Amargosa Niterwort

Liam Tracy

Polar Bears, Black Rhinos, Bald Eagles, Amargosa Niterwort, and Wolfs, what do these

species have in common? They are all endangered species, but I am confident to say that the

closest to extinctions and in many ways, more important species is the one that has you

scratching your head in confusion. Yes, Im talking about the Amargosa Niterwort.

Amargosa Niterwort is found in a select few areas around the Amargosa Desert on the

southern Nevada and California border. In this already miniscule area Amargosa Niterwort is

only in a fraction of it that must have moist alkaline soils at 1,969 to 2,461 feet above sea level.

There are only 6 know patches of land of Amargosa Niterwort with an expected total area of it

being around 2-3 acres of land. Another interesting fact is that one of the six patches of

Amargosa Niterwort makes up 95% of the total population. Due to lack of research public

knowledge of this plant is very few and far between.

Before talking about Amargosa Niterworts role in the ecosystem you got to know what

this perseverant plant looks like. It is a small perennial herb that grows no more than 10 cm tall

with succulent leaves about the size of a M&M. It then has solitary flower or cluster of flowers

that come from between the leaves. Amargosa Niterwort lacks petal but has pink petal-like sepals

that turn white with age.

 An endangered species is simply a species of plant or animal that dwindling and without

can harm or destroy an ecosystem. About 31% of all the worlds species are in jeopardy of

extinction and of that 70% of the worlds assessed plants are losing numbers. This study was

done by IUCN back in 2007 to create a list of all the worlds species facing extinction. Of course,

some species are more important than others in this battle of survival but many have large

importance to other species in their ecosystem to the point where if they went extinct it would

have a butterfly effect and poetically eradicate a whole ecosystem. Think of it this way. Imagen

worms went extinct. Any animal that reliable eats worms would then dies and any animal that

reliable eats the animal that eats worms would die and this would continue until it made it all the

way to the top of the food chain. This could also happen in reverse. If all the animals that eat the

worms died, then the worms would overpopulate and force any competing species to go extinct

due to lack of resources.

Federally classified as endangered species Amargosa Niterwort has a similar role to what

was said above just that instead of it having to support in ecosystem Amargosa Niterwort creates

its own ecosystem. Amargosa Niterwort group up to form patches where they can more easily

share resources to help survive the harsh dessert conditions. What turns the Amargosa

Niterworts story go from a tough survivor to an impossible job is that the soil moisture that is so

desperately needed in the desert is being drained away by Humans for the lower Carson

population, road construction projects and mineral mining. This along with off-roading has

caused many historical Amargosa Niterwort homes to disappear. The quicker the public learns

more about this dilemma the higher the chance this beautiful plant might somehow make a

comeback and can become an amazing keystone to a thriving ecosystem.