| Colorado Plateau shrublands | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Location map of Colorado Plateau shrublands | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Nearctic |
| Biome | deserts and xeric shrublands |
| Borders | |
| Geography | |
| Area | 283,435 km2 (109,435 sq mi) |
| Countries | United States |
| States | |
| Climate type | Cold desert (BWk) and cold semi-arid (BSk) |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | Relatively stable/intact |
| Protected | 33,203 km2 (12%) [1] |
The Colorado Plateau shrublands is an ecoregion of deserts and xeric shrublands in the Western United States.
The Colorado Plateau shrublands occupy the Colorado Plateau. They lie mostly in the basin of the upper Colorado River, and reach into the upper basin of the Rio Grande.
The main plant communities, or zones, are woodlands, mountain woodlands, and grassland and shrub.
The woodland zone, or pinyon-juniper woodland, covers the largest area. It consists of open woodlands of short trees, mostly pinyon pine ( Pinus edulis throughout the ecoregion, and Pinus monophylla subsp. fallax in the southwestern portion of the ecoregion) and species of juniper (Juniperus spp.). The ground is covered by sparse grasses, including grama and other grasses, herbs, and shrubs such as big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and alder-leaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus). [2]
Arid grasslands occupy lowland areas. Grasses, sagebrush, and shrubs predominate, with areas of bare soil, and including cacti and yucca in the warmest areas. [2]
The mountain zone includes the high plateaus and mountains. It is made up of woodlands and forests, chiefly ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) in the south and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) to the north. [2]
Large mammals include mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), cougar (Puma concolor), coyote (Canis latrans), bobcat (Lynx rufus), and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni) are found in some areas. Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) are the predominant large mammal of the arid grasslands. Smaller mammals include the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii), Colorado chipmunk (Neotamias quadrivittatus), cliff chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis), rock squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus), Bushy-tailed woodrat (Neotoma cinerea), and white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus). The ringtail (Bassariscus astutus) and western spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis) are uncommonly found. [3]
The most common resident birds are the American bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus), pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), Woodhouse's scrub jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii), juniper titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi), western red-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus cafer), rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus), black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Summer-resident birds include the chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina), common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), black-throated gray warbler (Setophaga nigrescens), American cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus), and mourning dove (Zenaida macroura). Common winter-resident birds are the pink-sided junco (Junco hyemalis mearnsi), Shufeldt's junco (Junco hyemalis shufelti), gray-headed junco (Junco hyemalis caniceps), red-backed junco (Junco hyemalis dorsalis), Rocky Mountain nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis nelsoni), mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), American robin (Turdus migratorius), and Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). [3]
Reptiles include the greater short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) and western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis).
A 2017 assessment found that 33,203 km2, or 12%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. [1] Protected areas include Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, Dominguez–Escalante National Conservation Area, Petrified Forest National Park, and El Malpais National Conservation Area.
The Colorado Plateau shrublands ecoregion defined by the World Wildlife Fund corresponds closely to the Colorado Plateaus and Arizona/New Mexico Plateau ecoregions delineated by James M. Omernik for the US Environmental Protection Agency. [2]
The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and United States Geological Survey. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The desert spans large portions of Nevada and Utah, and extends into eastern California. The desert is one of the four biologically defined deserts in North America, in addition to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts.
The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions, Mediterranean ecoregions, forested mountains, and coastal forests.
The Sierra Juárez and San Pedro Mártir pine–oak forests is a Nearctic temperate coniferous forests ecoregion that covers the higher elevations of the Sierra Juárez and Sierra San Pedro Mártir ranges of the Peninsular Ranges, of the northern Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. The pine–oak forests extend throughout the central portion of the Mexican state of Baja California and terminate near the border with the U.S. state of California.
The cliff chipmunk is a small, bushy-tailed squirrel that typically lives along cliff walls or boulder fields bordering Pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Western United States and Mexico. Cliff chipmunks are very agile, and can often be seen scaling steep cliff walls. Cliff chipmunks do not amass body fat as the more common ground squirrel does. They create caches of food which they frequent during the cold winter months.
