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Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science Discovering the Desert: Legacy of the Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratory by William G. McGinnies Review by: Janice E. Bowers Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1981), p. 82 Published by: Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40019453 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 17:11 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.2.32.106 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:11:49 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Discovering the Desert: Legacy of the Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratoryby William G. McGinnies

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Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science

Discovering the Desert: Legacy of the Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratory by William G.McGinniesReview by: Janice E. BowersJournal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1981), p. 82Published by: Arizona-Nevada Academy of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40019453 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 17:11

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toJournal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.106 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:11:49 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

82 JOURNAL OF THE ARIZONA-NEVADA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE VOL. 16

Table. 3. Statistics for total invertebrates in drift/m3 in Ord Creek, Arizona, immediately before and after application of Antimycin A. Means are followed by one standard error; counts of invertebrates were made on three samples from each time period and indicated study reach. Weights and numbers of taxa are based on numbers of samples given just before limits in parentheses for the former.

Before After Time of Day No./m3 mg/m3 Taxa/sample No./m3 mg/m3 Taxa/sample

Bull Cienega

Afternoon, 8.3±5.1 11.4±2.3 3.0±0.7 37.0±2.9 28.0±25.7 1.3±0.6 1200-1800 hrs (4-14) (9,2.9-24.9) (2-4) (11-74) (3,8.3-57.7) (1-2) Nighttime, 63.6±33.5 58.9±6.8 5.8±1.5 No Data 0001-0600 hrs (31-98) (6, 42.8-87.3) (4-8)

Smith Cienega

Afternoon, 19.6±12.0 23.8±7.1 2.2±0.8 367.0±143.5 263.5±87.1 9.9±2.6 1200-1800 hrs (8-32) (10,7.1-64.7) (1-3) (231-517) (4,116.9-486.9) (6-11) Nighttime, 73.0±17.6 61.9±16.8 5.0+2.0 319.0±119.5 292.2±75.3 10.3+3.0 0001-0600 hrs (53-86) 3, 31.1-89.3) (3-7) (197-436) (4, 181.6-499.3) (7-14)

Discovering the Desert: Legacy of the Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratory. By WILLIAM G. McGINNIES. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 1981. xviii + 276 pp., illus. Cloth, $21.95; paper, $9.50.

BOOK REVIEW

The Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratory, founded in 1902 and located on Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, was established to study the ecology of plants in arid environments. In Discovering the Desert, Dr. McGinnies first summarizes the 38-year history of the laboratory, then moves into a review of Sonoran Desert plant ecology based on the work of desert laboratory scientists.

The detailed discussion of the Sonoran Desert is written in a popular style suitable for readers without much scientific background. McGinnies describes the vegetation, topography and climate of eight subdivisions in the Sonoran Desert: the Lower Colorado River Valley, Arizona Upland, Plains of Sonora, Foothills of Sonora, Sonoran Central Gulf Coast, and the Vizcaino, Magdalena and Cape regions in Baja California. Small-scale maps show the location of the Great Basin, Mohave, Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts; vegetational subdivisions within the Sonoran Desert; and distribution of nine common Sonoran Desert trees and shrubs. McGinnies devotes a chapter to the relationship between vegetation, climate and elevation on mountain islands in the Sonoran Desert, particularly the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. The discussions of Sonoran Desert vegetation are based largely on data gathered and presented by Forrest Shreve during his 32-year affiliation with the desert laboratory.

Drawing on studies conducted by many scientists who worked at the desert laboratory, McGinnies discusses the climate of the Sonoran Desert, emphasizing rainfall patterns and correlation of plant distribution with temperature.

Other topics covered in Discovering the Desert include desert soils, physiological and morphological adaptations of plants to the desert, and life forms of desert plants.

For those not familiar with Sonoran Desert plant ecology, this book is an informative introduction. More knowledgeable readers should be interested in the history of the desert laboratory and will certainly appreciate the valuable and extensive bibliography. Listing all major publications to come out of the desert laboratory, the bibliography covers the work of over 90 authors, citing more than 500 papers and monographs on a variety of topics. -Janice E. Bowers, University of Arizona, Office of Arid Lands Studies, Tucson.

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