Surface Dust Impacts on Gas Exchange in Mojave Desert Shrubs

Windblown dust, an environmental problem in many disturbed arid lands, has the potential to affect the physiological performance of desert shrubs. Physiological parameters of gas exchange for three species (Larrea tridentata, Hymenoclea salsola and A triplex canescens) were measured at a Mojave Desert site, at which both undisturbed and heavily dusted individual shrubs occurred.