LAS CRUCES, NM - Researchers at The Jornada Experimental Range and New Mexico State University are learning to uncover thousands of years of climate data in environments where no record previously existed. In order to do this, they are digging into the earth itself for a chronology of how vegetation has shifted between grasslands and shrublands in the Desert Southwest. Not only does this give scientists a new method of peering into the climactic record in areas they could not before, but the information they gain will help differentiate between human-caused and natural cycles of climate change.
Every year the monsoon brings much needed rain to the Southwest. This transient moisture transforms the desert and allows the grasslands, that both wildlife and people depend on, to emerge. When the rains end, the grasses will have spread their seeds, dried up, and will wait for next summer’s rain. Very little here is permanent.
Healthy Chihuahuan Desert grassland during monsoon season.
