Micro-Climatic Amelioration in a California Desert: Artificial Shelter versus Shrub Canopy

Shrubs are structural agents of facilitation, providing benefit to animals that take refuge under their canopy. The central theme of this thesis is how shrubs compare to artificial shelters at reducing ambient temperature and incoming sunlight. We tested the effects of UV permeable artificial shelters on ambient temperature and solar radiation using two shapes (square and triangle) at three different blockage intensities (15%, 50%, and 90%), and contrasted those against the dominant shrub Ephedra californica and the open gap using temperature-light sensor loggers. Shelters offered more stable temperatures and shade from direct sunlight compared to the open gap and functioned analogous to E. californica. The square shelter best emulated the effects of E. californica on temperature and light. The findings of this thesis are useful for regional stakeholders as shelters can be used as a temporary refuge to increase thermal heterogeneity within the landscape whilst slow-growing, native vegetation is restored post-disturbance.