A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert through its Herpetofauna

A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert through its Herpetofauna

Author: D.J. Morafka

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 9401013187

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The Mexican Plateau, in its magnificent dimensions and material wealth, stood among the first and perhaps most alluring discoveries of European explorers. Bur ied deeper in the verbal histories of a now vanquished people, the American Indians, must be the primordial human awareness of the inverted complex triangle that dominates the Mexican topography, climate and biota. It always has been viewed by man as a source of wealth and a center of authority. The plateau is the pillar upon which all Mexican conquerors have erected their capitols, tilled their crops and mined for their treasure, and from which they dispersed the forces of their authority. Ironically, the same size and diversity that give the plateau its value, also make it an immense barrier. Its broad desert and three to five thousand meter high crests constitute severe obstacles in the path of North American man. What has just been said of mankind in general, can be applied to the biologist in particular. He too has termed the goliath southern plateau as the crucible of the arid biotas of the continent (i. e. , 'Madro-Tertiary'). The biologist found the plateau to be a region of tremendous richness and diversity. But he also has been inhibited both physically and intellectually by its high mountain and vast desert barriers.


Book Synopsis A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert through its Herpetofauna by : D.J. Morafka

Download or read book A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert through its Herpetofauna written by D.J. Morafka and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mexican Plateau, in its magnificent dimensions and material wealth, stood among the first and perhaps most alluring discoveries of European explorers. Bur ied deeper in the verbal histories of a now vanquished people, the American Indians, must be the primordial human awareness of the inverted complex triangle that dominates the Mexican topography, climate and biota. It always has been viewed by man as a source of wealth and a center of authority. The plateau is the pillar upon which all Mexican conquerors have erected their capitols, tilled their crops and mined for their treasure, and from which they dispersed the forces of their authority. Ironically, the same size and diversity that give the plateau its value, also make it an immense barrier. Its broad desert and three to five thousand meter high crests constitute severe obstacles in the path of North American man. What has just been said of mankind in general, can be applied to the biologist in particular. He too has termed the goliath southern plateau as the crucible of the arid biotas of the continent (i. e. , 'Madro-Tertiary'). The biologist found the plateau to be a region of tremendous richness and diversity. But he also has been inhibited both physically and intellectually by its high mountain and vast desert barriers.

A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert Through Its Herpetofauna

A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert Through Its Herpetofauna

Author: David Joseph Morafka

Publisher:

Published: 1976

Total Pages: 1032

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert Through Its Herpetofauna by : David Joseph Morafka

Download or read book A Biogeographical Analysis of the Chihuahuan Desert Through Its Herpetofauna written by David Joseph Morafka and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 1032 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Transactions of the Symposium on the Biological Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert Region, United States and Mexico, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas, 17-18 October 1974

Transactions of the Symposium on the Biological Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert Region, United States and Mexico, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas, 17-18 October 1974

Author: Roland H. Wauer

Publisher:

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 684

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Transactions of the Symposium on the Biological Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert Region, United States and Mexico, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas, 17-18 October 1974 by : Roland H. Wauer

Download or read book Transactions of the Symposium on the Biological Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert Region, United States and Mexico, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas, 17-18 October 1974 written by Roland H. Wauer and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 684 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Packrat Middens

Packrat Middens

Author: Julio L. Betancourt

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2021-11-16

Total Pages: 478

ISBN-13: 0816547157

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Over the past thirty years, late Quaternary environments in the arid interior of western North America have been revealed by a unique source of fossils: well-preserved fragments of plants and animals accumulated locally by packrats and quite often encased, amberlike, in large masses of crystallized urine. These packrat middens are ubiquitous in caves and rock crevices throughout the arid West, where they can lie preserved for tens of thousands of years. More than a thousand of these deposits have been dated and analyzed, and middens have supplanted pollen records as a touchstone for studying vegetation dynamics and climatic change in radiocarbon time (the last 40,000 years). Now, similar deposits made by other mammals like hyraxes are being reported from other parts of the world. This book brings together the findings and views of many of the researchers investigating fossil middens in the United States, Mexico, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. The contributions serve to open a forum for methodological concerns, update the fossil record of various geographic regions, introduce new applications, and display the vast potential for fossil midden analysis in arid regions worldwide. The findings presented here will serve to foster regional research and to promote general studies devoted to global climate change. Included in the text are more than two hundred charts, photographs, and maps.


