Harvester Ants and Fire in a Desert Grassland: Ecological Responses of Pogonomyrmex rugosus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to Experimental Wildfires in Central New Mexico

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelli Zimmer ◽  
Robert R. Parmenter
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Desert Grassland ◽  
Harvester Ants ◽  
Pogonomyrmex Rugosus ◽  
Ecological Responses

scholarly journals Short-Term Effects of a Summer Wildfire on a Desert Grassland Arthropod Community in New Mexico

2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 1051-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Parmenter ◽  
Melissa Kreutzian ◽  
Douglas I. Moore ◽  
David C. Lightfoot
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Arthropod Community ◽  
Desert Grassland ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Short Term Effects

Habitats Occupied By Elk (Cervus elaphus) in Desert Grassland–Scrublands of Northwestern New Mexico

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis C. Bender ◽  
Roger A. Baldwin ◽  
Jessica R. Piasecke
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Cervus Elaphus ◽  
Desert Grassland

scholarly journals Experimental micropedology—A technique for investigating soil carbonate biogenesis along a desert-grassland-forest transect, New Mexico, USA .

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Khormali ◽  
Y. Feng ◽  
Curtis Monger
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Growth Medium ◽  
Parent Material ◽  
Forest Site ◽  
Desert Grassland ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Carbonate Formation ◽  
Microscope Slides ◽  
Liquid Growth Medium

Manipulative experiments—characterized by the comparing treatments to controls—are widespread in scientific investigations. This study uses experimental micropedology to investigate whether soil microbes precipitate carbonate if a liquid growth-medium is applied to soil in situ. This was undertaken using apparatuses designed to (1) obtain micromorphological images of biogenic carbonate on microscope slides, (2) to quantify carbonate formation in fiberglass cloths, and (3) to measure associated carbon-isotope fractionations. The apparatuses were buried and harvested at monthly intervals from December 2010 to June 2011. The study was conducted along an ecological transect in New Mexico, USA, at three sites: a low-elevation desert (C3 shrubs), an intermediate-elevation steppe (C4 grasses), and a high-elevation forest (C3 conifers). In addition to comparing bioclimatic zones, the effect of parent material was also tested using paired limestone and igneous soils at each site. Microscope slides were analyzed with binocular, petrographic, and scanning electron microscopy equipped with an x-ray microanalyser (EDS), and the fiberglass traps were analyzed with x-ray diffraction and a mass spectrometer for carbon concentrations and isotope ratios. Naturally occurring calcified microbes were found at each site in the form of calcified hyphae, needle fiber, and calcified root hairs, with the exception of the forest site on igneous parent material. Liquid growth medium induced microbial calcification regardless of whether the vegetation was desert shrubs, grassland, or forest, and regardless of whether the parent material was igneous or limestone. Thus, the ability of soil microorganisms to biomineralize carbonate when supplied with liquid growth medium in situ is a phenomenon that crosses biomes and is not limited to microbes endemic to either limestone or igneous parent material.

scholarly journals Quadrat‐based monitoring of desert grassland vegetation at the Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, 1915–2016

Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Christensen ◽  
Darren James ◽  
Connie Maxwell ◽  
Amalia Slaughter ◽  
Peter B. Adler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Desert Grassland ◽  
Grassland Vegetation ◽  
Experimental Range

Biogeographic Implications of a Packrat Midden Sequence from the Sacramento Mountains, South-Central New Mexico

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Van Devender ◽  
Julio L. Betancourt ◽  
Mark Wimberly
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Desert Grassland ◽  
Creosote Bush ◽  
Oak Woodland ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Sacramento Mountains ◽  
South Central

Thirteen packrat (Neotoma spp.) and two porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) middens from 1555 to 1690 m elevation from the Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico, provide an 18,000-yr vegetation record in the northern Chiuahuan Desert. The vegetation sequence is a mesic, Wisconsin fullglacial (18,000–16,000 yr B.P.) pinyon-juniper-oak woodland; a xeric, early Holocene (ca. 11,000–8000 yr B.P.) juniper-oak woodland; a middle Holocene (ca. 8000-4000 yr B.P.) desert-grassland; and a late Holocene (ca. 4000 yr B.P. to present) Chihuahuan desertscrub. The frequency of spring freezes and summer droughts in the late Wisconsin probably set the northern limits of Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma at about 34°N, or 6° south of today's limit. Rising summer tempratures in the early Holocene eliminated pinyon and other mesic woodland plants from the desert lowlands and allowed the woodland to move upslope. At this time pinyon-juniper woodland and pine forest dominated by Pinus ponderosa probably began their spectacular Holocene expansions to the north. Continued warming in the middle Holocene led to very warm summers with strong monsoons, relatively dry, cold winters, and widespread desert-grasslands. Desertscrub communities in the northern Chihuahuan Desert did not develop until the late Holocene when the biseasonal rainfall shifted slightly back toward the winter, catastrophic winter freezes decreased, and droughts in all seasons increased. The creosote bush desertscrub corridor across the Continental Divide between the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts was probably connected for the first time since the last interglaciation.

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