Editing Death Valley (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:Death Valley Gerea canescens.jpg|thumb|Death Valley in 2005 springtime bloom]]

In spite of the overwhelming heat and sparse rainfall, Death Valley exhibits considerable biodiversity. Flowers, watered by snowmelt, carpet the desert floor each spring, continuing into June.<ref name="NPR.org"/> [[Bighorn sheep]], [[red-tailed hawks]], and wild [[donkeys]] may be seen. Death Valley has over 600 springs and ponds. Salt Creek, a mile-long shallow depression in the center of the valley, supports [[Death Valley Pupfish]].<ref name="Sean Lema 2008">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/the-phenotypic-plasticity-of-death-valleys-pupfish/1|title=Phenotypic Plasticity of Death Valley's Pupfish|first=Sean|last=Lema|magazine=[[American Scientist]]|year=2008}}</ref> These isolated pupfish populations are remnants of the wetter Pleistocene climate.<ref name="Sean Lema 2008"/>

[[Darwin Falls]], on the western edge of Death Valley Monument, falls {{convert|100|ft|m}} into a large pond surrounded by willows and cottonwood trees. Over 80 species of birds have been recorded around the pond.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Not So Dead|magazine=Smithsonian Magazine|date=May 2008|page=30|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/points-of-interest-37244965/|first1=Matt|last1=Kettmann|first2=Paul|last2=Grondahl|first3=Monica|last3=Watrous|first4=Nan|last4=Chase}}</ref>

[[Efflorescence]], also known as '''salt flowers''', is a rare occurrence in Death Valley that occurs when rain soaks into the soil and dissolves salt beneath the surface causing the ground to appear as if there is a light dusting of [[snow]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Snow in Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth? It's not what it looks like|website=Los Angeles Times|author=Hayley Smith|date=September 16, 2021|access-date=November 26, 2021|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-16/snow-in-death-valley-the-hottest-place-on-earth-not-quite}}</ref>