{"id":485,"date":"2025-10-30T22:08:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/?p=485"},"modified":"2025-10-08T18:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T23:47:32","slug":"is-creosote-distribution-random","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/is-creosote-distribution-random\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Creosote Distribution Random?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Larrea tridentata<\/em> (creosote) ranges from the deserts of southern California to Texas and deep into Mexico. It is among the most wide-ranging shrubs in North America. It occurs from near sea level to above 4,500 ft.<\/p>\n

Details<\/h3>\n

If plants were randomly distributed, you would expect some to occur in clumps and others to be very far apart. The pattern of creosote distribution is not random; clumps are unusual, and plants are often evenly distributed over an area. Statistically, the pattern is non-random. The shrubs are not spaced on a grid, but they do not grow just anywhere.<\/p>\n

Why is the spacing non-random? A common explanation is competition among individual plants for water and nutrients. Desert soils are often short on both. Two plants growing at some distance from each other may prevent seedling establishment between them by using up the available moisture and nutrients.<\/p>\n

Thus, plants that grow too close together compete for resources, and one (or both) will eventually wither. Competition keeps the plants at arm\u2019s length. The exact distance between plants is not fixed, but it is non-random. Clumping is the exception, not the rule; spacing is the rule.<\/p>\n

Other mechanisms could also contribute to the spacing of the shrubs. Roots may communicate by releasing chemicals into the soil\u2014signals that say, \u201cI\u2019m here already; don\u2019t bother sending your roots this way.\u201d In some cases, the \u201cmessage\u201d could be inhibitory compounds that cause each plant to keep its distance from neighbors.<\/p>\n

Additional Reading:\u00a0Annual Plants Associated with Creosote<\/a><\/p>\n

Additional Reading:\u00a0Communication Between Desert Shrubs<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Single <\/a>
Single creosote shrub <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aerial <\/a>
Aerial view showing non-random distribution of shrubs <\/div> <\/div>
\"Creosote <\/a>
Creosote shrubs showing the spacing between plants <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Creosote <\/a>
Creosote shrubs showing the spacing between plants <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Creosote <\/a>
Creosote shrubs <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction Larrea tridentata (creosote) ranges from the deserts of southern California to Texas and deep into Mexico. It is among the most wide-ranging shrubs in North America. It occurs from near sea level to above 4,500 ft. Details If plants were randomly distributed, you would expect some to occur in clumps and others to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[26,31],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-plants","tag-biology","tag-deserts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/creosote-2-competion-lance-and-erin.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6724,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/6724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}