Publication lists for the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center:
Categories below are an attempt to capture various themes, and hopefully allow easier access to publications of interest. Please click on the category and it will take you to that particular list.  All publications listed on this page represent (to the best of our knowledge) research that was facilitated in some way by the Center.

Over the last three decades, more than 400 academic research projects affiliated with the Center have generated over 650 publications. Most of these are in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles (~60%), however significant contributions have been made in the form of books, book chapters, conference proceedings, films/audiovisual media, and all forms of gray literature such as government reports, magazine articles, and natural history guides (see graph). In addition, the Center has a long history of supporting graduate student research, demonstrated by the 50+ Ph.D. Dissertations and Master Theses completed as a result of research conducted on (or near) the reserve.  The long list of publications generated by research facilitated by the Center is a great metric for assessing our contribution toward achieving the mission of the Natural Reserve System.

By virtue of providing a place for researchers to gather, i.e. a launching point for exploration, the Center promotes scientific discovery not only on the protected lands within the reserve, but in the surrounding areas. The Center continues to serve an important “gateway” role in California’s eastern Mojave Desert by facilitating academic research throughout the region. In addition, some research is only made possible by the data collected by a prior investigation. This “stepping stone” phenomenon of building research upon research has cultivated a foundation of knowledge that truly is the cornerstone of this reserve.

GRANITE MOUNTAINS PUBLICATIONS: This list highlights any publications that are unique to the Granite Mountains, and/or have been sponsored by the Center.  

Natural History

Granite Mountains Resource Survey:  This report was completed in 1979 by a group of UC Santa Cruz students working under Dr. Kenneth Norris.  It includes comprehensive studies of the mountain range within the following categories: geology, botany, archeology, cultural history, birds, herpetofauna, and mammals. Chapters are available as pdf documents below. All work is copyrighted to the original authors, and should be cited accordingly. Full citation: Stein, B. A., and S. F. Warrick 1979. Granite Mountains Resource Survey. Environmental Field Program, University of California, Santa Cruz, California.

Lizard Guide to the Granite Mountains:  Written by Winifred F. Frick and illustrated by Natie E. Tillotson, this booklet provides species profiles for the 15 lizards found in the Granite Mountains.  Each profile describes interesting natural history traits along with a detailed illustration for the species.  At the beginning of the book there are five short essays on desert survival, ectothermy, reproduction, foraging strategies, and caudal autotomy, in addition a checklist of herpetofauna can be found on the cover. Hard copies are available at the Center.  All work is copyrighted to the original authors, and should be cited accordingly.

Common Birds of the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center: This guide features brief natural history accounts for 24 bird species that are commonly encountered in the Granite Mountains. Included in the species accounts are interesting facts about breeding, nesting, behavioral traits, as well as habitat and food requirements. In addition, it includes four chapters describing basic adaptations that allow birds to be successful inhabitants of the desert ecosystem. A checklist of species known to occur in the Granite Mountains can be found at the end of the booklet.  Hard copies are available at the Center, or it can be downloaded as a pdf document. All work is copyrighted to the original authors, and should be cited accordingly.

Granite Mountain Spring: An Introduction to the Eastern Mojave Desert, CA:  A naturalists view of the Granite Mountains through thoughtful essays and illustrations of the local flora and fauna.  Written and illustrated by Flora Pomeroy.  

Symposium Proceedings

Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center 1978 – 2003: A Quarter Century of Research and Teaching: In celebration of the 25th Anniversary for the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, a symposium was held in April 2003 at UC Riverside. Researchers affiliated with the Center provided talks and poster presentations.  The symposium proceedings was published in 2005. Hard copies are available at the Center, please contact Center staff to receive a copy.

Administrative

Annual Reports: Each report provides an overview of the accomplishments from the past fiscal year, July 1st through June 30th, for the UC Natural Reserve System’s Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center. Presented within each report is a detailed assessment of the type and number of visitors utilizing the Center, a list of research projects and publications supported by the Center, as well as a list of classes utilizing the facilities during the fiscal year. The narrative provides an opportunity to highlight a few of the major activities and endeavors achieved over this time period, including some of the mundane tasks required to keep a field station running (i.e. basic maintenance). Most have not been written for a public audience, but rather are meant for administrative purposes. You can download a PDF of the following annual reports: FY2015, FY2014, FY2013. If you would like to see a report from a prior year or a higher resolution version, please contact Center staff.

