Abstract
Disturbances such as fire, land clearing, and road building remove vegetation and can have major influences on public health through effects on air quality, aesthetics, recreational opportunities, natural resource availability, and economics. Plant recovery and succession following disturbance are poorly understood in arid lands relative to more temperate regions. This study quantitatively reviewed vegetation reestablishment following a variety of disturbances in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of southwestern North America. A total of 47 studies met inclusion criteria for the review. The time estimated by 29 individual studies for full reestablishment of total perennial plant cover was 76 years. Although long, this time was shorter than an estimated 215 years (among 31 individual studies) required for the recovery of species composition typical of undisturbed areas, assuming that recovery remains linear following the longest time since disturbance measurement made by the studies.
Highlights
IntroductionHumans have been extensively disturbing the environment of the hot deserts of the American
Humans have been extensively disturbing the environment of the hot deserts of the AmericanSouthwest since the mid-1800s (Figure 1)
The time estimated by 29 individual studies for full reestablishment of total perennial plant cover was 76 years. This time was shorter than an estimated 215 years required for the recovery of species composition typical of undisturbed areas, assuming that recovery remains linear following the longest time since disturbance measurement made by the studies
Summary
Humans have been extensively disturbing the environment of the hot deserts of the American. Some of these disturbances have facilitated, or attempted to facilitate, widespread public benefits, but not without environmental costs. Water and energy transmission corridors carry resources within and through the region, yet result in long, linear areas of cleared disturbed land [2]. Proliferation of roads and unauthorized off-road vehicle use has left persistent scars in the desert [5]. In their analysis of the road network in the 6,475-km Mojave National Preserve in southern California, Vogel and Hughson [6]
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