DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Larrea tridentata | Creosotebush 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Creosotebush occurs throughout the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan
deserts [11].  Its distribution extends from southern California
northeast through southern Nevada to the southwest corner of Utah and
southeast through southern Arizona and New Mexico to western Texas and
north-central Mexico [67].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES32  Texas savanna
   FRES33  Southwestern shrubsteppe
   FRES40  Desert grasslands


STATES : 
     AZ  CA  NV  NM  TX  UT  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BIBE  CACA  CAGR  DEVA  FOBO  GRCA
     GUMO  JOTR  LAME  MOCA  ORPI  SAGU
     TONT  WHSA  ZION


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


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K041  Creosotebush
   K042  Creosotebush - bursage
   K043  Paloverde - cactus shrub
   K044  Creosotebush - tarbush
   K045  Ceniza shrub
   K058  Grama - tobosa shrubsteppe
   K059  Trans-Pecos shrub savanna


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    68  Mesquite
   242  Mesquite


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Creosotebush is a dominant or codominant member of most plant
communities in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts.
Creosotebush occurs on 35 to 46 million acres (14-18.4 million ha) in
the Southwest [25].  Creosotebush usually occurs in open, species-poor
communities, sometimes in pure stands.  It also occurs as a transitional
species in desert grasslands [59], viscid acacia (Acacia
neovernicosa)-mariola (Parthenium incanum) chaparillo [60], mesquite
(Prosopis spp.)  woodlands [90], Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia)/big
galleta (Hilaria rigida) communities [57], and xeroriparian areas [14].

The creosotebush-white bursage (Ambrosia dumosa) association covers
approximately 70 percent of the Mojave Desert [42,67,91].  Ackerman [3]
estimated the density of creosotebush at 959 plants per hectare on
Mojave Desert sites in Rock Valley, Nevada.  Relative abundance was 10.8
percent and relative plant cover was 19.6 percent.  Species associated
with creosotebush-white bursage communities in the Mojave Desert include
Shockley's goldenhead (Acamptopappus shockleyi), Anderson's wolfberry
(Lycium andersonii), range ratany (Krameria parvifolia), Mojave yucca
(Yucca schidigera), California jointfir (Ephedra funerea), spiny hopsage
(Grayia spinosa), and winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata) [88].
Creosotebush also occurs in the Mojave Desert scrub association with
desertholly (Atriplex hymenelytra), shadscale (A. confertifolia), white
burrobrush (Hymenoclea salsola), blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima),
Joshua tree, desertsenna (Cassia armata), and Nevada ephedra (Ephedra
nevadensis) [54,97].

In the Sonoran Desert, creosotebush commonly occurs in the
creosotebush-triangle bursage (Ambrosia deltoidea) [7],
creosotebush-white bursage [91], and Sonoran Desert scrub [54]
associations.  Other species associated with creosotebush in the Sonoran
Desert include yellow paloverde (Cercidium microphyllum), tesota (Olneya
tesota), big galleta, prickly pear (Opuntia spp.), acacia (Acacia
paucipina), fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), ocotillo (Fouquieria
splendens), western honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var.
torreyana), brittle bush (Encelia farinosa), and pachycereus
(Pachycereus schottii) [7, 26, 91].  The densities of creosotebush in
the subdivisions of the Sonoran Desert are 448 plants per hectare in the
Lower Colorado River Valley, 437.7 plants per hectare in the Arizona
Upland Subdivision, and 1.1 plants per hectare on the Central Gulf Coast
[67].

The creosotebush scrub phase covers 40 percent of the Chihuahuan Desert
[67].  Associated species include tarbush (Flourensia cernua), acacia
(Acacia spp.), leucophyllum (Leucophyllum spp.), mesquite, palma (Yucca
filifera), ocotillo, small-leaf geigertree (Cordia parviflora), and
anisacanthus (Anisacanthus spp.)  [49, 73].  Creosotebush also occurs in
the sand dune scrub phase in the Chihuahuan Desert [49].

Publications listing creosotebush as a dominant or codominant species
include:

  The structure and distribution of Larrea communities [9]
  Sonoran Desert [24]
  Vegetation and community types of the Chihuahuan Desert [49]
  Preliminary descriptions of the terrestrial natural communities of
    California [54]
  The natural vegetation of Arizona [81]
  Vegetation of the Santa Catalina Mountains: community types and
    dynamics [82]	
  Plant communities of Texas (Series level) [94]
  Vegetation and flora of Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Arizona
    [103]

Related categories for Species: Larrea tridentata | Creosotebush