The vast Great Basin stretches west from the Colorado Plateau across much of Utah and Nevada. The region is so named because bodies of water drain inland with no outlet to the sea. Some, like the Great Salt Lake, are large; others are much smaller.
As water evaporates from these terminal lakes, they become more saline, or salty. In this dry land, they’re incredibly important to people and wildlife, especially millions of migrating water and shorebirds.
Though the lake levels naturally fluctuate, they’ve dropped to historic lows due to increased water use, drought and a warming climate. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Saline Lakes Ecosystems program is designed to take the measure of these changes and several other aspects of their hydrology and ecology.
Using satellite-based remote sensing and “boots on the ground,” scientists are looking at water quality and quantity across twenty lakes, and how birds use this network of lakes during their spring and fall migrations.
Along with water, wetlands, and mudflats, the lakes also host invertebrates--brine flies and brine shrimp, for example, which feed avocets, ibises, plovers, pelicans, eared grebes, and others. As part of the project, a hundred American avocets have been tagged with GPS “birdie backpacks." This lets researchers track them as they make pit stops on their long-distance flights.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Audubon Society, and other collaborators are aiding the effort. At the end of the five-year program, the data will be analyzed and provide a scientific basis to better understand these unique and dynamic habitats.
This Earth Note was written by Rose Houk and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.
