The Sonoran Desert is a vast change in environment from being in a Midwest ecosystem like at Luther. This vast change is not exactly what you may think. The desert is not like popular media portrays. The Sonoran Desert is a lively ecosystem filled with many different succulents, shrubs, and trees which is vastly different from just tumbleweeds and cacti portrayed in the popular media. Also the Sonoran Desert is not as dry as you would imagine. The organisms in this ecosystem have adapted to the sporadic nature of the rainfall. For example, the Saguaro cactus has adapted to these conditions by conserving water inside itself to weather out droughts.
The desert is not quite the arid hot environment that you may expect either. At night the temperatures can drop significantly. For us this meant going from light long sleeve shirts to multiple layers once the sun set. This made it difficult in the morning during hikes where we had to shed multiple layers as the hike progressed. Additionally, while preparing for supper we noticed that the nice mild weather transitioned to a much cooler environment. We also found out first hand that it does rain in the desert.
With water being an extremely valuable resource for organisms in the community, protecting this resource from competition is paramount. This organism can protect this resource and themselves from completion by being spiny, bitter, or toxic or even a combination of all three. Organisms can even go dormant to conserve water between rainfall events. Some plants’ roots go deep into the water table to get their water.
The similarities between the ecosystem in Decorah and the ecosystem of the Sonoran Desert are quite surprising. Both ecosystems support a wide variety of organisms and these organisms are in constant competition. There are also similar species that provide similar roles in both ecosystems. For example, bees are present in both ecosystems and act as a pollinator which is critical for both ecosystems.
The ecology of the Southwest is also not as cut and dry as you would think, there are breaks from the ecology mentioned above. The mountains can act as a desert oasis which, in result produces extremely different conditions with varying organisms. For example, we hiked up from the research station at Santa Rita Experimental Range to the saddle between two peaks with a 3,000 feet change in elevation. Throughout the hike, we witnessed the transition from vegetation such as prickly pear cacti to douglas furs. Near the peak we even started seeing snow, which made us put back on our warmer morning layers that we had removed as we traveled up the peak in the heat.
This dramatic change in the ecology in the Southwest has also prompted us to begin thinking about class projects. These projects will examine different aspects of the local ecology and test our skills as researchers. The projects could vary from examining predation on cacti or looking at root structures of common organisms.
