Desert StudiesArely Castillo
2025 The Garden Club of America Award in Desert Studies
Vegetation Responses to Fire in the Sonoran Desert
The 2020 Bush Fire in Arizona's Tonto National Forest allows for a study of post-fire ecological processes in desert ecosystems. This project will analyze the recovery of plant communities, both native and non-native, across 82,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert, focusing on how abiotic factors affect spatial heterogeneity. We will use vegetation surveys to investigate the interactions between fire severity, soil properties, elevation, and topography. This research aims to fill gaps in desert fire ecology and inform land management practices, especially as climate change increases fire frequency. The findings will aid in developing restoration strategies for fire-impacted desert ecosystems.
The Garden Club of America Award in Desert Studies
To promote the study of horticulture, conservation, botany, environmental science, and landscape design relating to the arid landscape.
Learn more See all recipients