Pacific Southwest

Title: The Riparianness of a Desert Herpetofauna

Author: Lowe, Charles H.

Date: 1989

Source: In: Abell, Dana L., Technical Coordinator. 1989. Proceedings of the California Riparian Systems Conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-110. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 143-148

Station ID: GTR-PSW-110

Description: Within the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Desert subdivisions of the North American Desert in the U.S., more than half of 143 total amphibian and reptilian species perform as riparian and/or wetland taxa. For the reptiles, but not the amphibians, there is a significant inverse relationship between riparianness (obligate through preferential and facultative to nonriparian) and desertness. In addition to the nondesert species (N=36) present, there are two evolutionary kinds of desert species in the herpetofauna: true desert species (N–20), and desert-included species (N=87); the former are obligate specialists, the latter are facultative generalists. Quantitative aspects of desertness, riparianness, species richness, nondesert taxa and others are examined.

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Citation

Lowe, Charles H.  1989.  The Riparianness of a Desert Herpetofauna.   In: Abell, Dana L., Technical Coordinator. 1989. Proceedings of the California Riparian Systems Conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-110. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 143-148.