THE MOJAVE DESERT

The Mojave is the hottest, driest, & smallest desert in North America. It lies south of the Great Basin & east of both the Transverse & Peninsular mountain ranges. This desert ranges between -282 below sea level to 5000 feet elevation. The Transverse Mountain Ranges & Sierra Nevada Mountains create a rain shadow (the mountains block the rain clouds). This makes the Mojave very dry with most areas receiving less than 6 inches of precipitation a year. Eastern areas experience more summer Monsoons than western areas. However as a whole the Mojave Desert region receives more rainfall in the winter than in the summer. This Mediterranean climate influence also helps separate the Mojave from the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert experiences less cold winter, warmer average temperatures, & more summer rainfall than the Mojave Desert. This unique climate & a high diversity of habitats have created a wide variety of plants. The Mojave Desert hosts shares some plants that are also found in the neighboring Great Basin & the California Floristic Provinces. This fact further contributes to the high species diversity common to the region. In many places a large proportion of the plants are annuals (that is they only live for one growing season). Their strategy is to persist as a dormant seed waiting for the perfect conditions to sprout & grow. The Mojave Desert is relatively young being only 10,000 to 15,000 years old. Many of the plants are recent colonizers from the south moving north as the climate warmed up & dried out after the last Ice Age.

INDICATOR SPECEIS

Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) is the indicator of the Desert Floristic Provence as it is found in the Mojave, Sonoran, & Chihuahuan Deserts (all are part of the larger desert Floristic Provence). The Mojave Desert is home to several unique large woody Yuccas. The Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) & the Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera) are considered the primary indicator plants for the Mojave Desert.

ENDEMIC PLANTS

There are many unique ecosystems in the Mojave which are home to nearly 50 plants found nowhere else in the world. Some plants only grow on specific soil types often where little else will grow. Many of the endemic plants are specialized for a niche habitat. Unfortunately many of these plants are naturally rare or endangered by anthropogenic (human created) causes.