THE EFFECTS OF CONSPECIFIC CYLINDROPUNTIA RAMOSISSIMA DENSITY ON MORPHOLOGY AND ANIMAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE MOJAVE DESERT, CALIFORNIA.

Cacti species (Cylindropuntia ramosissima) are ecologically significant in deserts acting as a potential habitat for animal communities. Testing the effects of cacti density on their morphological traits and animal associations can provide insight into desert community composition. To test the hypothesis that conspecific cacti density is ecologically relevant, we did vegetation and animal surveys to determine if density influenced cacti traits and the associating animal species. We found that conspecific cacti density within 5 m had a significant positive effect on cacti height and total flowers. In turn, the total number of cacti flowers positively influenced animals observed at focal cacti. Number of branches and cacti height negatively influenced animal associations. This suggests that cacti density can be an important measure for estimating cacti morphological traits and that these traits can in turn influence desert animal associations. These findings suggest that cacti density is a relevant indicator that can be used for conservation practices as managers can target areas of high cacti density because these areas are likely to have more flowers per plant and support relatively more associated animal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]