security flood-lights that illuminate the border at night and destruction of ecosystems as a result of construction, traffic, and patrolling of the border. -
Sonoran Desert GEORGE GENTRY/FWSGEORGE the Sonoran Desert Has 2,000 Endemic Plant Species—More Than Anywhere Else in North America
in the shadow of the wall: borderlands conservation hotspots on the line Borderlands Conservation Hotspot 2. Sonoran Desert GEORGE GENTRY/FWSGEORGE The Sonoran Desert has 2,000 endemic plant species—more than anywhere else in North America. hink deserts are wastelands? A visit to one of the national monuments or national wildlife refuges in the Sonoran Desert could change your mind. These borderlands are teeming with plants and animals impressively adapted to extreme conditions. T During your visit you might encounter a biologist, a volunteer or a local activist in awe of the place and dedicated to protecting it. The Sonoran Desert is so important to the natural heritage of the United States and Mexico that both countries are vested in conservation lands and programs and on a joint mission to preserve it. “A border wall,” says one conservation coalition leader, “harms our mission” (Campbell 2017). The Sonoran Desert is one of the largest intact wild areas mountains, where they find nesting cavities and swoop in the country, 100,387 square miles stretching across the between cactuses and trees to hunt lizards and other prey. southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. This Rare desert bighorn sheep stick to the steep, rocky slopes of desert is renowned for columnar cactuses like saguaro, organ isolated desert mountain ranges where they keep a watchful pipe and cardón. Lesser known is the fact that the Sonoran eye for predators. One of the most endangered mammals in Desert has more endemic plant species—2,000—than North America, Sonoran pronghorn still occasionally cross anywhere else in North America (Nabhan 2017). -
Final Report
FINAL REPORT Integrated spatial models of non-native plant invasion, fire risk, and wildlife habitat to support conservation of military and adjacent lands in the arid Southwest SERDP Project RC-1722 DECEMBER 2015 Brett G. Dickson, PhD Thomas D. Sisk, PhD Steven E. Sesnie, PhD Bethany A. Bradley, PhD Northern Arizona University Landscape Conservation Initiative School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability Distribution Statement A This report was prepared under contract to the Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). The publication of this report does not indicate endorsement by the Department of Defense, nor should the contents be construed as reflecting the official policy or position of the Department of Defense. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Department of Defense. Form Approved REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202- 4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. -
3 Invasive Species in the Sonoran Desert Region
3 Invasive Species in the Sonoran Desert Region 11 INVASIVE SPECIES IN THE SONORAN DESERT REGION Invasive species are altering the ecosystems of the Sonoran Desert Region. Native plants have been displaced resulting in radically different habitats and food for wildlife. Species like red brome and buffelgrass have become dense enough in many areas to carry fire in the late spring and early summer. Sonoran Desert plants such as saguaros, palo verdes and many others are not fire- adapted and do not survive these fires. The number of non-native species tends to be lowest in natural areas of the Sonoran Desert and highest in the most disturbed and degraded habitats. However, species that are unusually aggressive and well adapted do invade natural areas. In the mid 1900’s, there were approximately 146 non-native plant species (5.7% of the total flora) in the Sonoran Desert. Now non-natives comprise nearly 10% of the Sonoran Desert flora overall. In highly disturbed areas, the majority of species are frequently non-native invasives. These numbers continue to increase. It is crucial that we monitor, control, and eradicate invasive species that are already here. We must also consider the various vectors of dispersal for invasive species that have not yet arrived in Arizona, but are likely to be here in the near future. Early detection and reporting is vital to prevent the spread of existing invasives and keep other invasives from arriving and establishing. This is the premise of the INVADERS of the Sonoran Desert Region program at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. -
