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Topic: Sonoran Desert


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In the News (Sat 22 Nov 08)

  
  Sonoran Desert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sonoran Desert (sometimes also called Gila Desert after Gila River) is a North American desert which straddles part of the U.S.-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the Mexican state of Sonora.
To the east, the deserts transition to the coniferous Arizona Mountains forests and Sierra Madre Occidental forests at higher elevations.
The Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest marks the transition from the Sonoran Desert to the tropical dry forests of Sinaloa.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Sonoran_Desert   (378 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is located in North America and covers the southwestern parts of the state of Arizona, southeastern parts of the state of California in the United States and the state of Sonora in Mexico.
The Sonoran Desert's location is at latitude 25° to 33° North and longitude 105° to 118° West.
The Sonoran Desert receives 10 or less inches a year; the eastern part of the Sonora desert, in Baja California, receives 10-12 inches because Baja is by the ocean.
www.blueplanetbiomes.org /sonoran_desert.htm   (940 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert Naturalist Home Page
A very unique feature of the Sonoran Desert is that the rain arrives during two wet seasons, one generally December through March, the other July through Sept. The lack of hard freezes and moisture distributed through the year has promoted the abundance of succulents that can store water for later use.
Upland Sonoran Desert (orange on map) occurs in southwestern Arizona and is characterized by a balanced distribution of winter vs. summer rainfall.
The Sonoran Desert on Baja California is often referred to as the Vizcaino Desert (red on map).
arizonensis.org /sonoran   (1663 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert of Baja California - Los Cabos Guide
The San Felipe Desert, in the northeast part of the peninsula, is the driest with an average of 5 cm of rainfall per year.
Desert soils are very low in organic matter, and because of the high rate of evaporation, they tend to have high concentrations of salts.
Many desert birds are carnivores, with a substantial amount of their moisture intake coming from the juices of the animals and insects they feed on.
www.loscabosrestaurantguide.com /desert.htm   (1713 words)

  
 Gallery: Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Sonoran Desert is one of four distinct deserts in North America; the other three are Great Basin, Mojave, and Chihuahuan.
Approximately one third of the Sonoran Desert is located in southern Arizona and California, with the rest extending south into Mexico.
Dryer portions of the Sonoran Desert are inhabited by the creosote bush and mixed scrub, with many plants being able to tolerate silty or salty soils.
www.branimirphoto.ca /gallery/arizona/sonoran_desert.html   (338 words)

  
 [No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
The low deserts east of the southern California mountains, including the Imperial and Coachella valleys and the lower Colorado River, are part of the Sonoran Desert">Sonoran...
One feature of the desert is the Salton Sea, an inland lake that was formed in 1905 when a swollen Colorado River breached a temporary canal near the U.S.-Mexico border and flowed into the Salton Basin...
Its focus is the plants and animals that live in the Sonoran desert">Sonoran desert, and was a pioneer in the creation of naturalistic enclosures for its animals.
www.worldhistory.com /wiki/S/Sonoran-Desert.htm   (887 words)

  
 SONORAN DESERT GALLERY
Tucson is located at the northeastern end of the Sonoran Desert, which covers much of southern Arizona and northwestern Sonora.
The Sonoran Desert, home of saguaro cactus and palo verde tree, is quite different.
This is a classic scene along a Sonoran desert dry wash. Palo verde trees are coming into bloom with their splashes of yellow blossoms.
www.psi.edu /hartmann/sonoran.html   (495 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert Toad - Bufo alvarius
The desert toad is olive green in color with a white "wart" bumpy area near the jaw and on the back legs.
The Sonoran Desert Toad is the largest toad found in the United States, and it measures 7 inches in size.
The Sonoran Desert Toad is found in the Southwest United States Desert.
www.blueplanetbiomes.org /sonorantoad.htm   (211 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran desert ecosystem is a complex orchestra of plants, animals, geology, and climate.
The Sonoran desert's dramatic landscape is the result of its arid climate and its geological history.
The saguaro is the most conspicuous cactus of the upper Sonoran desert and bears the state flower of Arizona.
www.fws.gov /southwest/refuges/arizona/sonoran.html   (1054 words)

