SOUTHERN NEVADA INVENTORY OF SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

UNLV DOWNTOWN DESIGN CENTER

ECOSYSTEMS

SOUTHERN NEVADA INVENTORY OF SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

UNLV DOWNTOWN DESIGN CENTER

SOUTHERN NEVADA INVENTORY OF SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

UNLV DOWNTOWN DESIGN CENTER

THE MOJAVE DESERT

BIOREGION
The lens of geographic areas instead of anthropogenic
features best frames environmental impediments.
The natural resources inside each bioregion are
not split from the landscape rather; natural borders
contain ecological communities in symbiotic
relationships. These communities hold characteristic
flora, fauna, and climatic conditions.
The city of Las Vegas lies within the Mojave Desert
Bioregion. It lies between the Great Basin Desert
to the north and Sonoran Desert to the south.
The Mojave bioregion covers 32.1 million acres,
spanning from southern California, to southern
Nevada, northeastern Arizona, and southwestern
Utah. It is a rain shadow desert.
This dry, high desert lies between 34-38N latitudes.
The prevailing Pacific coastal winds travel inland,
with the air rising up the Costal Ranges of San Jacinto
and San Gorgonio mountains. These winds cross
over the Coastal Ranges, cool, and release available
precipitation. Dry air descends on the inland sides
of these mountains, increasing temperatures, and
thwarting cloud formation or preciptation.
Bioregions are large areas containing ecosystems,
plant communities and fauna. Bioregions are
ecological units people can use to monitor ecosystem
health. Associated biotic and abiotic factors affecting
energy, moisture, and nutrients form a bioregion
classification, and are the factors we use to measure
ecosystem health.
There are 10 significant Bioregions in the Pacific
Southwest: Southern California Coast, Sonoran
Desert, Mojave Desert, Central Valley, Central
California Coast, Sierra Nevada, Northern
California Coast, Southern Cascade Range, Great
Basin, and Intermountain Desert.
Sedimentary, Igneous, and Metamorphic rocks
reveal the age of this 2.7 billion year old landscape.
During the Paleozoic era, the Mojave Desert
bioregion was a shallow sea. Other geomorphic
features include: dry lakes, desert pavement, and
dunes. Temperatures can be extreme and can
fluctuate widely. Summer heat can reach excesses
of 120 degrees while winter temperatures can drop
below freezing.
This landscape does not fit the typical desert image.
It is extreme in both topography and climate with
expansive desert plains erupting aggressively into
mountain ranges containing endemic, secluded
species. Mojave elevations average 3,000 to 6,000
feet. As an example, dramatic elevation changes can
be seen in Death Valley National Park. It contains
both the highest peak in the bioregion (Telescope
Peak at 11,049 feet) and the lowest point in the
United States, (Badwater at 282 feet below sea level).
The Mojave Desert averages five inches of annual

Mojave Desert
32.1 million acres

Less than
5 of Rain
Temperatures
Range from
120 o to below Freezing

ECOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS - LAS VEGAS VALLEY

precipitation. Desert thunderstorms wash sediment
from mountaintops into enormous alluvial fans
onto the desert floor. Rainwater carries sediment
that forms bajadas at the base of mountains. Further
down, water collects in basins, and evaporates
quickly, leaving behind alkaline deposits.
Widely spaced, low-lying shrubs compose most of
the Mojave Desert flora. Dominant species include:
Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia), creosote (Larrea
tridentate), white bursage (Ambrosia dumosa),
blackbrush (Coleogyne ramossissima), and Mojave
yucca (Yucca schidigera). There are 250 ephemeral

plants, approximately 80-90 of which are endemics.

The Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is the
flagship species of the Mojave Desert and is federally
listed as a threatened species. Primary land holders
of the Mojave Desert bioregion are state and federal
agencies, holding about eighty five percent of its land.

The Las Vegas Valley stretches from northwest to

southeast in orientation and contains about six
hundred square miles. The shape of the land affects
temperature and precipitation, important factors for
the determination of flora and fauna. The valley floor
slopes downward from west to east and the Las Vegas
Wash is the lowest point of elevation. The Las Vegas
Wash was once an ephemeral stream carrying storm
water to the Colorado River. By 1955, the Las Vegas
Wash flowed continuously, because of the increasing
settlement and the new inhabitants use of water. This
new flow into the wash created ponds and wetlands
throughout the year.

Abruptly rising mountain ranges surround the

Valley, including the Sheep Mountain Range to
the north, McCullough Range to the south, and
Spring Mountain Range to the west. The Spring
Range, including Mount Potosi, Red Rock Canyon,
La Madre Mountain Range, and the Charleston
Mountains, is a chain of sky island mountains
extending fifty-five miles from north to south. The
range peaks in elevations around 12,000 feet. These
are Sky Islands as they contain different plant
communities at higher altitudes.
The average precipitation in the Las Vegas Valley is
four inches annually. Monsoon rains occur during

late July and August, scattering desert thunderstorms

throughout the valley.
Rain and snow in the Spring Mountains infiltrates
bedrock through faults and fractures and rests in
aquifers - deep underground pockets.
Winds commonly come from the southwest.
Temperatures vary from extremes of below freezing
in the mountains in the winter to 120 degrees on
the valley floor during the summer. Temperatures
can consistently exceed one hundred degrees for
summer highs. Winter months tend to be mild with
average temperatures usually around sixty degrees.

ECOSYSTEMS

SOUTHERN NEVADA INVENTORY OF SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

UNLV DOWNTOWN DESIGN CENTER

SOUTHERN NEVADA INVENTORY OF SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

UNLV DOWNTOWN DESIGN CENTER

SPRING MOUNTAINS

THREATS

The Spring Mountains are west of the Las Vegas

Valley and stretch fifty-five miles north to south.
The Spring Range is separate from the desert floor
and isolated from surrounding mountains. This
isolation generates high rates endemic species;
the Spring Mountains have twenty five of them.
Endemic species are those only found in a specific
geographic area. Endemic species can be sensitive
to disturbance coming from human activity, such as
development, and climate change.