North American Deserts Chihuahuan - Great Basin Desert - Sonoran – Mojave
North American Deserts Chihuahuan - Great Basin Desert - Sonoran – Mojave http://www.desertusa.com/desert.html In most modern classifications, the deserts of the United States and northern Mexico are grouped into four distinct categories. These distinctions are made on the basis of floristic composition and distribution -- the species of plants growing in a particular desert region. Plant communities, in turn, are determined by the geologic history of a region, the soil and mineral conditions, the elevation and the patterns of precipitation. Three of these deserts -- the Chihuahuan, the Sonoran and the Mojave -- are called "hot deserts," because of their high temperatures during the long summer and because the evolutionary affinities of their plant life are largely with the subtropical plant communities to the south. The Great Basin Desert is called a "cold desert" because it is generally cooler and its dominant plant life is not subtropical in origin. Chihuahuan Desert: A small area of southeastern New Mexico and extreme western Texas, extending south into a vast area of Mexico. Great Basin Desert: The northern three-quarters of Nevada, western and southern Utah, to the southern third of Idaho and the southeastern corner of Oregon. According to some, it also includes small portions of western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming. Bordered on the south by the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. Mojave Desert: A portion of southern Nevada, extreme southwestern Utah and of eastern California, north of the Sonoran Desert. Sonoran Desert: A relatively small region of extreme south-central California and most of the southern half of Arizona, east to almost the New Mexico line. -
Brassica Tournefortii
Orange County Chapter occnps.org California Native Plant Society ! HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PLANT? It is an Emergent Invasive in Orange County SAHARA MUSTARD Brassica tournefortii Known OC sites & Status Updates Distribution map & info: • calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi? where-calrecnum=1146 • cal-ipc.org/ip/management/plant_profiles/ Brassica_tournefortii.php Can be confused with: Sahara Mustard is a fast-germinating, • Shortpod (aka Summer) Mustard, fast-growing annual, flowering and fruiting Hirschfeldia incana from January to June. Petals are small, • London Rocket, Sisymbrium irio Flowering stems grow up to 2.5 ft. from a basal pale yellow; sepals often purplish. • Field Mustard, Brassica nigra rosette. The plants can flower & set seed when just a few inches high. Basal leave are rough to the touch, pinnately lobed, each lobe with many teeth. Orange County Chapter occnps.org California Native Plant Society ! SAHARA MUSTARD, P. 2 Short-pod Mustard, London Rocket & Seeds are produced in pod-like fruits (siliques) Field Mustard (not shown) are also that, when ripe & dry, explosively open invasives, but much more widespread lengthwise & scatter the seeds. Seed is in OC than is Sahara Mustard. viable for about 4 years. Stems & fruits often form into an intertwined, rounded mass. • Sahara Mustard (left): fruits are long & narrow with long, distinct pedicels & beaks, held out from the stem IF YOU SEE THIS PLANT AT A SITE THAT’S NOT ON THE LIST: below the flowers. • Record the plant’s location as exactly as you can (GPS coordinates if possible), the • Shortpod Mustard, (center): fruits date you saw it, and an estimate of how many there were. -
Brassica Tournefortii H M L Brassicaceae Impact Risk Level African / Sahara Mustard BRTO