Publications

Dissertations/Theses:

Anderson, K. C. 1999. Processes of vesicular horizon development and desert pavement formation on basalt flows of the Cima Volcanic Field and alluvial fans of the Avawatz Mountains, Piedmont, Mojave Desert, California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Riverside.

Barr, C. B. 1999. The aquatic Dryopoidea of California: Survey of the Mojave National Preserve and adjoining lands, including records of other water beetle groups. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.

Bleecker, M. 1988. An inventory, analysis and monitoring of grazing in the East Mojave Desert of California : a geographic information systems approach. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Riverside.

Bond, J. E. 1999. Systematics and Evolution of the Californian trapdoor spider genus Aptostichus Simon (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Euctenizidae). Ph.D. Dissertation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.

Brown, T. W. 1970. Autecology of the sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes) at Kelso Dunes, Mojave Desert, California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles.

Chu, M. 1999. Ecology and breeding of phainopeplas (Phainopepla nitens) in desert and coastal woodlands of southern California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.

Clark, C. J. 2009. On hummingbird tail morphology as shaped by the interactions between flight-related functions, and sexual selection. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.

Coe, S. J. 2002. Water Availability and Reproductive Success in Desert Birds: the Effects of Water Supplementation in the Black-Throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata deserticola). Master of Science Thesis. University of California, Riverside.

Corl, A. 2007. The role of alternative mating strategies in speciation in the side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Santa Cruz.

Correll, R. A. 1999. Foraging Behavior of Kangaroo Rats (Heteromyidae): Does Dipodomys merriami fit assumptions of the “Giving-Up-Density” Method? Honours Thesis. Flinders University (South Australia) & University of California, Riverside.

De Groot, S. J. 2004. Vascular Plants of the Whipple Mountains. Master of Science. Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.

Edinger, S. B. 1990. Polygenesis and calcite micromorphology of aridisols on a granitic pediment, East Mojave Desert, California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Riverside.

Epps, C. W. 2004. Population Processes in a Changing Climate: Extinction, Dispersal and Metapopulation Dynamics of Desert Bighorn Sheep in California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.

Fernandes, J., N. Flynn, S. Gibbes, M. Griffis, T. Isshiki, S. Killian, L. Palombi, N. Rujanavech, S. Tomsky, and M. Tondro. 2010. Renewable Energy in the California Desert: Mechanisms for Evaluating Solar Development on Public Lands. Master of Science. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Fotheringham, C. J. 1999. Spatial and temporal factors influencing desert annual seed germination behavior. Master of Science Thesis. California State University, Los Angeles.

Fraizer, T. 1996. Sexual size dimorphism, mating systems, and sexual selection for large males in the digger wasp Microbembex (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae). Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Davis.

Gee, J. M. 2003. Causes and consequences of hybridization in California and Gambel’s quail (Callipepla californica and Callipepla gambelii). Ph.D. dissertation. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.

Gerst, K. L. 2011. The influence of biogeography and mating system on the ecology of desert annual plants. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Arizona, Tucson.

Gottscho, A. D. 2010. Coalescent Analysis of Fifteen Nuclear Loci Reveals Pleistocene Speciation and Low Genetic Diversity in the Mojave Fringe-Toed Lizard, Uma scoparia. Master of Arts. Humboldt State University, Arcata, California.

Gruchacz, M. J. 1991. Field meatbolic rate and water balance of the kangaroo rat, Dipodomys merriami. Master of Arts Thesis. University of California, Los Angeles.

Heinz, K. 1983. Species replacement along elevational gradients. Master of Arts Thesis. University of California, Riverside.

Henen, B. T. 1994. Seasonal and annual energy and water budgets of female desert tortoises (Xerobates agassizii) at Goffs, California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles.