Book Synopsis Packrat Middens by : Julio L. Betancourt

Download or read book Packrat Middens written by Julio L. Betancourt and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2021-11-16 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past thirty years, late Quaternary environments in the arid interior of western North America have been revealed by a unique source of fossils: well-preserved fragments of plants and animals accumulated locally by packrats and quite often encased, amberlike, in large masses of crystallized urine. These packrat middens are ubiquitous in caves and rock crevices throughout the arid West, where they can lie preserved for tens of thousands of years. More than a thousand of these deposits have been dated and analyzed, and middens have supplanted pollen records as a touchstone for studying vegetation dynamics and climatic change in radiocarbon time (the last 40,000 years). Now, similar deposits made by other mammals like hyraxes are being reported from other parts of the world. This book brings together the findings and views of many of the researchers investigating fossil middens in the United States, Mexico, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. The contributions serve to open a forum for methodological concerns, update the fossil record of various geographic regions, introduce new applications, and display the vast potential for fossil midden analysis in arid regions worldwide. The findings presented here will serve to foster regional research and to promote general studies devoted to global climate change. Included in the text are more than two hundred charts, photographs, and maps.

Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation in Northern Mexico

Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation in Northern Mexico

Author: Jean-Luc E. Cartron

Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand

Published: 2005-08-25

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 0195156722

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Encompassing tropical and temperate forests, arid lands, and the Gulf of California, northern Mexico is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Representing the collaborative efforts of ecologists in the U.S.


Book Synopsis Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation in Northern Mexico by : Jean-Luc E. Cartron

Download or read book Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation in Northern Mexico written by Jean-Luc E. Cartron and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2005-08-25 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encompassing tropical and temperate forests, arid lands, and the Gulf of California, northern Mexico is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Representing the collaborative efforts of ecologists in the U.S.

Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert

Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert

Author: Maria C. Mandujano

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-07-18

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 3030449637

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Environmental and specific diversity in the Chihuahuan desert in general, and in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin in particular, has long been recognized as outstanding. This book provides a global ecological overview, together with in-depth studies of specific processes. The Chihuahuan desert is the warmest in North America, and has a complex geologic, climatic and biogeographical history, which affects today’s distribution of vegetation and plants and generates complex phylogeographic patterns. The high number of endemic species reflects this complex set of traits. The modern distribution of environments, including aquatic and subaquatic systems, riparian environments, gypsum dunes and gypsum-rich soils, low levels of phosphorous and organic matter, and high salinity combined with an extreme climate call for a range of adaptations. Plants are distributed in a patchy pattern based on punctual variations, and many of them respond to different resources and conditions with considerable morphological plasticity. In terms of physiological, morphological and ecological variability, cacti were identified as the most important group in specific environments like bajadas, characterized by high diversity values, while gypsophytes and gypsovagues of different phylogenies, including species with restricted distribution and endemics.


Book Synopsis Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert by : Maria C. Mandujano

Download or read book Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert written by Maria C. Mandujano and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-18 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental and specific diversity in the Chihuahuan desert in general, and in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin in particular, has long been recognized as outstanding. This book provides a global ecological overview, together with in-depth studies of specific processes. The Chihuahuan desert is the warmest in North America, and has a complex geologic, climatic and biogeographical history, which affects today’s distribution of vegetation and plants and generates complex phylogeographic patterns. The high number of endemic species reflects this complex set of traits. The modern distribution of environments, including aquatic and subaquatic systems, riparian environments, gypsum dunes and gypsum-rich soils, low levels of phosphorous and organic matter, and high salinity combined with an extreme climate call for a range of adaptations. Plants are distributed in a patchy pattern based on punctual variations, and many of them respond to different resources and conditions with considerable morphological plasticity. In terms of physiological, morphological and ecological variability, cacti were identified as the most important group in specific environments like bajadas, characterized by high diversity values, while gypsophytes and gypsovagues of different phylogenies, including species with restricted distribution and endemics.

Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin

Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin

Author: Fernando Álvarez

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-05-09

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 3030112624

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This volume investigates the contemporary fauna that inhabit the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. Divided into 15 chapters, it addresses and describes their diversity, taxonomic and biogeogaphic affinities, and ecological characteristics. The Cuatro Ciénegas Valley is a unique oasis in the south-central region of the State of Coahuila, part of the Sonoran Desert, in Mexico. Several clues, specially derived from the study of the microbiota, suggest a very ancient origin of the valley and its permanence through time. This condition had promoted a high level of endemism and led to unique interactions between the resident species.


Book Synopsis Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin by : Fernando Álvarez

Download or read book Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin written by Fernando Álvarez and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-09 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume investigates the contemporary fauna that inhabit the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. Divided into 15 chapters, it addresses and describes their diversity, taxonomic and biogeogaphic affinities, and ecological characteristics. The Cuatro Ciénegas Valley is a unique oasis in the south-central region of the State of Coahuila, part of the Sonoran Desert, in Mexico. Several clues, specially derived from the study of the microbiota, suggest a very ancient origin of the valley and its permanence through time. This condition had promoted a high level of endemism and led to unique interactions between the resident species.

Design with the Desert

Design with the Desert

Author: Richard Malloy

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2016-04-19

Total Pages: 623

ISBN-13: 1000218848

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Typical development in the American Southwest often resulted in scraping the desert lands of the ancient living landscape, to be replaced with one that is human-made and dependent on a large consumption of energy and natural resources. This transdisciplinary book explores the natural and built environment of this desert region and introduces development tools for shaping its future in a more sustainable way. It offers valuable insights to help promote ecological balance between nature and the built environment in the American Southwest-and in other ecologically fragile regions around the world.