Brassica tournefortii H M L Brassicaceae impact risk level African / Sahara mustard BRTO K EY CHARA C TERISTI C S growth Annual herb with stem 10-100 cm fruit Fruiting pedicels widely diverging high. from stem, lower pedicels 6-22 mm long. flower Flowers light yellow, 4 petals, 6mm wide, racemes with 6-20 flowers. Capsule, linear, rounded, slightly Will flower and fruit as early as De- constricted between seeds; 3-7cm cember or January, setting seed by long, 2-3 mm wide, glabrous; beaks February. In fruit or dead by April. stout, 1.0-1.5 cm long, cylindrical, Inflorescence subtended by only confluent with capsule, apex as wide small bracts. as stigma; seeds uniseriate. Branching stems +/- from base, stems TNC more so above. Hairs on lower stem are stiff and white. fireflyforest.com leaves Usually in basal rosette. Stem leaves decrease in size from base upwards. Basal leaves 7.5-30 cm long, deeply lobed with serrate edges. Lobes also toothed, margins prickly hairy. seeds Rounded, finely reticulate, brown to brown-purple; approximately 1 mm diameter; sticky when wet. ©J. Randall TNC SODN Elevation: Ecotypes Invaded: Up to 7200 feet Dunes, desertlands & riparian areas. EC OLOGY & SUITABLE HABITAT D ISTRIBUTION Note: basal rosette of leaves with deep Found in diverse natural and lobing; profusely disturbed habitats at low eleva- branched stems above; flowers in tions in S Arizona, NW Sonora, racemes. and SE California. Common in disturbed sites, roadsides and abandoned fields fireflyforest.com and southwestern deserts. Also found in sandy soils, gravelly washes, low dunes, sandy alka- line troughs and rocky slopes. -
Auto-Taxonomy of Brassica Tournefortii Gouan
Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 27(2): 233-250, 2020 (December) © 2020 Bangladesh Association of Plant Taxonomists AUTO-TAXONOMY OF BRASSICA TOURNEFORTII GOUAN. (BRASSICACEAE) IN EGYPT 1 ASMAA ABDELHAMEED, WAFAA AMER , WALAA HASSAN* AND AYMAN ABOELLIL Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt Keywords: Brassicaceae; Forms; ISSR; Pollen grains; SEM. Abstract Brassica tournefortii Gouan. (family Brassicaceae) is one of the five species in the Egyptian flora. Its populations showed notable morpho-plasticity with taxonomic debates, which were not yet resolved. The current study was carried out to assess the species morpho-plasticity and its molecular identity based on ISSR. The study was applied to 27 herbarium and fresh populations, representing all the species distribution ranges in Egypt. The taxonomic revision included 70 morphological characters, revealed five distinct Forms (1-5), radical leaf, and fruit provided the major distinguishable traits among the studied 70 morphological characters based on them the morphologic key is provided to delimit these forms. The pollen grain features using SEM are a pioneer at the infra-specific level, two shapes observed the subprolate (Forms 1& 3) and prolate (Forms 2, 4 & 5). Furthermore, the exine micro-features possess taxonomic value at the infra- specific level. The cluster analysis based on ISSR data revealed two clusters congruent to those developed by morphological and pollen traits. The ISSR results indicated that the species morpho-plasticity is genetically controlled. The study highlights the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to assess the taxonomic identity at the infra-specific level, for the auto-taxonomy of morpho-plastic species. -
Baja California´S Sonoran Desert
Baja California’s Sonoran Desert Debra Valov ISSI, August 2015 Objectives • Define “desert” • Explore Baja’s desert • Learn how plants and animals survive http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladigue_99/ Namibia Central Gulf Coast, BCS Erg Awbari Oasis, Libya http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/9141/2350366 490102347975S600x600Q85.jpg What is a Desert? • Dry – Low rainfall (P<10”) – High evaporation (E>P) – Dessicating winds – Poor soils • Hot or cold (below 0° to over 140°) • Below sea level to more than 8,000 ft What is a Desert? A place where water is severely limiting to life most of the time, where the plants and animals are adapted to chronic aridity and the arid conditions are necessary to maintain the community’s structure. Deserts of the World Source: http://encarta.msn.com/media_461530118/World_Desert_Regions.html North American Deserts Source: www.mbgnet.net/sets/desert/ofworld.htm The Sonoran Desert • Binational (5 states) • ±120, 000 sq. mi. • 0 to 4500 feet • <32° to >130° • 3-15” avg. rainfall Source: Baja California Sur Central Baja California Central Baja California Baja California Sur Central Gulf Coast Baja California Sur “Air plants” (Bromeliads) Pacific Coast Fog Zones Lichens (fungi & algae symbiosis) Central Vizcaino Desert, BCS Vizcaino Desert – Pacific Coast, BCS Mammals • Bobcat and mountain lion © Dennis Kamberg • Coyotes and foxes • Bats and rodents • Pronghorn antelope • Bighorn sheep © Don Getty © 2010 Jaime Morales V, © Christopher L. Christie Copyright © 2010 D. Trotter Reptiles and Amphibians • Horny toads & lizards • Snakes • Frogs & toads Copyright © 2007 Joyce Gross Gerald & Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences Crawly Things • Scorpions & spiders • Beetles & bugs • Ants, bees & wasps • Caterpillars Copyright © 2008 Lamphrophil http://bugguide.net/node/view/206296/bgimage Copyright © 2007 Gary MacDonald Cih© 200 G M D ld Birds © Steve Byland 2008 • Hummingbirds • Raptors: hawks & owls • Scavengers • Perching birds ©J. -
Prehistoric & Early Historic Food Crop Diversity
PREHISTORIC & EARLY HISTORIC FOOD CROP DIVERSITY NOURISHING TUCSON, A UNESCO CITY OF GASTRONOMY Edited by Gary Paul Nabhan and Julia Glennon With contributions from Karen Adams, Maribel Alvarez, Martha Ames Burgess, Gay Chanler, Dena Cowan, Michael Diehl, Suzanne Fish, Jesus Garcia, Wendy Hodgson, Jonathan Mabry, Charles Miksicek, Carolyn Niethammer, Roger Pfeuffer, Amadeo Rea, and Rafael Routson de Granade April 2016 Green Paper #2 of the Center for Regional Food Studies University of Arizona College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Tucson, Arizona www.foodstudies.arizona.edu www.azfoodstudies.com Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Endowment to the Southwest Center INTRODUCTION In December 2015, Tucson, Arizona joined the UNESCO Creave Cies Network as the first City of Gastronomy designated in the U.S. In the months that followed, local, naonal and internaonal aenon was directed to the 4100 year anquity of food culvaon documented in the Tucson Basin —an agricultural tradion as long or longer than that in any metro area north of Mexico. In addion, the UNESCO designaon generated renewed interest in the remarkable survival of diverse food crops and the tradional culinary and horcultural knowledge associated with them. Both the crops themselves and me-tried knowledge for managing them may have enhanced relevance to our food security in the face of climate change. On the same day as the UNESCO designaon, the University of Arizona established the Center of Regional Food Studies to serve as the college’s official partner to the City of Tucson in documenng, researching and educang the public regarding Tucson’s historic foodways and recent innovaons in its food systems. -
London Rocket Tech Bulletin – ND
4/6/2020 London Rocket London Rocket Sisymbrium irio L. Family: Brassicaceae. Names: Sisymbrium was the Greek name of a fragrant herb. London Rocket. Summary: An erect, annual, many branched plant, with deeply lobed leaves that does not form a rosette. It has clusters of small, 4-petalled, yellow flowers in late winter to spring on the tops of stems that form long (25-110 mm), narrow seed pods that may be slightly curved. Description: Cotyledons: Two. Club shaped, Tip rounded. Sides convex. Base tapered. Surface hairless. Petiole longer than the blade. First Leaves: Club shaped, paired. The first pair have rounded tips and smooth edges. The second pair have pointed tips and toothed edges. Hairless or a few hairs. Leaves: Alternate. Does not form a rosette. Stipules - None. Petiole - On lower leaves. Blade - 30-160 mm long x 13-70 mm wide, triangular in outline, deeply lobed or serrated or toothed (usually 2-6 pairs), lobes are usually toothed, end lobe is pointed and larger than the side lobes. The side lobes usually point towards the base of the leaf. Tip pointed. Smooth and hairless or a few scattered hairs. Stem leaves - Alternate. Similar to rosette leaves but not as lobed or unlobed, sometimes arrow shaped. Hairless or small hairs. Stems: Slender, erect, round, up to 1000 mm tall. Often with slender, curved, simple hairs near the base, usually hairless near the top. Usually much branched from the base with spreading stems. Flower head: www.herbiguide.com.au/Descriptions/hg_London_Rocket.htm 1/8 4/6/2020 London Rocket Flowers are in clusters at the top of the stem which then elongates as the fruits mature underneath.