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I chose to research the desert biome because I live in the desert and I know a lot about it. For this project, I decided to research the Whitewater Canyon ecosystem. This canyon is located in southern California and is a part of the Colorado Desert.

Photo credit: Kacey Shaughnessy

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Whitewater Canyon is a unique ecosystem because it has a river, ponds, steep cliffs, a cottonwood forest, and the San Andreas fault line runs right through it.

There are different habitats inside of the canyon. There are the cliffs. Bighorn sheep, peregrine falcons, and bats live up there. There are ponds that have frogs and bugs. On the desert floor there are rabbits, mountain lions, coyotes, lizards, bugs, roadrunners, bobcats, and snakes.

There are grapes that grow there and lots of other edible desert plants.

Video credit: https://www.facebook.com/WhitewaterPreserve/videos/1302691406607932/

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The bighorn sheep in Whitewater Canyon are Nelson's bighorn sheep and they are endangered. They live on the cliffs. They eat plants on the cliffs and desert floor. They usually eat plants on the cliffs though because there are no predators there. They get their water from Whitewater River.

Photo credit: Kacey Shaughnessy

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Bighorn sheep were already endangered but they started dying faster recently.

In the last decade, the Whitewater Preserve said there were more than 300 bighorn sheep in and around Whitewater Canyon. In March of 2019, a helicopter flew over the canyon and counted only 35 sheep. At the time, there was no further inspection to see if there were more sheep hiding or in areas that were difficult to see.

Also, on February 14th 2019, there was a really bad flood that destroyed Whitewater Canyon and washed away a lot of things in the canyon. It might have washed away bighorn sheep too but it is not confirmed.

The helicopter was flying over to see where the bighorn sheep were so they didn't bother them while they were attempting to escort the cows out of the area. Because of bad weather, the cows were not removed from the canyon in 2019.

The bighorn sheep became endangered because there were cows. There were once ranches nearby and cows escaped and survived in the wild long enough to reproduce. There were at least 150 cows in Whitewater Canyon. The cows and the bighorn sheep compete for food. The cows carry diseases that they could give to the bighorn sheep.

At the end of 2018, Whitewater Preserve staff started finding bodies of bighorn sheep. In about 6 weeks, they found over 20 dead sheep. They died because they had pneumonia. Most of the researchers believe that the cows left germs on the plants that the sheep were also eating and the sheep ate the germs. This is how the bighorn sheep population started to die.

Photo credit: Kacey Shaughnessy

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Data showing at least one other species affected by this decline 

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Data showing at least one other species affected by this decline 

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Mountain lions were likely affected due to the fact that one of their main food sources was decreasing when the sheep started to die.

Cliff plants were able to grow more because they were not being eaten by the bighorn sheep for a long period of time. Extra plants on the cliff made extra habitat for bugs and small birds.

There were a lot of cows and they left a lot of scat around the preserve where people visit.

The cow population continued to rise because they had no natural predators and when the sheep died they had more food.

The cows were eating too many plants and the plants in Whitewater Canyon are slow growing desert plants. The cows also crushed plants which led to the soil being softened and exposed. The soft soil helps invasive plants like Sahara mustard grow. The soft soil also leads to more erosion.

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Proposed solution/action to "bring back" the keystone species population 

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Proposed solution/action to "bring back" the keystone species population 

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My idea to help the bighorn sheep recover is to relocate the cows into a habitat where they are actually able to live. Then, Whitewater Preserve staff or the Bighorn Sheep Institute can monitor bighorn sheep to make sure that if any of the bighorn sheep are sick that no others will get sick. In order to prevent other sheep from getting sick, they should capture and isolate the sick sheep. They can recover in The Living Desert Zoo.

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/WhitewaterPreserve/photos/a.367295046688818/1932212270197080/?type=3&theater

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Wildlife Wednesday!

Throughout the fall season, we will be featuring new Wildlife Wednesday posts every week to help you get familiar with the residents of our preserve. If you have any great photos...