Huggins, T. R. 2008. Gall morphology and the effects of host plant water status on the Asphondylia auripila group on Larrea tridentata in the Mojave Desert, Granite Mountains, California. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles.

Jenks, S. R. 1991. Climate-sensitive residential design at a wilderness reserve in the Mojave Desert. Master of Architecture. University of California, Berkeley.

Kim, J.-W. 2003. Classification and evolution of the Aphelininae (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae). Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Riverside.

Korff, W. L. 2005. The comparative biomechanics of sand locomotion in lizards. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California Berkeley.

LaDoux, T. 2004. Self-Incompatibility in Polemoniaceae. Ph.D. Dissertation. Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.

Lawlor, E. J. 1995. Archaeological site-formation processes affecting plant remains in the Mojave Desert. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Riverside.

Luke, C. 1989. Color as a phenotypically plastic character in the side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburniana. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.

McDonald, E. V. 1994. The relative influences of climatic change, desert dust, and lithologic control on soil-geomorphic processes and hydrology of calcic soils formed on Quaternary alluvial-fan deposits in the Mojave Desert, California. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

McFadden, L. D. 1982. The impacts of temporal and spatial climatic changes on alluvial soils genesis in southern California. Ph.D Dissertation. University of Arizona.

Mickus, K. L. 1989. Backus and Gilbert inversion of two and one-half-dimensional gravity and magnetic anomalies and crustal structure studies in western Arizona and the eastern Mojave Desert, California. D.G.S. dissertation. University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas.

Moon, B. 1988. Biogeography of a desert mountains herpetofauna: the Providence Mountains, eastern Mojave Desert, California. Thesis. University of California, Santa Cruz.

Newman, N. J. 2010. Ecological and evolutionary factors effecting size variation in Messor pergandei (Mayr) workers. Master of Science Thesis. University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont.

Ocampo-Acosta, G. A. 2010. Systematics of Portulaca L. (Portulacaceae), including its position within suborder Cactineae (oder Caryophyllales). Ph.D. Dissertation. Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.

Pietrasiak, N. 2005. Spatial assessment of microbiotic soil crust in high versus low recreational use areas within the Wonderland of Rocks of Joshua Tree National Park, California. Diploma Thesis. University of Leipzig, Anger, Germany.

Pietrasiak, N. 2007. Environmental factors influencing distribution of microbiotic crusts in Joshua Tree National Park. Master of Science. John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Pietrasiak, N. 2012. Effects of land surface characteristics on pedogenesis, biological soil crust community diversity, and ecosystem functions in a Mojave desert piedmont landscape. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Riverside.

Secor, S. M. 1992. Activities and energetics of a sit-and-wait foraging snake, Crotalus cerastes. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles.

Sheth, S. N. 2014. Determinants of geographic distribution in western North American Monkeyflowers. Ph.D. Dissertation. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.

Smith, F. A. 1991. Nutritional ecology and body size in Neotoma populations. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Irvine.

Still, S. M. 2011. Systematic and taxonomic studies of Eschscholtzieae (Papaveraceae). Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Davis.

Thomas, K. J. 2006. Vegetation and small mammals of the mojave desert mountains. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.

Toulson, A. T. 2003. Phosphoglucose isomerase variation and genetic structure in Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) populations. Honor’s thesis. Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Toulson, A. T. 2006. Nuclear and cholorplast DNA variation in populations of Yucca brevifolia. Master of Arts Thesis. Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Vamstad, M. S. 2009. Effects of fire on vegetation and small mammal communities in a Mojave Desert Joshua Tree woodland. Master of Science. University of California, Riverside, Riverside.

Walden, G. K. 2010. Phylogeny of infrageneric relationships within Phacelia (Boraginaceae) inferred from chloroplast sequence data. Master of Science Thesis. San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA.

Wood, D. A. 2002. Intraspecific phylogeny of the Rosy Boa (Charina trivirgata): Implications for phylogeography, taxonomy, and conservation. Master of Science. San Diego State University, San Diego, California.