  
 THE SONORAN DESERT -- DESERT FARMERS AT THE RIVERS EDGE
Despite its harsh climate and relative scarcity of permanent water sources, the Sonoran Desert of south-central Arizona and northern Mexico is one of the richest deserts of the world in terms of density and diversity of native plants and animals.
Rainfall in the Sonoran Desert is bi-modal (occurring in both winter and summer) and averages less than 15 inches (38 cm) per year, with some areas such as Gila Bend receiving less than 6 inches (15 cm).
The Sonoran Desert is crossed by several rivers such as the Salt, Gila, Verde, San Pedro and Santa Cruz, which in pre-historic times flowed year round and created lush green tracts of land winding through the desert.
www.phxskyharbor.com /PUEBLO/dfsonora.html   (657 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert National Park Facts   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
This area is at the heart of the Greater Sonoran Desert Ecosystem.
This park already is a focus for a growing grassroots campaign led by the Sonoran Desert National Park Friends, whose diverse advisory board includes a number of nationally known scientists, authors, wildlife advocates, and a former Secretary of the Interior.
Preserves an area which has been called "the largest and most pristine chunk of Sonoran Desert we have left." It is an area of immense beauty, crucial ecological and scientific importance, and diverse and fascinating biology.
www.sonorandesertnp.org /facts.html   (1066 words)

  
 Desert Biomes
A cold desert is a desert that has snow in the winter instead of just dropping a few degrees in temperature like they would in a Hot and Dry Desert.
Hot and Dry Deserts temperature ranges from 20 to 25° C. The extreme maximum temperature for Hot Desert ranges from 43.5 to 49° C. Cold Deserts temperature in winter ranges from -2 to 4° C and in the summer 21 to 26° C a year
Hot and Dry Deserts are warm throughout the fall and spring seasons and very hot during the summer.
www.blueplanetbiomes.org /desert.htm   (554 words)

  
 Sonoran Institute | Sonoran Desert Program
The goal of the Sonoran Desert Program is to conserve and restore the unique natural and cultural landscapes of the Sonoran Desert through partnerships and local stewardship in the United States and Mexico.
Spanning the U.S. and Mexico border states of Arizona and Sonora, the Sonoran Desert is widely recognized as one of the most important ecoregions in the world.
The Sonoran Desert is threatened by poorly planned growth, diminishing water resources, overgrazing, invasive species, and fragmented wildlife habitat.
www.sonoran.org /programs/sonoran_desert/si_sdep_program_main.html   (554 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert Conservation - protecting desert widerness for future generations.
Sonoran Desert Conservation (SDCC) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), grassroots, conservation organization.
The mission of the SDCC is to establish reserves dedicated to the research of the Sonoran Desert.
The Sonoran Desert is located in Northwestern Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
www.sonorandesertconservation.org   (213 words)

  
 Sonoran Lizards
In the Sonoran Desert, lizards are particularly conspicuous to the casual observer because so many are diurnally active.
Natural selection refined water and energy conservation mechanisms enabling it to survive primarily in the biseasonal rainfall Sonoran Desert and marginally in the Mohave Desert where it is restricted to areas receiving some summer rain.
Sonoran Desert lizards employ various forms of thermoregulatory behavior to achieve and sustain optimal metabolic body temperature without overheating.
www.biopark.org /lizards.html   (1176 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert Silence
This is the heart of the Sonoran Desert, the dry and vital core where animals live and die without seeing our face, where plants germinate, grow, and live for centuries without ever feeling the touch of a hand.
Desert bighorn, javelina, the coyote of our dreams, the reptiles that never blink in the quiet.
Sonoran Desert National Park Logo, and all original material, photographs, logos and HTML Coding Copyright © 2002 by Sonoran Desert National Park Friends, Tucson, Arizona.
www.sonorandesertnp.org   (552 words)

  
 About the Sonoran Desert   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
The rest of the Sonoran desert lies in the states of Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur in Mexico and Arizona and California in the U.S. The Sonoran Desert is the hottest and most biodiverse of the North American deserts.
The Sonoran Desert is home to 60 species of mammals, more than 350 kinds of birds, 20 amphibians, around 100 reptiles and over 2000 native species of plants.
By the time the air reaches the high altitudes, it is cold and dry and can not rise further, so it spreads out and moves toward the poles and near the 30º north and 30º south, it begins to sink toward the earth's surface., preventing moisture from reaching the area from elsewhere.
www.lib.umich.edu /ecoexplorers/sonorandesert/home.aboutsonoran.html   (633 words)

  
 Terrestrial Ecoregions -- Sonoran desert (NA1310)
The Sonoran Desert in the United States reaches from extreme southeastern California across the western two-thirds of southern Arizona.
The Sonoran coastal plain area houses the palo fierro or ironwood (Olneya tesota) which is the oldest desert tree (Búrquez and Quintana 1994; Tewksbury and Petrovich 1994).
The Sonoran desert harbors two endemic bird species, the highest level of bird endemism in all of the United States.
www.worldwildlife.org /wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na1310_full.html   (2237 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert
All desert life has been forced to adapt to a frequent lack of water, as well as extreme temperature fluctuations.
Many desert plants store water in pulpy tissues or shed their leaves during the driest parts of the year.
Desert life has been able to cope with many changes, but it cannot adapt to the expansion of modern civilization.
www.nps.gov /tont/nature/sonorandesert.htm   (654 words)

