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Great Basin shrub steppe

Central Basin and Range
Great Basin shrub steppe
Basin range province.jpg
Central Basin and Range from space
(central-west Nevada region, view due-south)
Central Basin and Range ecoregion.png
Map of the Great Basin Desert, as defined by the USGS
Ecology
Realm Nearctic
Biome North American Desert
Borders Northern Basin and Range (ecoregion) (80), Sierra Nevada (ecoregion) (5) and Wasatch and Uinta Mountains (ecoregion) (19)
Bird species 204
Mammal species 105
Geography
Country United States
States Nevada, Utah, California and Idaho
Conservation
Habitat loss 90%
Protected 76.62%

The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and United States Geological Survey. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The desert spans a large part of the state of Nevada, and extends into western Utah, eastern California, and Idaho. The desert is one of the four biologically defined deserts in North America, in addition to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts.

Basin and range topography characterizes the desert: wide valleys bordered by parallel mountain ranges generally oriented north-south. There are more than 33 peaks within the desert with summits higher than 9,800 feet (3,000 m), but valleys in the region are also high, most with elevations above 3,900 feet (1,200 m). The biological communities of the Great Basin Desert vary according to altitude: from low salty dry lakes, up through rolling sagebrush valleys, to pinyon-juniper forests. The significant variation between valleys and peaks has created a variety of habitat niches, which has in turn led to many small, isolated populations of genetically unique plant and animal species throughout the region. According to Grayson, more than 600 species of vertebrates live in the floristic Great Basin, which has a similar areal footprint to the ecoregion. Sixty-three of these species have been identified as species of conservation concern due to contracting natural habitats (for example, Centrocercus urophasianus, Vulpes macrotis, Dipodomys ordii, and Phrynosoma platyrhinos).


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