An organism is defined in a medical dictionary as any living thing that functions as an individual . Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have been proposed to define what an organism is. Among the most common is that an organism has autonomous reproduction , growth , and metabolism . This would exclude viruses , despite the fact that they evolve like organisms. Other problematic cases include colonial organisms ; a colony of eusocial insects is organised adaptively, and has germ-soma specialisation , with some insects reproducing, others not, like cells in an animal's body. The body of a siphonophore , a jelly-like marine animal, is composed of organism-like zooids , but the whole structure looks and functions much like an animal such as a jellyfish , the parts collaborating to provide the functions of the colonial organism.
56-549: Muroc Joint Unified School District is a public K-12 unified school system of approximately 2,000 students, located in the Mojave Desert approximately 110 miles (180 km) northeast of Los Angeles. It was founded as an elementary school in 1911 at Edwards. Boron students were bussed to the air base for their education. As the area became more populated, another school was established in 1929, in Boron. The schools became
112-475: A diversity of flora and fauna. The 54,000 sq mi (140,000 km ) desert supports a number of human activities, including recreation, ranching, and military training. The Mojave Desert also contains various silver , tungsten , iron and gold deposits. The spelling Mojave originates from the Spanish language, while the spelling Mohave comes from modern English. Both are used today, although
168-569: A few enzymes and molecules like those in living organisms, they have no metabolism of their own; they cannot synthesize the organic compounds from which they are formed. In this sense, they are similar to inanimate matter. Viruses have their own genes , and they evolve . Thus, an argument that viruses should be classed as living organisms is their ability to undergo evolution and replicate through self-assembly. However, some scientists argue that viruses neither evolve nor self-reproduce. Instead, viruses are evolved by their host cells, meaning that there
224-595: A fuel bed. This has significantly altered many areas of the desert. At higher elevations, fire regimes are regular but infrequent. While the Mojave Desert is generally sparsely populated, it has increasingly become urbanized in recent years. The metropolitan areas include Las Vegas , the largest urban area in the Mojave and the largest urban area in Nevada with a population of about 2.3 million. St. George, Utah ,
280-398: A group could be viewed as a superorganism , optimized by group adaptation . Another view is that attributes like autonomy, genetic homogeneity and genetic uniqueness should be examined separately rather than demanding that an organism should have all of them; if so, there are multiple dimensions to biological individuality, resulting in several types of organism. A unicellular organism
336-406: A natural border to the Mojave Desert. There are also abundant alluvial fans , which are called bajadas , that form around the mountains within the Mojave Desert and extend down toward the low altitude basins, which contain dried lake beds called playas, where water generally collects and evaporates, leaving large volumes of salt. These playas include Rogers Dry Lake and China Lake . Dry lakes are
392-709: A noted feature of the Mojave landscape. The Mojave Desert is also home to the Devils Playground , about 40 miles (64 km) of dunes and salt flats going in a northwest-southeasterly direction. The Devil's Playground is a part of the Mojave National Preserve and is between the town of Baker, California and the Providence Mountains . The Cronese Mountains are within the Devil's Playground. There are very few surface rivers in
448-539: A unified district in 1953, encompassing 578 square miles (1,500 km) in Kern and San Bernardino counties. The District serves the communities of Boron (including Kramer Junction and Desert Lake), North Edwards and Edwards Air Force Base , and maintains five school sites: Boron Junior/Senior High School (7-12); Desert Junior/Senior High School (7-12); West Boron Elementary School (TK-6); Branch Elementary School (TK-6); and Lynch Learning Center (Adult Education). Both of
504-445: Is a microorganism such as a protist , bacterium , or archaean , composed of a single cell , which may contain functional structures called organelles . A multicellular organism such as an animal , plant , fungus , or alga is composed of many cells, often specialised. A colonial organism such as a siphonophore is a being which functions as an individual but is composed of communicating individuals. A superorganism
560-401: Is a teleonomic or goal-seeking behaviour that enables them to correct errors of many kinds so as to achieve whatever result they are designed for. Such behaviour is reminiscent of intelligent action by organisms; intelligence is seen as an embodied form of cognition . All organisms that exist today possess a self-replicating informational molecule (genome), and such an informational molecule
616-741: Is a colony, such as of ants , consisting of many individuals working together as a single functional or social unit . A mutualism is a partnership of two or more species which each provide some of the needs of the other. A lichen consists of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria , with a bacterial microbiome ; together, they are able to flourish as a kind of organism, the components having different functions, in habitats such as dry rocks where neither could grow alone. The evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann state that "organismality" has evolved socially, as groups of simpler units (from cells upwards) came to cooperate without conflicts. They propose that cooperation should be used as
