Sonoran Desert Research Paper

he Sonoran Desert Formed over millions of years, the Sonoran Desert is North America's most fascinating and ecologically significant desert that is home to a diverse mix of both plants and animals. Deserts are commonly thought of as harsh, hot, barren wastelands that are barely capable of supporting life forms. The truth is quite the contrary. Though deserts are Earths most hottest and driest climates, they are not all the same and each desert sustains different life forms in their own ways. It can be debated as to what qualifies a desert as a desert, but scientists have agreed that a desert is defined by the amount rainfall they receive, or its aridity. Aridity can be divided into three categories: arid being a total annual rainfall of less

The two most common nesters of the saguaro are the Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) and the Gilded Flicker (Colaptes chrysoides). When the Gilded Flicker pecks a hole in the saguaro, it removes a majority of the skeletal rods causing the arm of the saguaro to eventually fall off. If the wound doesn't heal properly and timely with scar tissue, the cactus is at risk of infection then a state of decay. Ultimately, when Gilded Flickers nest in saguaros the saguaros will often die. Luckily, the other woodpecker than nests in the saguaro, the Gila which is a smaller bird, does not harm the saguaro. The saguaro and the Gila live relatively well

One such reptile that has adapted to the Sonoran Desert is the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Initially, the Desert Tortoise was thought to live solely in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, but recent findings have questioned whether the tortoises living in the Mojave are the same species as the tortoise living in the Sonoran. For instance, the Mojave Desert Tortoise makes its burrow in valley bottoms, whereas the Sonoran Desert Tortoise finds pre-existing cracks or crevices on steep, eat-facing slopes to burrow in. The tortoises found in the Sonoran have flatter shells than those of the Mojave. Scientists have considered two possible theories as to why the tortoises could be different: one being climate differences, the other being a more aggressive tortoise that forced the Sonoran Gopherus agassizii to nest higher off the ground. Not much research has been done to confirm this suspicion, as desert tortoises are now considered an endangered species because their population numbers have decreased significantly due to human