Book Synopsis Design with the Desert by : Richard Malloy

Download or read book Design with the Desert written by Richard Malloy and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 623 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Typical development in the American Southwest often resulted in scraping the desert lands of the ancient living landscape, to be replaced with one that is human-made and dependent on a large consumption of energy and natural resources. This transdisciplinary book explores the natural and built environment of this desert region and introduces development tools for shaping its future in a more sustainable way. It offers valuable insights to help promote ecological balance between nature and the built environment in the American Southwest-and in other ecologically fragile regions around the world.

Chuckwalla Land

Chuckwalla Land

Author: David Rains Wallace

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2011-05-05

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0520948661

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Described as "a writer in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and other self-educated seers" by the San Francisco Chronicle, David Rains Wallace turns his attention in this new book to another distinctive corner of California—its desert, the driest and hottest environment in North America. Drawing from his frequent forays to Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon, Kelso Dunes, and other locales, Wallace illuminates the desert’s intriguing flora and fauna as he explores a controversial, unresolved scientific debate about the origin and evolution of its unusual ecosystems. Eminent scientists and scholars appear throughout these pages, including maverick paleobiologist Daniel Axelrod, botanist Ledyard Stebbins, and naturalists Edmund Jaeger and Joseph Wood Krutch. Weaving together ecology, geology, natural history, and mythology in his characteristically eloquent voice, Wallace reveals that there is more to this starkly beautiful landscape than meets the eye.


Book Synopsis Chuckwalla Land by : David Rains Wallace

Download or read book Chuckwalla Land written by David Rains Wallace and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2011-05-05 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Described as "a writer in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and other self-educated seers" by the San Francisco Chronicle, David Rains Wallace turns his attention in this new book to another distinctive corner of California—its desert, the driest and hottest environment in North America. Drawing from his frequent forays to Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon, Kelso Dunes, and other locales, Wallace illuminates the desert’s intriguing flora and fauna as he explores a controversial, unresolved scientific debate about the origin and evolution of its unusual ecosystems. Eminent scientists and scholars appear throughout these pages, including maverick paleobiologist Daniel Axelrod, botanist Ledyard Stebbins, and naturalists Edmund Jaeger and Joseph Wood Krutch. Weaving together ecology, geology, natural history, and mythology in his characteristically eloquent voice, Wallace reveals that there is more to this starkly beautiful landscape than meets the eye.

Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas

Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas

Author: James Ray Dixon

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 9780890969205

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IN THIS REVISED edition of Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas, James R. Dixon adds to and updates the extensive information given in the first edition. A new section on conservation issues highlights some of the problems facing the continued survival of amphibians and reptiles, particularly commercial collecting and habitat destruction. Taxonomic changes have been made to reflect the latest scientific information, and the extensive listing of the literature on Texas amphibians and reptiles has been updated through April, 1999. Going back to the writings of French botanist Jean Louis Berlandier, who encountered Texas herpetofauna during his travels from 1828 to 1834, this list covers more than 150 years of inquiry into the state's species and is also testimony to the distinguished careers of such herpetologists as Hobart M. Smith and, more recently, Chris McAllister. Another prominent feature of this book is the more than 150 distribution maps, which show by county the updated distribution records for all native Texas amphibians and reptiles, based on more than 13,000 county records and more than 110,000 individual localities. Professional and amateur herpetologists as well as environmentalists, wildlife specialists, campers, and hikers will find the dichotomous keys useful for identifying species at hand. This aid to identification is supported by a glossary, drawings and photographs, and complete scientific and common names.


Book Synopsis Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas by : James Ray Dixon

Download or read book Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas written by James Ray Dixon and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IN THIS REVISED edition of Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas, James R. Dixon adds to and updates the extensive information given in the first edition. A new section on conservation issues highlights some of the problems facing the continued survival of amphibians and reptiles, particularly commercial collecting and habitat destruction. Taxonomic changes have been made to reflect the latest scientific information, and the extensive listing of the literature on Texas amphibians and reptiles has been updated through April, 1999. Going back to the writings of French botanist Jean Louis Berlandier, who encountered Texas herpetofauna during his travels from 1828 to 1834, this list covers more than 150 years of inquiry into the state's species and is also testimony to the distinguished careers of such herpetologists as Hobart M. Smith and, more recently, Chris McAllister. Another prominent feature of this book is the more than 150 distribution maps, which show by county the updated distribution records for all native Texas amphibians and reptiles, based on more than 13,000 county records and more than 110,000 individual localities. Professional and amateur herpetologists as well as environmentalists, wildlife specialists, campers, and hikers will find the dichotomous keys useful for identifying species at hand. This aid to identification is supported by a glossary, drawings and photographs, and complete scientific and common names.