User:Galirin15/Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Climate and Its Impact On the Landscape
Anza-Borrego State Park is located in the Colorado Desert Region of Southern California which is an extension of the Mexican Sonoran Desert. The Koppen Climate classification for Anza Borrego Desert State Park is BWh. The characteristics of this climate are typically hot and arid along with a deficiency in precipitation due to the continental tropical air mass which has very dry warm air. As climate change increases there is potential for wetter years which bring about "super blooms," that boost tourism during the winter and early spring. Locals began to rely on seasonal tourism to boost their economies, and, along with wet years climate change has threatened the economy as it has the ability to produce longer droughts which threaten the tourist dependent towns nearby. As the environment changes with climate desertification, locals and developers search for ways to maintain tourism, some attempt to maintain steady tourism with mega development of resorts or artificial oases. However, a study conducted on North-West China deserts in 2020 showed that artificial oases vegetation is not acclimated to drought conditions, and they consume large amounts of groundwater which deplete the water table level and outcompete native vegetation that store water in their roots. Since deserts have such extreme weather, the species that inhabit them are highly dependent on each other, and developing on deserts or creating artificial oases will not only impact vegetation but also animals.

References

Barbour, M. “23. Colorado Desert Vegetation.” Terrestrial Vegetation of California, 3rd Edition, 31 Dec. 2019, pp. 657–682, https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520933361-025.

Luo, Lihui, et al. “The hidden costs of Desert Development.” Ambio, vol. 49, no. 8, 20 Nov. 2019, pp. 1412–1422, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01287-7.

Patrich, J., & Radtke, T. (2020). Physical Geography - Version 1. College of the Canyons. Retrieved 21 April 2024.

Winkler, Daniel E., and Emily Brooks. “Tracing extremes across iconic desert landscapes: Socio-ecological and cultural responses to climate change, water scarcity, and wildflower Superblooms.” Human Ecology, vol. 48, no. 2, Apr. 2020, pp. 211–223, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-020-00145-5.