This Desert National Park includes the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert Ecosystems. Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR) has nearly 800,000 acres of protected federal land, and is one of Earth's intact desert ecosystems recognized as an International Biosphere Reserve. Approximately 80% of JOTR is designated Wilderness, "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
Though very little rain or snow falls on JOTR, the land is far from life-less. Fascinating desert adapted organisms abound here, though most animals are secretive and avoid daytime temperatures. Most plants are either durable perennials like cactus, shrubs and yucca, or could spend many years as a seed amongst desert soils waiting for the infrequent moist winters, followed by a warm spring.
More attention is being paid to our less showy organisms generally known at cryptogams. They include new species of moss, lichen and fungi being described. While walking off trail, be cautious not to disturb living soil structures call cryptobiotic soils/crust. Fungal, bacterial, and algal components that live together in mutualistic communities, enhance soil structure, moisture and nutrients.
To better preserve Joshua Tree National Park and its life-forms, we need a species inventory. You can contribute by adding your species observations, their distribution and abundance. Additionally, Joshua Tree National Park acts as a living laboratory for monitoring phenology, and how species respond to a changing climate. This data can help park staff in making policy decisions.
While identifying organisms please check our updated species list to verify known species:
www.nps/gov/jotr/naturescience/index.htm
Other useful app tools are:
Calflora - Observer App www.calflora.org/phone/, www.calflora.org/phone/iphone.html
What's Invasive! http://whatsinvasive.com/
Mission Wall