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#1732794292802672-588: Is a former ranch along the Mojave River. Several attractions and natural features are in the Calico Mountains . Calico Ghost Town , in Yermo, is administered by San Bernardino County. The ghost town has several shops and attractions and inspired Walter Knott to build Knott's Berry Farm . The Bureau of Land Management also administers Rainbow Basin and Owl Canyon. The Calico Early Man Site , in
728-535: Is an argument for viewing viruses as cellular organisms. Some researchers perceive viruses not as virions alone, which they believe are just spores of an organism, but as a virocell - an ontologically mature viral organism that has cellular structure. Such virus is a result of infection of a cell and shows all major physiological properties of other organisms: metabolism , growth, and reproduction , therefore, life in its effective presence. The philosopher Jack A. Wilson examines some boundary cases to demonstrate that
784-473: Is generally abundant in winter annuals. The plants of the Mojave Desert each generally correspond to an individual geographic feature. As such, there are distinctive flora communities within the desert. Notable species of the Mojave Desert include bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis ), mountain lions ( Puma concolor ), black-tailed jackrabbits ( Lepus californicus ), and desert tortoises ( Gopherus agassizii ). Various other species are particularly common in
840-568: Is inadequate in biology; that the concept of individuality is problematic; and from a philosophical point of view, question whether such a definition is necessary. Problematic cases include colonial organisms : for instance, a colony of eusocial insects fulfills criteria such as adaptive organisation and germ-soma specialisation. If so, the same argument, or a criterion of high co-operation and low conflict, would include some mutualistic (e.g. lichens) and sexual partnerships (e.g. anglerfish ) as organisms. If group selection occurs, then
896-472: Is likely intrinsic to life. Thus, the earliest organisms also presumably possessed a self-replicating informational molecule ( genome ), perhaps RNA or an informational molecule more primitive than RNA. The specific nucleotide sequences in all currently extant organisms contain information that functions to promote survival, reproduction , and the ability to acquire resources necessary for reproduction, and sequences with such functions probably emerged early in
952-572: Is not endemic, but almost completely limited to the Mojave Desert. There are also aquatic species that are found nowhere else, such as the Devils Hole pupfish , limited to one hot spring near Death Valley. Before the European colonization of North America, tribes of Native Americans, such as the Mohave , were hunter-gatherers living in the Mojave Desert. European explorers started exploring
1008-643: Is the northeasternmost metropolitan area in the Mojave, with a population of around 180,000 in 2020, and is located at the convergence of the Mojave, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau. The Los Angeles exurban area of Lancaster - Palmdale has more than 400,000 residents, and the Victorville area to its east has more than 300,000 residents. Smaller cities or micropolitan areas in the Mojave Desert include Helendale , Lake Havasu City , Kingman , Laughlin , Bullhead City and Pahrump . All have experienced rapid population growth since 1990. The California portion of
1064-406: Is the principal saline basin of the Mojave Desert. Natural springs are typically rare throughout the Mojave Desert, but there are two notable springs, Ash Meadows and Oasis Valley . Ash Meadows is formed from several other springs, which all draw from deep underground. Oasis Valley draws from the nearby Amargosa River. Extremes in temperatures throughout the seasons characterize the climate of
1120-664: The Mojave Tribal Nation officially uses the spelling Mojave . Mojave is a shortened form of Hamakhaave , an endonym in their native language, which means "beside the water". The Mojave Desert is a desert bordered to the west by the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the California montane chaparral and woodlands , and to the south and east by the Sonoran Desert. The boundaries to the east of
1176-549: The Mojave National Preserve . However, the southwest and central east portions of the Mojave Desert are particularly threatened as a result of off-road vehicles, increasing recreational use, human development, and agricultural grazing . The World Wildlife Fund lists the Mojave Desert as relatively "stable/intact". Various habitats and regions of the Mojave Desert have been protected by statute. Notably, Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, and
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#17327942928021232-555: The Oligocene . Large downpours during the Miocene likely significantly eroded the rock in the Mojave and accelerated deposition . The Mojave Desert is a source of various minerals and metallic materials. Due to the climate, there is an accumulation of weathered bedrock, fine sand and silt, both sand and silt sediments becoming converted into colluvium . The deposits of gold, tungsten, and silver have been mined frequently prior to