  
 Arizona - Sonoran Ecoregion Profile
The Sonoran Desert is a land of stunning diversity—of ancient lava flows, shifting sand dunes, strange cacti, ephemeral waterways, unique native fish and frog populations, and a host of plant and animal life adapted to the extreme conditions of the desert.
In the United States the majority of the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion is in public ownership, but only 25 percent of these public lands are adequately protected, and there is increasing pressure to use publicly owned lands for purposes not compatible with biodiversity preservation.
Along the San Pedro River — one of the most important desert riparian ecosystems in the Southwest — we have made strategic land purchases, increased the volume of water in the river and lengthened the extent of perennial flow, and restored riparian vegetation.
www.nature.org /wherewework/northamerica/states/arizona/preserves/art7717.html   (562 words)

  
 Arizona - Sonoran Desert National Monument
Unlike NPS national monuments, the Sonoran Desert has very few facilities and no central attraction; its purpose is mainly to protect the historic sites, native habitats, vegetation and wildlife rather than attract visitors.
There is however plenty of empty Sonoran desert in the state that still has no special protection beyond existing wilderness areas, between I-8 and I-10, and between the Colorado Rover and US 93, land which is just as scenic as this new monument.
The North: The section of Sonoran Desert National Monument north of the interstate encloses the two ranges of the Maricopa Mountains, and is bordered by AZ 85 to the west and the Little Rainbow Valley in the northeast.
www.americansouthwest.net /arizona/sonoran_desert/national_monument.html   (653 words)

  
 Ecosytems - Sonoran Desert
A desert is an ecosystem where there is very little rainfall.
Most deserts get less than 25 cm (about 10 in.) of rain each year.
Desert plants and animals need very little water to live.
www.harcourtschool.com /activity/exploring_ecosystems/desert.html   (35 words)

  
 The Sonoran Desert - DesertUSA   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
The Sonoran Desert is an arid region covering 120,000 square miles in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, as well as most of Baja California and the western half of the state of Sonora, Mexico.
Trees are usually well developed on the desert ranges and their bajadas.
The western part of the Sonora Desert (sometimes called the "Colorado Desert") is closer to the source of Pacific storms and is noted for spectacular spring flowering of ephemerals when there is winter-spring rainfall.
www.desertusa.com /du_sonoran.html   (397 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert pics   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
Arizona Upland desert A series of scenes from the higher-elevation section of the Sonoran desert.
Desert IronwoodOlneya tesota, the Desert Ironwood tree is a leguminous tree characteristic of bajada slopes in much of the southern part of Arizona, along with Paloverde, Cercidium.
Agave shawii This impressive plant is characteristic of the Vizcaino desert of Baja California.
instruct.uwo.ca /biology/320y/AZ-MEXpics.html   (593 words)

  
 SONORAN DESERT   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
The Sonoran Desert is a subtropical desert with very rich species diversity.
Having said this, quite large areas of the Sonoran Desert consist of low-lying, flat valley floors, where temperatures are very hot and there is little rainfall.
The Sonoran Desert extends from southwestern USA into mainland Mexico (the state of Sonora) and into the Baja California peninsula.
helios.bto.ed.ac.uk /bto/desbiome/sonoran.htm   (688 words)

  
 Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the border between the United States and Mexico and covers large parts of the states of Arizona, California and Sonora.
Research in the Sonoran Desert, Sonora, Mexico, with a major emphasis on the functional and evolutionary ecology of drylands and desert plants.
A Sonoran Desert preservation group, COPP's mission is to educate residents and hold government officials accountable to the public.
www.omniknow.com /common/wiki.php?in=en&term=Sonoran_Desert   (1554 words)

  
 Explore the Sonoran Desert By Boat - DesertUSA   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
So it might be a surprise to learn that the Sonoran Desert reaches across the Colorado River into southeastern California and extends 800-miles south down to the tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula.
The Gulf of California's 50- to 100-mile width, an expanse of water that separates mainland Mexico from the Baja Peninsula, is calm and blue most of the time and was, therefore, a welcome refuge for explorers and pirates escaping from the treacherous seas of the Pacific in the 15th century.
Because of the harsh desert environment, lack of treasure, Indian hostilities and paucity of water, Baja was virtually ignored for several centuries.
www.desertusa.com /magoct97/oct_cortez1.html   (1343 words)

  
 The Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert boasts a remarkable variety of reptiles.
Driven by bi-seasonal rainfall, this particularly rich desert community, visually characterized by the familiar saguaro and foothills paloverde, occurs primarily on rocky slopes and bajadas from about 1,800 to over 4,000 feet in elevation.
As demonstrated by its lizard and snake diversity, The Arizona Upland is clearly the richest biotic subdivision of the Sonoran Desert.
www.biopark.org /sonoran.html   (363 words)

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