Dynamic response of desert wetlands to abrupt climate change

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Springer, Kathleen B., Manker, Craig R., Pigati, Jeffrey S.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2015
• Subjects: Physical Sciences; Greenland; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4664373/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26554007; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1513352112

A paleohydrologic record from the Las Vegas Valley (southern Nevada, United States) shows that desert wetlands were extremely sensitive to rapid climatic changes during the past 35,000 years and exhibit temporal congruence with the Greenland ice core record. Wetlands in the valley expanded and contracted many times in response to climatic events during this period, including Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles and other millennial and submillennial climatic perturbations. Widespread erosion occurred when entire wetland systems collapsed during exceptionally dry times. Drought-like conditions typically lasted for a few centuries, which highlights the threat of anthropogenic warming to endemic fauna and flora that depend on desert wetlands to provide a consistent source of water in an otherwise arid landscape.