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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Community Structure And Demography In A Saline Pan-Dune Mosaic In The Western Mojave Desert, M. Rasoul Sharifi, William N. Brostoff, Philip W. Rundel
Community Structure And Demography In A Saline Pan-Dune Mosaic In The Western Mojave Desert, M. Rasoul Sharifi, William N. Brostoff, Philip W. Rundel
Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany
A unique saline ecological system formed by an extensive mosaic of small clay pans and low stable dunes exists within Edwards Air Force Base in the western Mojave Desert of California. This ecosystem lies between the large Rosamond and Rogers dry lakes on the old Pleistocene lakebed of Lake Thompson. Plant communities on the low and relatively stable dunes were broadly classed as saltbush scrub, with a total canopy cover of 30–36%. Atriplex confertifolia was the typical dominant, with Ericameria nauseosa as an important associate. Taller dunes of younger age and less saline soils had similar plant cover, but a …