Sonoran Desert Research Paper

The 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 is total annual rainfall of less

Their differences are attributed to elevation. The Mojave is approximately 732-793 meters higher than the Sonoran. This elevation difference causes the Mojave to receive less rainfall, warmer temperatures, have different species of plants and animals living there, and to have different terrain. This also causes the Sonoran to have a north-south orientation and varying elevation, thus its climate is not uniform. The area west of the Colorado River and down into Baja is extremely arid, with little rainfall for most of the year. The eastern desert region receives greater rainfall from monsoon rains during the summer, producing much more vegetation to stabilize the soil. The varying climate allows the Sonoran Desert to have a relatively wide variety of plant and animal

The two most common nesters of the saguaro are the Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) and the Guilded Flicker (Colaptes chrysoides). When the Guilded 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 Guilded 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