dunes

Pretty much everyone has heard of White Sands National Monument. Many have been there and some remember the ecology lessons they learnt about how the gypsum and salt dunes formed.

The inner area of the dunes has very little animal life, and only a little plant life. The active dunes moved around even while we sledded on them. There actually is quite a bit of moisture under the sand's surface, but is is salty, packed, and alkaline. This foreign planet landscape was fascinating.

The land is constantly moving, so everything disappears into the sand: footprints, trash, the roads. Even the nature lessons vanish, everyone also forgets the sleds and the sunglasses.

While the edges of the dunes have a large variety of life, the interior is hostile to bacteria and other detritivores. This imported dog poop might get covered by sand, but it will never disappear. The pile will be embalmed as effectively as an Egyptian mummy.

Unlike in the mountains nearby, the sand dunes have no fungus to digest the wood. Fungi need water and acid to do their work of making soil. There is water in this desert, but limited acid. Other than what the plants make themselves from fallen leaves.

I was surprised again to find cottonwoods thriving out on the edges of the sand dunes. The shifting dunes mean the trees are often buried. There were many places where the roots were high off the "ground". The tree is able to "suberize" (good for Scrabble) the usually delicate roots. This takes a root and protects it from losing water when exposed to air. Most plants in the dunes have other skills to stabilize the soil and grow rapidly above the suffocating sands. They use auxin, a major plant hormone to control growth rates.

I did find this weird plant. I think it's a grassland croton, but can't find out much about it on the internet. It's a spurge, but not particularly noted for it's desert adaptations, as far as I can tell.