DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Ambrosia dumosa | White Bursage 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
White bursage occurs throughout the Sonoran and Mojave deserts although
it is typically considered a Mojave Desert species [1].  It ranges north
to Death Valley, California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah.  It
extends along the Gulf in Baja California as far south as Bajia Los
Angeles and into Sonora as far south as Tiburon Island [41].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES30  Desert shrub


STATES : 
     AZ  CA  NV  UT  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ORPI  JOTR  DEVA  GRCA  LAME  SAGU


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
   12  Colorado Plateau


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K041  Creosotebush
   K042  Creosotebush - bursage
   K043  Paloverde - cactus shrub


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   242  Mesquite


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
White bursage is a dominant or codominant member of most plant
communities in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts.  It usually occurs in
open, species-poor communities with creosotebush (Larrea tridentata).

At the northern boundary of white bursage, in the transition zone
between the Mojave and Great Basin deserts, associated species of the
creosotebush-white bursage community include wolfberry (Lycium spp.),
range ratany (Krameria parvifolia), Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera),
California jointfir (Ephedra funera), spiny hopsage (Grayia spinosa),
and winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata) [38,47].  The density of white
bursage is about 2,500 plants per hectare [3,47].

Approximately 70 percent of the Mojave Desert is covered with open or
very open stands of creosotebush and white bursage [15,29,40].
Associated species in the Mojave Desert include desertsenna (Cassia
armata), Nevada ephedra (Ephedra nevadensis), white burrobrush
(Hymenoclea salsola), and wolfberry [22].

In the Sonoran Desert, associated members of the creosotebush-white
bursage community are acacia (Acacia paucipina), fourwing saltbush
(Atriplex canescens), ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), big galleta
(Hilaria rigida), cholla (Opuntia spp.) and western honey mesquite
(Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana) [40].  In the Arizona Upland
Subdivision of the Sonoran Desert, the density of white bursage is 549.7
plants per hectare and white bursage cover is 2.7 percent.  In the Lower
Colorado River Valley, the density of white bursage is 84 plants per
hectare and white bursage cover is 0.1 percent [29].

In addition to the creosotebush-white bursage association, white bursage
is a member of the following associations:  Joshua tree (Yucca
brevifolia)-big galleta [24], saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea)-paloverde
(Cercidium spp.) [39], Sonoran creosotebush scrub, Mojave creosotebush
scrub, and Mojave mixed woody scrub [22].

Publications listing white bursage as a dominant or codominant species
include:

Sonoran Desert [10]
Preliminary descriptions of the terrestrial natural communities of California
  [22]
Vegetation of the Santa Catalina Mountains: community types and
  dynamics [34]
Mojave Desert scrub vegetation [60] 

Related categories for Species: Ambrosia dumosa | White Bursage