Typical Chihuahuan Desert plant communities at the Jornada site. (a) Perennial grasslands on loamy sands (dominated by black grama [Bouteloua eriopoda] and dropseeds [Sporobolus flexuosus]); (b) grasslands in playas that flood intermittently are dominated by perennial grasses (tobosa grass [Pleuraphis mutica] and burrograss [Scleropogon brevifolius]); (c) shrublands (primarily honey mesquite [Prosopis glandulosa]) on sands and loamy sands, and piedmont slope (bajada) shrublands on silty and gravelly soils dominated by (d) creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) with scattered grasses on the upper bajada, or (e) tarbush (Flourensia cernua) with scattered grasses on the lower bajada. (f) Mesquite plants distributed by humans and animals using the historic El Camino Real have expanded into the surrounding grassland. Images from Jornada USDA‐LTER photo library (https://jornada.nmsu.edu). See: Peters et al. 2015. Beyond desertification: new paradigms for dryland landscapes. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