Wood, Y. A. 2000. Mesoscale patterns of plant cover, soils, and surface mosaics of a pleistocene desert pavement landscape, Cima Volcanic Field Mojave Desert, California. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California Riverside.

Young, E. D. 1990. Geothermobarometric and geochemical studies of two crystalline terrains of the eastern Mojave Desert, USA. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.

Newly described species:  A great example of how the Center promotes scientific discovery is revealed by looking at the number of newly described species that have resulted from research at or near the Center. The list of newly described taxa include several plant species, as well as several ants and bees, a new spider (Cavernocymbium vetteri), a new wasp (Trichogramma kaykai), and three new Nematodes (Nothacrobeles spp.).

Baker, M. A. and M. A. Cloud-Hughes. 2014. Cylindropuntia chuckwallensis (Cactaceae), a New Species from Riverside and Imperial Counties, California. Madrono 61:231-243.

Baldwin, J. G., I. T. De Ley, M. Mundo-Ocampo, P. De Ley, S. A. Nadler, and M. Gebre. 2001. Acromoldavicus mojavicus n. sp. (Nematoda: Cephaloboidea) from the Mojave Desert, California. Nematology 3:343-353.

Bohart, G. E. and T. Griswold. 1997. A revision of the rophitine genus Protodufourea. J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 69:177-184.

Bond, J. E. 2012. Phylogenetic treatment and taxonomic revision of the trapdoor spider genus Aptostichus Simon (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Euctenizidae). ZooKeys 252:1-209.

Bond, J. E. and A. K. Stockman. 2008. An Integrative Method for Delimiting Cohesion Species: Finding the Population-Species Interface in a Group of Californian Trapdoor Spiders with Extreme Genetic Divergence and Geographic Structuring. Systematic Biology 57:628-646.

De Ley, I. T., P. De Ley, J. G. Baldwin, M. Mundo-Ocampo, and S. A. Nadler. 1999. Three new species of Nothacrobeles (Nemata: Cephalobidae) from the Mojave Desert, California. Journal of Nematology 31:482-497.

Elvin, M. A., J. L. Anderson, and A. C. Sanders. 2013. Monardella eplingii, a New Species from the Black Mountains of Northwestern Arizona, USA. Madrono 60:46-54.

Elvin, M. A. and A. C. Sanders. 2003. A new species of Monardella (Lamiaceae) from Baja California, Mexico, and southern California, United States. Novon 13:425-432.

Elvin, M. A. and A. C. Sanders. 2009. Nomenclatural Changes for Monardella (Lamiaceae) in California. Novon 19:315-343.

Fletchner, V. R., N. Pietrasiak, and L. A. Lewis. 2013. Newly revealed diversity of green microalgae from wilderness areas of Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP). Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist 6:43-63.

Griswold, T. 1993. New species of Perdita (Pygoperdita) Timberlake of the P. californica species group. . Pan-Pac. Entomol. 69:183-189.

Griswold, T. L. 1986. A new heriadine bee from the Mojave Desert [California, USA]. Southwestern Entomologist 11:165-170.

Griswold, T. L. 1996. A new Microbembex endemic to the Algodones Dunes, California (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 72:142-144.

Parker, F. D. and T. Griswold. 2013. New species of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Stelis (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae, Anthidiini) from the Nearctic Region. Zootaxa 3646:529-544.

Pinto, J. D., R. Stouthamer, and G. R. Platner. 1997. A new cryptic species of Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) from the Mojave Desert of California as determined by morphological, reproductive and molecular data. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 99:238-247.

Steinmann, V. N. and J. M. André. 2012. Euphorbia (subgen. Chamaesyce sect. Anisophyllum) jaegeri, a shrubby new species from the deserts of California, United States. Aliso 30:1-4.

Still, S. M. 2011. Systematic and taxonomic studies of Eschscholtzieae (Papaveraceae). Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California, Davis.

Ubick, D. 2005. New Genera and Species of Cribellate Coelotine Spiders from California (Areneae: Amaurobiidae). proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56:305-336.