Mammalian Phylogeography and Evolutionary History of Northern Mexico’s Deserts

Northern Mexico is dominated by the warm, southern deserts of North America: the Sonoran Desert west of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Chihuahuan Desert of the Altiplano between the Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental. These deserts contain the majority of arid-lands biodiversity of North Amer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBiodiversity, Ecosystems, And Conservation In Northern Mexico
Main Authors Hafner, David J., Riddle, Brett R.
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY Oxford University Press 25.08.2005
Subjects
Biodivsersity and Conservation Biology
Invertebrates
Plant Sciences and Forestry
warm
Oriental
techniques
Northern
America
papers
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Summary:Northern Mexico is dominated by the warm, southern deserts of North America: the Sonoran Desert west of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Chihuahuan Desert of the Altiplano between the Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental. These deserts contain the majority of arid-lands biodiversity of North America, and most of their surface area and biodiversity occur in Mexico. Our understanding of the evolutionary history of these deserts has ad-vanced considerably since the seminal descriptive papers on the desert vegetation of North America by Forrest Shreve in 1942 and 1951. This new his-torical perspective has resulted from a large body of studies, including in-depth research on fossil floras and woodrat (Neotoma) middens; revolutionary advances in historical geology, historical biogeography, and genetics; and the development of new analytical techniques.
ISBN:9780195156720
0195156722
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780195156720.003.0012