Written by Dan Shimek.

Imagine yourself clawing to the top of a dune desperately seeking shelter and water. Your eyes try to focus on what you deduce must be a mirage. You see trees and a pool of fresh water. In actuality, you might be in the Cuatro Cienegas Valley in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico.

Its landscape features include breathtakingly blue and clear freshwater pools and rolling white gypsum sand dunes. Each pool can have its own unique biodiversity (Cuatro… 2009). Biodiversity is the variety of organisms in a given ecoregion. Interestingly, when pounded upon, this gypsum soil will make a hollow sound (Mares 2009)! This valley is home to over 1000 endemic plants and animals which makes it one of the highest in North America (Cuatro…2009). Endemism means an organism is found in only that one place in all of the earth.

Peyote is a type of plant found in the valley that has hallucinogenic properties. It is often used in religious ceremonies of the Native American Church (Mares 1999). One cool phenomenon which coincides with the thunderstorms which frequent the valley is the appearance and disappearance of Spadefoot toads. These toads only burrow out of the ground when it rains and immediately burrow back down when the rain stops. They can even spend over a year in the ground during a drought (Tweit 1995)!

This beautiful and fascinating ecoregion is under threat from overgrazing, over use of ground and surface water, and mining practices (Mares 1999). If you want to learn more and how you can help save this area, please check out these sources listed below.



Want to Learn More?

Cuatro Cienegas Valley. 2009. The Nature Conservancy. Available at http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/mexico/work/art8626.html (accessed October 2009).

Hendrickson, D.A. Cuatro Cienegas. The Center of Scientific Investigation of Cuatro Cienegas. Available at http://www.desertfishes.org/cuatroc/index.php (accessed October 2009).

Husley, C.D. 2006. Feeding specialization in Herichthys minckleyi: a tropically polymorphic fish. Journal of Fish Biology 68: 1399-1410.

Mares, M.A. 1999. Encyclopedia of Deserts. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.

Tweit, S.J. 1995. Barren, Wild and Worthless: Living in the Chihuahuan Desert. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World

Marine Ecoregions of the World







This page was created from an environmental education writing project generated in the Fall 2009 Bio245 Conservation Biology class. Content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Gustavus Adolphus College.

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