Abstract

Arches National Park, located in southeastern Utah, lies in a transition zone between the southwestern hot desert and the western cold desert, but it is floristically most similar to the hot desert. The major plant communities are as follows: Juniper-pinyon, blackbrush, grasslands and sand dune association. Other community types occur but occupy very limited areas. All of the communities studied have a high degree of uniqueness and merit recognition as separate entities. Blackbrush showed the greatest overall similarity to other communities and was most similar to the sand dune communities. The hanging gardens were the most distinctive and covered the smallest area of the communities present in the Park. Cluster analysis placed blackbrush, sand dunes and juniper-pinyon on the xeric end of a moisture gradient and streamsides and hanging gardens on the mesic end.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Life Sciences; Plant and Wildlife Sciences

Rights

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