CANADA: California’s ongoing drought is being blamed for accelerating the decline of Joshua trees, iconic symbols of the state’s desert regions, researchers say.
Young seedlings of the distinctive trees, found mainly in the Mojave Desert, are shriveling and dying from lack of water before they have a chance to put down strong roots, ecologists say.
“For Joshua trees, hotter, drier conditions are a problem — but a bigger problem is that what little rainfall occurs evaporates faster,” says researcher Cameron Barrows from the University of California, Riverside.
That leaves the seedlings in a weak state, he says, and some Joshua trees have not reproduced in decades.
The Mojave region, including Joshua Tree National Park, has gotten less than half of its usual annual four inches of rain for several years.
If current conditions continue for decades, 90 percent of the trees in the park could vanish by the end of this century, the researchers say.
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