Word: desertions
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Donald Sada, an ecologist at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev., is also concerned. A slight decrease in the flow of groundwater will probably not be detrimental to the pockets of water that dot Western deserts, he says. The problem is, "What's slight? At what point do we start to alter the functional ecology?" The loss of the diminutive snails, fish and other organisms that dwell in desert springs would be important to more than just ecologists and taxonomists. Those tiny animals are indicator species, the canaries in the environmental coal mine that provide the first warning that...
...Nevadans warn, and you could upset a complex web of aquifers that run as far away as California's Death Valley and western Utah, where Snake Valley partly lies. That could do irreversible damage to plant, wildlife and human populations all sipping from the same limited supply. For every desert population center, there is a similarly limited supply of water and a similar potential for political warfare...
...federal officials agree to its aquifer-tapping proposal. While water-authority representatives wait, the city has been busy reassuring everyone that its plan will be considerate of the land, with carefully monitored pumping that can be dialed back the moment evidence of harm comes to light. But in the desert there's not a lot of margin for error, and a chronic water imbalance can be environmentally devastating. Robert Hershler, a taxonomist at the Smithsonian Institution, has combed through the biota of hundreds of springs in the Great Basin region, including Snake Valley, and has discovered more than...
...historic lows, raising the specter of involuntary rationing. It was a shock that rattled water managers in numerous states, causing Denver, for example, to eye the headwaters of the Gunnison River, clear across the Continental Divide, and Los Angeles to consider exploiting a groundwater field in the Mojave Desert. These and other communities will thus be watching Las Vegas closely, as will environmentalists who question, among other things, how much water, if any, the city can take out of Snake Valley without doing harm...
...caravan of vintage Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Aston Martins shimmers in the heat of the Jordanian desert. It's a vision but not a mirage. The Jewel That Is Jordan is an annual 1,300-km classic-car tour from the Red Sea port of Aqaba to the Roman ruins of Jerash and back. This year, 55 cars and 150 people from Europe, the U.S. and South America are registered for the two-week circuit that takes in some of Jordan's most beautiful sights, including Petra, Wadi Rum and Mount Nebo?a robust test for the vehicles...