Shrubs Of The Great Basin

Mozingo presents the life histories of more than sixty species of both common and unusual shrubs, and discusses how shrubs grow, reproduce, and adapt to the extreme weather conditions that are part of daily life in the Great Basin. Drawings by Christine Stetter.

A field guide to the traditional plant knowledge of the Paiute and Shoshone people living in the southern Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert region. Sections cover trees; large shrubs and woody vines; small shrubs and subshrubs; yuccas and agaves; cacti; herbaceous plants; grasses and grass- like plants; and bulbs. Each entry includes a morphological description, habitat, and uses for food, medicine, textiles, and construction. Most but not all plants are photographed in color. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

"The reader could hardly be disappointed with this book. More than simply a 'flower key, ' it deftly describes each species and its requirements for survival in the high Sierra. In addition to presenting an impressive collection of spectacular photographs, Graf describes the myriad physical aspects of the Basin which control the flora's vitality, its evolution and its future. This is a wildflower book with the depth and richness that will satisfy Tahoe plant lovers for a long time to come."--Joseph L. Medeiros, Sierra College

This seed and plant guide contains descriptions of almost 250 native and non-native (introduced) plants and seeds used by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Great Basin region of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and California. It is a partial list of the grasses, forbs (wildflowers and herbaceous legumes) and shrubs available from commercial seed vendors in very limited to good quantities. The plants described are mostly considered to be plants found in aridland sites (less than 12 inches mean annual rainfall) and does not include herbaceous wetland/riparian plants. The target audience includes natural resource specialists and other technical specialists who utilize seeds in BLM projects. The appendices include more detailed information on seeding depth, effective annual precipitation for Great Basin plants, seed characteristics, the minimum pure live seed (PLS) rate for BLM, native plant species by Ecoregion (EPA, Level III), commercial sources for seed, and a list of publications on plants and seeds.

The shrub, tree, and cactus vegetation of 59 selected study sites in eight drainage basins of the Nevada Test Site was documented in 1963, and again in 1975. Vegetation of the sites, which span the range of 3076 to 7425 ft elevation, is assigned to five plant associations, and intergrades, on the 25 Mojave Desert sites; eight associations on the 10 Great Basin Desert sites; and six associations, and ecotonal types, on the 24 sites of the desert transition. The data presented are for numbers of plants crossing the lines, mean height of plants, and calculated percentage cover of the ground. All data are summarized by site, species, and year for each of the vegetation categories, and for living and dead plants combined and dead plants only. Apparent from the data are increases in the numbers, height, and percentage cover on nearly all sites, and in essentially all species, during the 12-year period, and a decrease in the proportions of dead plants. Species composition or relative proportions of the species did not change. The increases appear to be directly related to rainfall during the time interval. It is concluded that in desert vegetation numbers and size of shrubs vary significantly with climatic fluctuations through time, and reflect especially the rainfall history of a given site at any point in time.

In a very real sense, much of North American physiological plant ecol ogy began in the Basin and Range and has been researched there over the last four decades. However, we believe that this book may be the first attempt to bring together the full range of contemporary research into the fascinating plant biology of the Basin and Range Province. We have invited contributions from researchers presently working in and around the Province and asked them to review the major vegetation zones and distinctive environmental issues from a predominantly plant ecophysiological perspective. As researchers interested in plant physi ological and ecological processes, and in atmospheric processes affect ing vegetation, we have tended to emphasize the atmosphere, plant, soil continuum in structuring this book. After an introduction to the geography of the region, we deal with atmospheric processes and climates of the Great Basin, follow with chapters on the different vegetational zones, treated from ecophysiological perspectives, and then place emphasis on plant-soil relations. We have not treated plant animal interactions in the detail that the impacts of man and his domesticated animals on the desert ecosystem deserve. However we have included a review of a very promising technique (analysis of stable isotopes at natural abundance) for integration of these processes. We close with a compelling statement of the case for the Great Basin as a laboratory for climatic change research, prepared by a multidisciplinary team from the Desert Research Institute.

The Great Basin floristic region spans three Level III ecoregions (Central Basin and Range, Northern Basin and Range, and Snake River Plain) and makes up a large portion of the Intermountain West of the United States. Over 75% of the Great Basin is publicly owned and managed by the US federal land management agencies, with state agencies also managing large areas. The primary human uses of public lands are grazing and recreation, with mining and oil and gas development found in some locations. The Great Basin has a range of mostly arid and semi-arid ecosystems from salt desert through coniferous montane forests, generally distributed along elevational gradients in this topographically complex region. Sagebrush steppe is cold desert shrubland dominated by sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata). It is the most common ecosystem in the Great Basin, but also of the most conservation concern due to the loss of nearly half of its area to land conversion and human-mediated and natural disturbances. The Great Basin, particularly the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, is a critical habitat for many wildlife species of conservation concern, including the greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits, and a number of pollinator species.