The Sierra Madre Oriental pine–oak forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion of northeastern and Central Mexico, extending into the state of Texas in the United States.
Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests is an ecoregion, in the temperate coniferous forest biome, which occupies the high mountain ranges of North Africa. The term is also a botanically recognized plant association in the African and Mediterranean literature.
The Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and California. In the rain shadow of the Cascade Range, the eastern side of the mountains experiences greater temperature extremes and receives less precipitation than the west side. Open forests of ponderosa pine and some lodgepole pine distinguish this region from the Cascades ecoregion, where hemlock and fir forests are more common, and from the lower, drier ecoregions to the east, where shrubs and grasslands are predominant. The vegetation is adapted to the prevailing dry, continental climate and frequent wildfire. Volcanic cones and buttes are common in much of the region.
The Blue Mountains ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Pacific Northwest, mainly in the state of Oregon, with small areas over the state border in Idaho and southeastern Washington. It is also contiguous with the World Wildlife Fund's Blue Mountain forests ecoregion.
The Klamath Mountains ecoregion of Oregon and California lies inland and north of the Coast Range ecoregion, extending from the Umpqua River in the north to the Sacramento Valley in the south. It encompasses the highly dissected ridges, foothills, and valleys of the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains. It corresponds to the Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency and to the Klamath-Siskiyou forests ecoregion designated by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The Northern Basin and Range ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and California. It contains dissected lava plains, rolling hills, alluvial fans, valleys, and scattered mountain ranges in the northern part of the Great Basin. Although arid, the ecoregion is higher and cooler than the Snake River Plain to the north and has more available moisture and a cooler climate than the Central Basin and Range to the south. Its southern boundary is determined by the highest shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, which once inundated the Central Basin and Range. The western part of the region is internally drained; its eastern stream network drains to the Snake River system.
Navajo State Park is a state park of Colorado, USA, on the north shore of Navajo Lake. Touted as Colorado's answer to Lake Powell, this reservoir on the San Juan River begins in Colorado's San Juan Mountains and extends 20 miles (32 km) into New Mexico. Its area is 15,000 acres (6,100 ha), and it has 150 miles (240 km) of shoreline in two states. Park activities include boating, houseboating, fishing, camping, and wildlife viewing. There is a New Mexico state park at the southern end of the lake.
Pinyon–juniper woodland, also spelled piñon–juniper woodland, is a biome found mid-elevations in arid regions of the Western United States, characterized by being an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen junipers, pinyon pines, and their associates. At lower elevations, junipers often predominate and trees are spaced widely, bordering on and mingling with grassland or shrubland, but as elevation increases, pinyon pines become common and trees grow closer, forming denser canopies. Historically, pinyon-juniper woodland has provided a vital source of fuel and food for peoples of the American Southwest.
The South Central Rockies forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the United States located mainly in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. It has a considerably drier climate than the North Central Rockies forest.
The Wyoming Basin shrub steppe ecoregion, within the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, is a shrub steppe in the northwestern United States.
The Colorado Rockies forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the United States.
The Great Basin montane forests is an ecoregion of the Temperate coniferous forests biome, as designated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Sisymbrium linifolium, synonyms including Schoenocrambe linifolia, is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family, known by the common names flaxleaf plainsmustard, skeleton mustard, and Salmon River plains-mustard. It is native to western North America, where it can be found from British Columbia east of the Cascade Range to Saskatchewan in Canada and south to Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. An "extremely common" plant, it is most abundant in the Columbia, Great, and Colorado Basins.
The flora of the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region is generally characterized by plant adaptations to the arid conditions of the region, and a wide variation of plant communities from wide variations in elevation and soil types. The elevation variation results in temperature variation. Differing soil types are largely due to erosion of different sedimentary layers in the canyons, from the layers at lowest point of canyons of the Colorado River network, to the top layers of the plateau. Exceptions to flora adapted to aridity occur in lowland riparian areas, at springs, and in hanging gardens.
The Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the interior valleys and plateaus of the Iberian Peninsula. The ecoregion lies mostly in Spain, and includes some portions of eastern Portugal.
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