Table of Contents
What is special about the Chihuahuan Desert?
The Chihuahuan Desert boasts 3,000 plant species, including more than 500 of the world’s 1,500 species of cactus. The desert also harbors North America’s largest prairie dog colony as well as nesting sites and migratory habitats for more than 500 bird species.
What vegetation is in the Chihuahuan desert?
On deep soils, honey mesquite is often the dominant plant. Cacti are also abundant, particularly prickly pears, but they are smaller in size and fewer in number of species than in the Sonoran Desert.
What characteristic plant is an indicator of the Chihuahuan Desert?
Lechuguilla
Lechuguilla is one of the characteristic plants of the Chihuahuan desert – sometimes referred to as an “indicator plant” because it is confined to this desert region. Unlike some of the very large species of Agave, lechuguilla is only a small plant, consisting of a few sharp-pointed leaves that are about 30 cm long.
What animals and plants live in the Chihuahuan Desert?
Mountain lions, Mexican wolves, the largest remaining black-tailed prairie dog colony, kit fox, mule deer, Coahuilan box turtle, 120 species of mammals and 300 species of birds are all found here. The desert also has an amazing array of plant life with more than 400 species of cactus.
What grows in the Chihuahuan Desert?
The Chihuahuan Desert cacti are treated on a separate page.
- Lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla)
- Beargrass (Nolina species)
- Sotol (Dasylirion species)
- Candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica)
- Tarbush (Flourensia cernua)
What organisms live in the Chihuahuan Desert?
Wildlife in the Chihuahuan Desert include the mountain lion, bobcat, wolf, coyote, mule deer, white-tailed deer, gemsbok, antelope, ring-tailed cat, and many other smaller species. Many species of birds, reptiles and amphibians are prevalent.
How do plants survive in the Chihuahuan Desert?
The Chihuahuan Desert is noted for mesquite ground cover and shrubby undergrowth, such as Yucca and Prickly Pear Cactus. Because they store water in the core of both stems and roots, cacti are well-suited to dry climates and can survive years of drought on the water collected from a single rainfall.
What is the soil type in the Chihuahuan Desert?
Nearly 80% of the region has calcareous (calcium-rich) soils derived from limestone beds. This indicates that the whole region was once submerged beneath the sea and was lifted by geological events. In many parts of the Chihuahuan Desert the thin soils overlie a layer of compacted lime, called caliche.
What kind of desert is the Chihuahuan Desert?
rain shadow desert
The desert is mainly a rain shadow desert because the two main mountain ranges covering the desert, the Sierra Madre Occidental to the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental to the east block most moisture from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, respectively.
What type of cactus are in the Chihuahuan Desert?
prickly pear cactus
Barrel cactus, hedgehog cactus, prickly pear cactus, and saguaro cactus are the most popular arid species used in landscaping. Yucca, agave, and ocotillo are some of the other desert plants sought for their landscaping value.
What lives in the Chihuahuan Desert?
Is Chihuahuan Desert expanding?
Great Basin montane scrub habitat experiences moderate decline (69% decrease) and displacement through time. Climate changes appear to be most favorable for Mohave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Chihuahuan Desert scrub vegetation types, which are all projected to expand.
What kind of plants live in the Chihuahuan Desert?
Several species of Yucca are common in the Chihuahuan Desert and can be the dominant component of the vegetation on upland slopes. These plants typically have rosettes of long, stiff, pointed leaves – one of their common names is Spanish daggers.
Where do Chihuahuan desert agave plants grow?
With the exception of lechuguilla, the Agave species of the Chihuahuan Desert typically grow on rocky ledges or steep outcrops in the mountain canyons. They accumulate nutrient reserves for 20-30 years or more and then flower once by producing a large candelabra-like spike.
How is the Chihuahuan Desert different from other deserts?
Every desert is different, so the common desert plants and animals in the Chihuahuan desert are different from those in the Sonoran desert next door (and wildly different from those in the Sahara desert in Africa or the Gobi desert in China).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6H-446XMzo