Life Zones and the Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Early ecologists recognized that vegetation changes in predictable ways as we move from hot, lower-elevation sites to cool, higher-elevation sites. They developed the Concept of Life Zones, and although modern ecologists consider it simplistic, these pioneering efforts are useful if we allow the idea of an overall pattern imposed on a local mosaic of weather patterns, soils, plants, and animals. In the Las Vegas Area, the six Life Zones are represented by seven major vegetation associations.
| Life Zones | Las Vegas Area Habitat Types | |
| 1 | Lower Sonoran (dry deserts) | Creosote-Bursage Flats |
| 2 | Upper Sonoran (brushy scrub) | Mojave Desert Scrub Shadscale Scrub |
| 2 | Upper Sonoran (pinyon-juniper) | Pinyon-Juniper Woodland |
| 3 | Transition (yellow pine forests) | Yellow Pine Forest |
| 4 | Canadian (pine-fir forests) | Pine-Fir Forest |
| 5 | Hudsonian (subalpine forests) | Bristlecone Pine Forest |
| 6 | Arctic (tundra above timberline) | Alpine Tundra |
Source:
http://www.birdandhike.com/Veg/_Veg_index.htm
