Hello from the Mojave Desert! For the last month, we have been busy trying to quantify the forage available for juvenile Desert Tortoises! Each day brings us to a new field site, where we collect as much data on diversity and available biomass as possible. We have come across some fantastic species, and my knowledge of Boraginaceae species (especially those in the Cryptantha genus) has grown by leaps and bounds! Here’s a photo of Eschscholzia glyptosperma (when it was still flowering).

Most species are either seeding or senesced at this point, so our field campaign is beginning to wind down. The next few weeks will be spent weighing biomass samples and preparing for our next project (TBA). We will, however, return to our surveys later this summer when late summer annuals begin to emerge!
We continue to come across the occasional tort in the field, but they are beginning to spend less time out of their burrows as it gets warmer.

However, with increasing temperatures, snakes appear to be more frequent, especially gopher snakes…

They can be a bit of a surprise when you’re looking down at a GPS suddenly find yourself standing only feet away!
I’ve learned so much already, and am looking forward to learning a lot more as we start our new project in early June!

Til next time,
Daniel

Henderson, NV