Banking California desert plant seeds for the future

tomwt — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 15:01:48 +0000

Banking California desert plant seeds for the future tomwt Wed, 08/30/2023 - 08:01 More CNAS in the Media Jo Kwon | Spectrum News 1 August 28, 2023

SPECTRUM NEWS 1 - The California Desert makes up about 28% of the state’s land area and contains about 38% of the native plant species within the state.

Researchers say wildfires and climate change can have an enormous impact on desert species. That’s why the Mojave Desert Land Trust has been busy collecting seeds from native desert species to bank them for restoration and research efforts in the future.

Spectrum News goes along with the nonprofit during one of their seed collection hikes in Joshua Tree. Hear from Lynn Sweet, a research ecologist at the University of California, Riverside, about how climate change could affect the desert plant species in Joshua Tree.

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Joshua Tree National Park is more popular than ever — but its namesake trees are facing extinction

ilseu — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 22:03:29 +0000

Joshua Tree National Park is more popular than ever — but its namesake trees are facing extinction ilseu Sat, 12/19/2020 - 14:03 More CNAS in the Media Miles W. Griffis | VOGUE December 18, 2020

VOGUE — In a wilderness area at the northwest corner of Joshua Tree National Park, ecologist Lynn Sweet treks across the high desert as raucous pinyon jays swoop overhead. She navigates carefully across the landscape of blackbrush and fragrant junipers to inspect the stump of a Joshua tree. Much of the tree’s trunk, branches, and dagger-shaped leaves are sprawled across the desert floor—most likely the casualty of a gust of wind that snapped it like a toothpick.

The tree was one of thousands that Dr. Sweet and her team examined in a recent study that predicted a worrisome future for the iconic western Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, within the national park due to climate change. The tree was less than 25% alive during Dr. Sweet and her team’s last recording. Now, the tree is dead.

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