The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon (Hopi: Ongtupqa;[2] Yavapai: Wi:kaʼi:la, Navajo: Bidááʼ Haʼaztʼiʼ Tsékooh,[3]
[4]
Spanish: Gran Cañón) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United
States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a
depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).[5]
Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River
and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado
Plateau was uplifted.[6] While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are
debated by geologists,[7]several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River
established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago.[1][8][9]Since that time, the
Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs,
simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.
For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built
settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand
Canyon a holy site, and made pilgrimages to it.[10] The first European known to have viewed the
Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.
There are approximately 1,737 known species of vascular plants, 167 species of fungi, 64
species of moss and 195 species of lichen found in Grand Canyon National Park.[58] This variety
is largely due to the 8,000 foot (2,400 m) elevation change from the Colorado River up to the
highest point on the North Rim.[58] Grand Canyon boasts a dozen endemic plants (known only
within the Park's boundaries) while only ten percent of the Park's flora is exotic.[58] Sixty-three
plants found here have been given special status by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[58]
he Mojave Desert influences the western sections of the canyon, Sonoran Desertvegetation

covers the eastern sections, and ponderosa and pinyon pine forests grow on both rims.[59]
Natural seeps and springs percolating out of the canyon walls are home to 11% of all
the plant species found in the Grand Canyon.[59] The canyon itself can act as a connection
between the east and the west by providing corridors of appropriate habitat along its length.
[59]
The canyon can also be a genetic barrier to some species, like the tassel-eared squirrel.[59]
The aspect, or direction a slope faces, also plays a major role in adding diversity to the Grand
Canyon. North-facing slopes receive about one-third the normal amount of sunlight, so plants
growing there are similar to plants found at higher elevations, or in more northern latitudes.[59] The
south-facing slopes receive the full amount of sunlight and are covered in vegetation typical of
the Sonoran Desert.[59]
Animals[edit]
Of the 90 mammal species found along the Colorado River corridor, 18 are rodents and 22 are
bats.[60]
Life zones and communities[edit]

The Park contains several major ecosystems.[13] Its great biological diversity can be attributed to
the presence of five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types in North America.
[13]
The five life zones represented are the Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian,
and Hudsonian.[13] This is equivalent to traveling from Mexico to Canada. Differences in elevation
and the resulting variations in climate are the major factors that form the various life zones and
communities in and around the canyon. Grand Canyon National Park contains 129 vegetation
communities, and the composition and distribution of plant species is influenced by climate,
geomorphology and geology.[58]
Lower Sonoran[edit]
The Lower Sonoran life zone spans from the Colorado River up to 3,500 feet (1,100 m). Along
the Colorado River and its perennial tributaries, a riparian community exists.[58] Coyote
willow, arrowweed, seep-willow, western honey mesquite, catclaw acacia, and
exotic tamarisk (saltcedar) are the predominant species.[58] Hanging gardens, seeps and springs
often contain rare plants such as the white-flowering western redbud, stream orchid,
and Flaveria mcdougallii.[58] Endangered fish in the river include the humpback chub and
the razorback sucker.[61]
The three most common amphibians in these riparian communities are the canyon tree frog, red-
spotted toad, and Woodhouse's Rocky Mountain toad.[62] Leopard frogs are very rare in the
Colorado River corridor, they have undergone major declines and have not been seen in the
Canyon in several years.[62] There are 33 crustacean species found in the Colorado River and its
tributaries within Grand Canyon National Park. Of these 33, 16 are considered true zooplankton
organisms.[63]
Only 48 bird species regularly nest along the river, while others use the river as a migration
corridor or as overwintering habitat. The bald eagle is one species that uses the river corridor as
winter habitat.[64]
River otters may have disappeared from the park in the late 20th century, and muskrats are
extremely rare.[60] Beavers cut willows, cottonwoods, and shrubs for food, and can significantly
affect the riparian vegetation.[60] Other rodents, such as antelope squirrels and pocket mice, are
mostly omnivorous, using many different vegetation types.[60] Grand Canyon bats typically roost in
desert uplands, but forage on the abundance of insects along the river and its tributaries.[60] In
addition to bats, coyotes, ringtails, and spotted skunks are the most numerous riparian predators
and prey on invertebrates, rodents, and reptiles.[60]
Raccoons, weasels, bobcats, gray foxes, and mountain lions are also present, but are much
more rare.[60] Mule deer and desert bighorn sheep are the ungulates that frequent the river
corridor. Since the removal of 500 feral burros in the early 1980s, bighorn sheep numbers have
rebounded.[60] Mule deer are generally not permanent residents along the river, but travel down
from the rim when food and water resources there become scarce.[60]
The insect species commonly found in the river corridor and tributaries are midges, caddis
flies, mayflies, stoneflies, black flies, mites, beetles, butterflies, moths, and fire ants.[65] Numerous
species of spiders and several species of scorpionsincluding the bark scorpion and the giant
desert hairy scorpion inhabit the riparian zone.[65]
Eleven aquatic and 26 terrestrial species of mollusks have been identified in and around Grand
Canyon National Park.[66] Of the aquatic species, two are bivalves (clams) and nine are
gastropods (snails).[66] Twenty-six species of terrestrial gastropods have been identified, primarily
land snails and slugs.[66]
There are approximately 41 reptile species in Grand Canyon National Park. Ten are considered
common along the river corridor and include lizards and snakes.[67] Lizard density tends to be
highest along the stretch of land between the water's edge and the beginning of the upland
desert community.[67] The two largest lizards in the canyon are gila monsters and chuckwallas.
[67]
Many snake species, which are not directly dependent on surface water, may be found both
within the inner gorge and the Colorado River corridor. Six rattlesnake species have been
recorded in the park.[67]
Above the river corridor a desert scrub community, composed of North American desert flora,
thrives. Typical warm desert species such as creosote bush, white bursage, brittlebush, catclaw
acacia, ocotillo, mariola, western honey mesquite, four-wing saltbush, big
sagebrush, blackbrush and rubber rabbitbrush grow in this community.[58] The mammalian fauna
in the woodland scrub community consists of 50 species, mostly rodents and bats.[60] Three of the
five Park woodrat species live in the desert scrub community.[60]
Except for the western (desert) banded gecko, which seems to be distributed only near water
along the Colorado River, all of the reptiles found near the river also appear in the uplands, but in
lower densities.[67] The desert gopher tortoise, a threatened species, inhabits the desert
scrublands in the western end of the park.[67]
Some of the common insects found at elevations above 2,000 feet (610 m) are orange paper
wasps, honey bees, black flies, tarantula hawks, stink bugs, beetles, black ants,
and monarch and swallowtail butterflies.[65] Solifugids, wood spiders, garden spiders, black widow
spiders and tarantulas can be found in the desert scrub and higher elevations.

The Grand Canyon

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The Grand Canyon (Hopi: Ongtupqa;[2] Yavapai: Wi:kaʼi:la, Navajo: Bidááʼ Haʼaztʼiʼ Tsékooh,[3]

he Mojave Desert influences the western sections of the canyon, Sonoran Desertvegetation

Life zones and communities[edit]

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