1288-577: The Paleozoic era, the area that is now the Mojave was again likely submerged under a greater sea. During the Mesozoic era, major tectonic activities such as thrust faulting and folding resulted in distinctive shaping as well as intrusion . During the Cenozoic , more tectonic deformation occurred whilst the Mojave was partly submerged. Major volcanic activity is thought to have occurred during
1344-478: The San Gabriel Mission . In recent years, human development in the Mojave Desert has become increasingly present. Human development at the major urban and suburban centers of Las Vegas and Los Angeles has had an increasingly damaging effect on the wildlife of the Mojave Desert. An added demand for landfill space as a result of the large metropolitan centers of Las Vegas and Los Angeles also has
1400-535: The Second World War . Additionally, there have been deposits of copper , tin , lead-zinc , manganese , iron , and various radioactive substances but they have not been mined for commercial use. The flora of the Mojave Desert consists of various endemic plant species, notably the Joshua Tree , which is a notable endemic and indicator species of the desert. There is more endemic flora in
1456-642: The "defining trait" of an organism. Samuel Díaz‐Muñoz and colleagues (2016) accept Queller and Strassmann's view that organismality can be measured wholly by degrees of cooperation and of conflict. They state that this situates organisms in evolutionary time, so that organismality is context dependent. They suggest that highly integrated life forms, which are not context dependent, may evolve through context-dependent stages towards complete unification. Viruses are not typically considered to be organisms, because they are incapable of autonomous reproduction , growth , metabolism , or homeostasis . Although viruses have
1512-473: The "defining trait" of an organism. This would treat many types of collaboration, including the fungus / alga partnership of different species in a lichen , or the permanent sexual partnership of an anglerfish , as an organism. The term "organism" (from the Ancient Greek ὀργανισμός , derived from órganon , meaning instrument, implement, tool, organ of sense or apprehension) first appeared in
1568-820: The Calico Hills east of Yermo , is believed by some archaeologists, including the late Louis Leakey , to show the earliest evidence with lithic stone tools found here of human activity in North America. The Mojave Desert has a relatively stable and intact conservation status. The Mojave Desert is one of the best protected distinct ecoregions in the United States, as a result of the California Desert Protection Act , which designated 69 wilderness areas and established Death Valley National Park , Joshua Tree National Park , and
1624-457: The English language in the 1660s with the now-obsolete meaning of an organic structure or organization. It is related to the verb "organize". In his 1790 Critique of Judgment , Immanuel Kant defined an organism as "both an organized and a self-organizing being". Among the criteria that have been proposed for being an organism are: Other scientists think that the concept of the organism
1680-724: The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia). Additionally, the Mojave Desert is also home to various species of cacti, such as silver cholla ( Cylindropuntia echinocarpa ), Mojave prickly pear ( O. erinacea ), beavertail cactus ( O. basilaris ), and many-headed barrel cactus ( Echinocactus polycephalus ). Less common but distinctive plants of the Mojave Desert include ironwood ( Olneya tesota ), blue Palo Verde ( Parkinsonia Florida ), chuparosa ( Justicia californica ), spiny menodora ( Menodora spinescens ), desert senna ( Cassia armata ), California dalea ( Psorothamnus arborescens ), and goldenhead ( Acamptopappus shockleyi ). The Mojave Desert
1736-807: The Mojave Desert are less distinctive than the other boundaries because there is no presence of an indicator species, such as the Joshua tree ( Yucca brevifolia ), which is endemic to the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert is distinguished from the Sonoran Desert and other deserts adjacent to it by its warm temperate climate, as well as flora and fauna such as ironwood ( Olneya tesota ), blue Palo Verde ( Parkinsonia florida ), chuparosa ( Justicia californica ), spiny menodora ( Menodora spinescens ), desert senna ( Cassia armata ), California dalea ( Psorothamnus arborescens ), California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera) and goldenhead ( Acamptopappus shockleyi ). Along with these other factors, these plants differentiate
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1792-585: The Mojave Desert in the San Gabriel mountains may receive more rain. Most of the precipitation in the Mojave comes from the Pacific Cyclonic storms that are generally present passing eastward in November to April. Such storms generally bring rain and snow only in the mountainous regions, as a result of the effect of the mountains, which creates a drying effect on its leeward slopes . During
1848-629: The Mojave Desert than almost anywhere in the world. Mojave Desert flora is not a vegetation type , although the plants in the area have evolved in isolation because of the physical barriers of the Sierra Nevadas and the Colorado Plateau. Predominant plants of the Mojave Desert include all-scale ( Atriplex polycarpa ), creosote bush ( Larrea tridentata ), brittlebush ( Encelia farinosa ), desert holly ( Atriplex hymenelytra ), white burrobush (Hymenoclea salsola), and most notably,
