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Deserts
Regions rendered barren or partially barren by environmental extremes, especially by low rainfall. [USGS Circ 1048]
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Results 1 - 9 of 9 listed by similarity [list alphabetically]
Biological resource status and trends: Desert ecosystems [New Window]
Information concerning status and trends of biological resources, focusing on desert ecosystems
PDF Biological soil crusts: webs of life in the desert [New Window]
Fact sheet on the need to protect biological soil crusts in the desert. These crusts are most of the soil surface in deserts not covered by green plants and are inhabited by cyanobacterium (blue-green algae) and other organisms useful to the ecosystem.
Recoverability and vulnerability of desert ecosystems [New Window]
Research results (publications, photographs, maps) on ecological processes within the Mojave Desert Ecosystem to provide land managers with scientific understanding and tools needed to conserve and restore threatened desert landscapes.
Waste disposal and contaminant migration in the arid Southwest: Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nevada [New Window]
Links to studies at the Amargosa Desert Research Site by the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program studying the subsurface migration and fate of contaminants in arid environments. Links to news, remediation, photos, bibliography and techniques.
Biological soil crusts [New Window]
Explains biological soil crusts, organism-produced soil formations commonly found in semiarid and arid environments, with special reference to their biological composition, physical characteristics, and ecological significance.
Cryptobiotic soils: holding the place in place [New Window]
Describes biological soil crusts, with special reference to their role in resisting soil erosion, improving soil fertility, and increasing water infiltration in the deserts of the Colorado Plateau region.
Fire ecology research [New Window]
Study of wildland fire history and fire ecology such as plants in the Sierra Nevada forests, California shrublands, the Mojave, and Sonoran deserts to develop management techniques that will reduce hazards.
Geology of Death Valley National Park [New Window]
Site has links to Death Valley's geologic history, rocks and minerals, geologic time, geologic maps.
Geology of Mojave National Preserve [New Window]
Site has links to Mohave National Preserve: geologic field trips, geologic history, plate tectonics, rocks and minerals, geologic time, geologic maps, and glossary.


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