TITLE

Canyonland Creek Ecology

PUB. DATE

January 2004

SOURCE

Earthwatch Institute Journal;Jan2004, Vol. 23 Issue 1, p70

SOURCE TYPE

Periodical

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

Riparian ecosystems in arid environments, like Salt Creek in Juab County, Utah that trickles through parched canyons, can harbor 90 percent of the local biodiversity. Driving through riparian areas and creek beds with off-road vehicles is widespread in Utah, but few ecological studies have traced the recovery from these disturbances. Salt Creek, used as a road for 50 years but closed to motor traffic in 1998, provides a unique opportunity to measure this. One can help ecologist Tim Graham to compare the abundance and diversity of invertebrates and amphibians between sections of Salt Creek that were recently closed to traffic and sections relatively untouched by recent human disturbance. Graham's research suggests that invertebrates and amphibians will make good indicators of the history of human disturbance here, and will also allow a tracking of Salt Creek's ecological recovery.

ACCESSION #

11796361

Tags: RIPARIAN ecology;  AMPHIBIANS;  INVERTEBRATES

 

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