Several factors threaten the Mojave Desert Bioregion.

These threats include climate change, fire, drought,
species loss, and factors affecting Valley Fever, which
can impact people.

Figure 2 ~
Spring Mountains NRA
Biodiversity Hotspots and
Species of Concern Locations
~

Vegetation clusters into plant communities. Plant

communities occur by zones related to elevation. The
mid-elevations (4,000-5,000 feet) feature Mojave
Desert shrub. Upper elevations (5,500-7,500 feet)
have mixed conifer forest, and higher elevations
(over 7,000 feet) are home to Ponderosa Pine. The
highest elevations (10,000 feet +) feature Bristlecone
as
Pine, and ancient species still extant today.
'egi
Numerous zones within the range contain pockets
of evolutionary hotspots. Evolutionary hotspots
contain high species diversity, many endemic
species, and rare plant communities. Genetic
diversity is critical to species resilience in isolated
areas. A richer gene pool leads to a stronger species,
plant community and ecosystem over time.
Hotspots contain high rates of genetic divergence
and diversity overlap for numerous species endemic
to the Spring Mountains. Hotspots most often
occur in ecotones. Ecotones are areas of change
between two plant communities. The transition of
two ecological communities can act as buffer-zone,
protecting adjacent ecosystems from environmental
damage. Resilience is naturally built into the system.
This protective buffer acts as bridges of gene flow
creating elasticity in ecosystems. Areas with deep
pockets of biodiversity shore up resilience by
increasing fitness and breadth of genetic material for
survival.
Determining the locations of hotspots is of
particular importance to inform decision making in
development and land use planning. Protection and
mitigation of hotspots in planning efforts for future
development can prove valuable to conservation
efforts. Ecosystem health is critical for climate
issues, flooding, and habitat, to note just a few factors.
Hotspots are also an outstanding place to establish
monitoring of rates of change. These evaluations can
help us see environmental metrics that may allow
us to more accurately project future changes in the
landscape, thus helping us to plan sustainably.

Biodiversity Hotspots
SOC Locations
Paved Roads
NRA Boundary

These factors, known as ecological disturbances are

actually often necessary for ecosystem function.
Disturbances, such as fire, allow the ecosystem to
renew itself. But, natural variability of an ecosystem
in renewal has its limits. Due to these limits, the
capacity of an ecosystem to maintain flexibility while
holding identity is known as resilience. Resilience of
an ecosystem is critical to ecological stability. An
ecosystem is successful when it holds together native
flora and fauna without giving way to non-original
states during periods of change.
Anthropogenic threats can amplify disturbances
threatening ecosystem resilience. One of these
threats includes climate change, which may increase
drought and change precipitation events. Increased
heat and less water will mean less resources available
to plant and animal communities. Temperatures in
the mountains will move ecosystems up the slopes
to the tops of the mountains. Endemic species will
be forced to move to higher latitudes, ultimately
bottlenecking species at higher and higher elevations.

Historically, fire frequencies were infrequent in arid
communities. Fires in lower elevation desert shrub
communities is increasing due to the emergence of
invasive grasses such as red brome (Bromus rubens)
and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Nonnative
grasses invade the space between native perennials
forming fuels connecting native desert shrubs across
the arid landscape. The increased fire frequency
beings a new grass/fire cycle not before seen in this
landscape. After fires, nonnatives species outcompete
the slower establishing native vegetation. Gradually,
this may convert desert shrublands to grasslands
filled with nonnative species. Plant invasions
and increased fire frequency to non-fire-adapted
vegetation threaten ecosystem resilience. This may
lead to permanent changes that will never return to
original states. The lack of native species may result
in non-diverse ecosystems that bear little in the way
of native species of flora and fauna.

One example of species loss projected in the
scenario in the previous paragraph is the Mojave
Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). The desert
tortoise is the flagship species of the bioregion and
was listed as threatened in 1990. It is well-adapted
to the harsh desert landscape, foraging on annual
plants occurring below 4000 feet in elevation

inside habitats of the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia)

and creosote bush (Larrea tridentate). Several
factors impact tortoise habitat; off-road vehicles
(ORV), habitat fragmentation, low nutritional nonnative grasses, and increased fires. ORV cause
fragmentation to the landscape, and disturb areas
occupied by desert tortoises. Other developments
fragment the landscape occupied by the tortoise,
making it difficult for the species to gain access to the
resources it needs, and to diversify its gene pool.
In addition to the tortoise, there are other endemic
species threatened in the Mojave Bioregion. Sky
Island species include the Mount Charleston Blue
Butterfly (Plebejus Shasta). It confronts enormous
anthropogenic pressures including; degradation of
habitat due to non-natural fire regimes, recreational
development projects, and increases of non-native
plants. The tortoise and the blue butterfly each face
with long-term anthropogenic pressures which may
lead to a slow decline.

People may also be increasingly affected by changes
to ecosystems. Valley Fever comes from a fungus
called Coccidioides immitis/posadasii. This fungus
and lives in arid soils of the southwestern United
States. Desert winds uplift the fungus from dry soils
and carries spores in dust. Spores enter peoples
lungs, triggering coccidiodomycosis (valley fever) an
illness sometimes causing fatality. As temperatures
rise, drought increases, and development denudes
the land, plants can no longer hold soil bound by
their roots. As more soil is exposed to the air, wind
may lift more soil particles into the air. An increase in
these particles may lead to the increase in incidents of
valley fever.

ECOSYSTEMS