In all, the citizen scientists found 800 baby Joshua trees. They narrowed the field to about 80 of the newest plants that were a foot tall or less, so Barrows could chart their distribution in relation to rising temperatures.
Barrows was not surprised to find evidence that Joshua trees have stopped reproducing in the hotter areas of the park, where yearly low temperatures in the south have increased 3.2 degrees in the past 36 years. But enough recent offspring were found to give him hope for the future.
“What this indicates is more of a hopeful scenario, in that if we as a world of people who consume carbon and expel it, start living more sustainably, then things like protecting Joshua trees in the boundaries of Joshua Tree National Park are possible,” said Barrows, a research ecologist at UC Riverside’s Palm Desert campus.
His findings veer from a 2005 study by Ken Cole of the U.S. Geological Survey showing that Joshua trees likely will be gone from 90 percent of their current range in the next 60 to 90 years.
The spiky trees, plentiful throughout the Southwest and Mexico in the Ice Age, now are limited to Joshua Tree National Park; eastern San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Kern counties; Inyo County; southern Nevada; extreme southwestern Utah; and northwest Arizona.
Cole predicts that all of the Joshua trees in San Bernardino and Riverside counties will migrate to Nevada and the higher elevations of Death Valley by the next century.
The difference, Barrows said, is that Cole’s work covered the entire southwestern United States, while Barrows looked specifically at Joshua Tree National Park.
The park’s location at the southern boundary of their habitat has allowed the plants there to better adapt to drought and high temperatures than those living in less extreme climates, he said.
Disrupting the Borg is expensive and time consuming!
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Whole lot of wetdry/coldwarm going on!!!!!!
“I’m out plowing driveways, and we can’t even find the houses,”
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/03/30/v-lite/1605041/near-record-sierra-snow-good-news.html#ixzz1I6XDxo2b
You mean plants also adapt to their environment? Wow! Next up, sunlight and rain help plants survive!
Not only can they adapt, apparently they have little feet (or trucks or some means of transportation)
“Cole predicts that all of the Joshua trees in San Bernardino and Riverside counties will migrate to Nevada and the higher elevations of Death Valley by the next century.”
And I’m no relation to THAT Cole
I thought Nevada was going to ban immigration?
No, that was AZ.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I lived among the Joshua trees for over 50 years. I have seen them next to the Colorado River and at much higher elevations. They thrive in the friggen desert! Increased precipitation will cause a problem for them. They also exist where the temperature gets over 120F as well as below 0F! Thses folks need to start writing for SNL. Monty Python skits are more believable!
“Cole predicts that all of the Joshua trees in San Bernardino and Riverside counties will migrate to Nevada and the higher elevations of Death Valley by the next century.”
Ah yes, I can see the thundering herds, like wildebeests… maybe they could just build a fence.
I like that! The higher elevations like -243 ft in Death Valley. Or would they move to 5000 ft in Nevada where they already grow? They do not have to migrate to be in the locations he claims they are moving to because they are already there. While I do not recall seeing any at the lowest point I have seen them around Death Valley and the lowest point is a salt flat any how with a bit of water.
People cut them down, these are the strongest weeds on earth, they DO NOT DIE!!
uh, plant nurseries sell them in south Florida….
…if they weren’t so butt ugly more people would use them
Is that Josh in the photo?
The entire fate of Western Civilization rests with the where the Joshua Tree nexts decides to move. Get a life!