Conservation of Mojave Desert springs and associated biota: status, threats, and policy opportunities

Parker, Sophie S.; Zdon, Andy; Christian, William T.; Cohen, Brian S.; Mejia, Maura Palacios; Fraga, Naomi S.; Curd, Emily; Edalati, Kiumars; Renshaw, Mark A.

doi:10.1007/s10531-020-02090-7

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Aquifers where relatively small volumes of groundwater have been removed from storage, and where no large volume groundwater extraction is likely in the future, seem the best candidates for adaptively managing groundwater to meet sustainability goals, given the more manageable level of uncertainty of these natural systems. Large volume water development projects have nevertheless been proposed and implemented in sensitive desert systems with low resiliency (Parker et al 2021). Such projects introduce considerable additional uncertainty with much greater risk of adverse or irreversible impacts for natural systems over the long term.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Partly in response to this drought, the State of California enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, which requires that impacts to groundwater-dependent ecosystems be considered and reported in groundwater sustainability plans (Rohde et al 2017). However, legal frameworks for planning and managing groundwater use vary greatly between U.S. states and even between areas within a single state (Nelson and Ouevauviller 2016 Groundwater Management Act only applies in some of the state's groundwater basins (Parker et al 2021). Similarly in Arizona, some areas within the state are highly managed while other areas remain largely unregulated (Arizona Department of Water Resources 2021).…”

Section: A Need For Guidance That Protects Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managing Groundwater to Ensure Ecosystem Function

et al. 2021

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Groundwater is a critical resource not only for human communities but also for many terrestrial, riparian, and aquatic ecosystems and species. Yet groundwater planning and management decisions frequently ignore or inadequately address the needs of these natural systems. As a consequence, ecosystems dependent on groundwater have been threatened, degraded, or eliminated, especially in arid regions. There is growing acknowledgment that governmental protections for these ecological resources are necessary, but current legal, regulatory and voluntary provisions are often inadequate. Groundwater management premised on "safe yield," which aims to balance human withdrawals with natural recharge rates, typically provides little to no consideration for water needed by ecosystems. Alternatively, the "sustainable yield" concept aims to integrate social, economic and environmental needs for groundwater, but the complexity of groundwater systems creates substantial uncertainty about the impact that current or future groundwater withdrawals will have on ecosystems. Regardless of the legal or regulatory framework, guidance is needed to help ensure environmental water needs will be met, especially in the face of pressure to increase human uses of groundwater resources. In this paper, we describe minimum provisions for planning, managing, and monitoring groundwater that collectively can lower the risk of harm to groundwaterdependent ecosystems and species, with a special emphasis on arid systems, where ecosystems and species may be especially reliant upon and sensitive to groundwater dynamics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Need For Guidance That Protects Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Groundwater to Ensure Ecosystem Function

et al. 2021

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“…Regionally, monitoring of the status of the carbonate aquifer that is the source of spring water throughout the range of N. mohavensis is critical to tracking the long-term effects of groundwater withdrawal on spring ecosystems. Sources of groundwater extraction that are known to affect groundwater levels within the region include agriculture in the Amargosa Valley, Nevada (e.g., alfalfa production and a dairy farm) and agriculture and residential development in Pahrump Valley, Nevada (Parker et al 2021). Local groundwater monitoring collected within and around N. mohavensis populations should be analyzed together with abundance data in California and Nevada in order to improve understanding of how variation in subsurface water availability affects these populations.…”

Section: Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status of the Amargosa niterwort (Amaranthaceae) in California and Nevada

Fraga¹,

Miller

Groot³

et al. 2021

California Fish and Wildlife Journal

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The Amargosa niterwort is a narrow endemic restricted to alkali wetlands of the northern Mojave Desert in Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada. Groundwater pumping and subsequent hydrological alteration within the Amargosa groundwater basin has been identified as the most significant threat to the long-term persistence of the species. Parallel monitoring programs were established in California (2010) and Nevada (2014) to establish baseline trends in abundance, measured as ramet (stem) number, and to aid in determining management actions that are needed to ensure the long-term viability of populations. Monitoring in California shows significant variation in abundance between years; however, there are consistent trends, indicating that factors influencing increase or decrease in abundance is similar across the population. However, this pattern is not shared in Nevada, where following a sharp decline between 2014 and 2015 the population has remained relatively stable. Two of the three Nevada macroplots are downstream from Crystal Reservoir and are likely influenced by discharge from the reservoir including periodic water releases and leakage from the earthen dam. Significant increases and decreases in abundance within macroplots are not correlated with climate variables including precipitation, thus it is important to understand how groundwater flow and spring discharge impacts abundance of plants within and between populations.

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“…Elevation gradients in particular shape the timing and productivity of Mojave Desert vegetation, and as a result, high-elevation patches can act as refugia for desert bighorn (Epps et al 2004;Creech et al 2020). Low-elevation patches tend to have spatially and temporally heterogeneous resources that are increasingly affected by human activities and development (Parker et al 2021). Fragmentation likely limits desert bighorn access to varied habitat and resources that were once accessible, shifting home ranges away from their optimal and historic patterns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement models and simulation reveal highway impacts and mitigation opportunities for a metapopulation-distributed species

et al. 2023

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Context When human-made barriers impact wildlife by limiting habitat connectivity, simulation can reveal movements lost to fragmentation, strategies to restore corridor function, and potential benefits of corridor restoration. Objectives Guided by previous genetic research, we examined desert bighorn sheep movement near two highways that restrict gene flow and modelled their movement and habitat selection behavior. The ultimate goal was to simulate movement without highway barriers as a means to site crossing structures that mitigate fragmentation and to reveal their benefits for habitat reachability. Methods We fit integrated step selection functions (iSSFs) to GPS data from 9 bighorn populations near highways in California. After comparing iSSF simulations to validation data, we simulated 8200 bighorn-years of movement—200 year-long tracks each for 41 individuals—on a landscape with and without highways. We derived utilization distributions (UD) from simulations to identify probable high-use locations along the highways, compare these locations to previously predicted genetic corridors and roadkill events, and estimate changes in habitat reachability and elevation without these barriers. Results Simulation UDs correlated well with observed bighorn movements. Barrier-free simulations indicated preferred corridors across highway-blocked valleys, often at the same locations predicted by landscape genetics models (4 of 6 genetic-based corridors matched simulation-based corridors), and where bighorn roadkill events occurred (3 of 3 roadkill events occurred at simulation-predicted corridors). Relative to barrier-present simulations, barrier removal increased accessible habitat for 8 of 9 populations, with increases ranging from 7 to 138% per population. Barrier-free conditions allowed movement to higher elevations in two populations. Conclusion Animal movement simulation can effectively assess fragmentation impacts and reveal mitigation options when other data sources are scarce. Our simulations confirm previously predicted corridors, provide detailed locations for targeted mitigation, and suggest certain corridors pose greater habitat-related benefits.

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Conservation of Mojave Desert springs and associated biota: status, threats, and policy opportunities

Cited by 18 publications

References 49 publications

Managing Groundwater to Ensure Ecosystem Function

Managing Groundwater to Ensure Ecosystem Function

Status of the Amargosa niterwort (Amaranthaceae) in California and Nevada

Movement models and simulation reveal highway impacts and mitigation opportunities for a metapopulation-distributed species

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