1904-725: The Mojave Desert was further protected from development by the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), in which the Bureau of Land Management designated 4.2 million acres of public land as protected wilderness as part of the National Conservation Lands of the California Desert. The Mojave Desert has served as a backdrop for a number of films . The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas takes place in
1960-596: The Mojave Desert, but two major rivers generally flow underground. One is the intermittent Mojave River , which begins in the San Bernardino mountains and disappears underground in the Mojave Desert. The other is the Amargosa River , which flows partly underground through the Mojave Desert along a southward path. The Manix, Mojave, and the Little Mojave lakes are all large but shallow. Soda Lake
2016-671: The Mojave Desert, or "Mojave Wasteland" as it is known in its post-apocalyptic future. At least seven music videos were recorded in the Mojave Desert: Photographs related to U2 's 1987 album The Joshua Tree were taken in the Mojave Desert. Flora and fauna The evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann state that "organismality", the qualities or attributes that define an entity as an organism, has evolved socially as groups of simpler units (from cells upwards) came to cooperate without conflicts. They propose that cooperation should be used as
2072-495: The Mojave Desert, such as the LeConte's thrasher ( Toxostoma lecontei ), banded gecko ( Coleonyx variegatus ), desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis), chuckwalla ( Sauromalus obesus ), and regal horned lizard ( Phrynosoma solare ). Species of snake include the rosy boa ( Lichanura trivirgata ), Western patch-nosed snake ( Salvadora hexalepis ), and Mojave rattlesnake ( Crotalus scutulatus ). These species can also occur in
2128-399: The Mojave Desert. Freezing temperatures as well as strong winds are not uncommon in the winter, as well as precipitation such as rain and snow in the mountains. In contrast, temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C) are not uncommon during the summer months. There is an annual average precipitation of 2 to 6 inches (51 to 152 mm), although regions at high altitudes such as the portion of
2184-793: The Mojave National Preserve by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. ( Pub.L. 103–433). Various other federal and state land agencies have protected regions within the Mojave Desert. These include Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve , which protects the fields of California poppies, Mojave Trails National Monument , Desert Tortoise Natural Area , Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park , Desert National Wildlife Refuge , Lake Mead National Recreation Area , Providence Mountains State Recreation Area , Red Cliffs National Conservation Area , Red Rock Canyon State Park , Saddleback Butte State Park , Snow Canyon State Park and Valley of Fire State Park . In 2013,
2240-737: The Mojave a critical training location for the United States Department of Defense. The Mojave Desert has long been a valuable resource for people, and as its human population grows, its importance will only grow. Miners, ranchers, and farmers rely on the desert for a living. The Mojave is also used by the state of California to meet renewable energy objectives. Large tracts of the desert are owned by federal agencies and are leased at low cost by wind and solar energy companies, although these renewable developments can cause their own environmental impact and disturb cultural landscapes and visual resources. Desert Sunlight Solar Farm , one of
2296-600: The Mojave from the nearby Sonoran Desert. The Mojave Desert is bordered by the San Andreas Fault to the southwest and the Garlock fault to the north. The mountains elevated along the length of the San Andreas fault provide a clear border between the Mojave Desert and the coastal regions to the west. The Garlock fault separates the Mojave Desert from the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi mountains, which provide
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2352-405: The Mojave is the smallest and driest. It displays typical basin and range topography , generally having a pattern of a series of parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is also the site of Death Valley , which is the lowest elevation in North America. The Mojave Desert is often colloquially called the "high desert", as most of it lies between 2,000 and 4,000 feet (610 and 1,220 m). It supports
2408-408: The comprehensive high schools offer an alternative education program and have received " WASC Accreditation " . All of these schools have been awarded " California Distinguished School " status. Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( / m oʊ ˈ h ɑː v i , m ə -/ ; Mohave : Hayikwiir Mat'aar ; Spanish : Desierto de Mojave ) is a desert in the rain shadow of
2464-678: The concept of organism is not sharply defined. In his view, sponges , lichens , siphonophores , slime moulds , and eusocial colonies such as those of ants or naked molerats , all lie in the boundary zone between being definite colonies and definite organisms (or superorganisms). Scientists and bio-engineers are experimenting with different types of synthetic organism , from chimaeras composed of cells from two or more species, cyborgs including electromechanical limbs, hybrots containing both electronic and biological elements, and other combinations of systems that have variously evolved and been designed. An evolved organism takes its form by
2520-410: The desert also contains Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake , noted for experimental aviation and weapons projects. The Mojave Desert has several ghost towns . The most significant are the silver and copper-mining town of Calico, California , and the old railroad depot of Kelso, California . Some of the other ghost towns are more modern, created when U.S. Route 66 (and
2576-467: The deserts beginning in the 18th century. Francisco Garcés , a Franciscan friar, was the first explorer of the Mojave Desert in 1776. Garcés recorded information about the original inhabitants of the deserts. Later, as American interests expanded into California, American explorers started probing the California deserts. Jedediah Smith travelled through the Mojave Desert in 1826, finally reaching
2632-422: The evolution of life. It is also likely that survival sequences present early in the evolution of organisms included sequences that facilitate the avoidance of damage to the self-replicating molecule and promote the capability to repair such damages that do occur. Repair of some of the genome damages in these early organisms may have involved the capacity to use undamaged information from another similar genome by
2688-793: The international destination of Las Vegas. The Mojave is also known for its scenery, playing host to Death Valley National Park , Joshua Tree National Park , and the Mojave National Preserve . Lakes Mead , Mohave , and Havasu provide water sports recreation, and vast off-road areas entice off-road enthusiasts. The Mojave Desert also includes three California State Parks , the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve , in Lancaster , Saddleback Butte State Park , in Hi Vista and Red Rock Canyon State Park . Mojave Narrows Park , operated by San Bernardino County,
2744-470: The largest solar farms in the world, was built approximately five miles from Joshua Tree National Park . An endangered Yuma clapper rail was found dead at the site in 2014, spurring efforts from conservation groups to protect birds from the so-called lake effect, a phenomenon in which birds can mistake the reflective glare of solar panels for a body of water. The Mojave Desert is one of the most popular spots for tourism in North America, primarily because of
2800-442: The late summer months, there is also the possibility of strong thunderstorms, which bring heavy showers or cloudbursts. These storms can result in flash flooding . The Mojave Desert has not historically supported a fire regime because of low fuel loads and connectivity. However, in the last few decades, invasive annual plants such as some within the genera Bromus , Schismus and Brassica have facilitated fires by serving as
2856-509: The lesser-known U.S. Route 91 ) were abandoned in favor of the construction of Interstates . CA SR 14 , Interstate 15 , Interstate 40 , CA SR 58 , CA SR 138 , US Route 95 , and US Route 395 are the main highways that traverse the Mojave Desert. The rock that forms the Mojave Desert was likely created under shallow water in the Precambrian . Sedimentary processes left large deposits of limestones, silicates, and dolomites. During
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#17327942928022912-537: The neighboring Sonoran and Great Basin deserts. The animal species of the Mojave Desert have generally fewer endemics than its flora. However, endemic fauna of the Mojave Desert include Kelso Dunes jerusalem cricket ( Ammopelmatus kelsoensis), the Kelso Dunes shieldback katydid ( Eremopedes kelsoensis ), the Mohave ground squirrel ( Spermophilus Mohavensis ) and Amargosa vole ( Microtus californicus scirpensis ). The Mojave fringe-toed lizard ( Uma Scopari a)
2968-501: The partially understood mechanisms of evolutionary developmental biology , in which the genome directs an elaborated series of interactions to produce successively more elaborate structures. The existence of chimaeras and hybrids demonstrates that these mechanisms are "intelligently" robust in the face of radically altered circumstances at all levels from molecular to organismal. Synthetic organisms already take diverse forms, and their diversity will increase. What they all have in common
3024-526: The real potential to drastically affect flora and fauna of the Mojave Desert. Agricultural development along the Colorado river , close to the Eastern boundary of the Mojave Desert, also causes habitat loss and degradation. Areas that are particularly affected by human development include Ward Valley and Riverside county. The United States military also maintains installations in the Mojave Desert, making
3080-557: The southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States . Named for the indigenous Mohave people , it is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada , with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah . The Mojave Desert, together with the Sonoran , Chihuahuan , and Great Basin deserts, form a larger North American Desert . Of these,
3136-459: Was co-evolution of viruses and host cells. If host cells did not exist, viral evolution would be impossible. As for reproduction, viruses rely on hosts' machinery to replicate. The discovery of viruses with genes coding for energy metabolism and protein synthesis fuelled the debate about whether viruses are living organisms, but the genes have a cellular origin. Most likely, they were acquired through horizontal gene transfer from viral hosts. There
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