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[[File:Chihuahuan Desert from South Rim BIBE.jpg|left|thumbnail|The terrain mainly consists of [[Drainage basin|basin]]s broken by numerous small [[mountain range]]s.]]
There are a few urban areas within the desert: the largest is [[Ciudad Juárez]] with almost two million inhabitants; [[Chihuahua, Chihuahua|Chihuahua]], [[Saltillo, Coahuila|Saltillo]], and [[Torreón, Coahuila|Torreón]]; and the US cities of [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]] and [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]]. [[Alamogordo, New Mexico|Alamogordo]], [[Alpine, Texas|Alpine]], [[Benson, Arizona|Benson]], [[Carlsbad, New Mexico|Carlsbad]], [[Carrizozo, New Mexico|Carrizozo]], [[Deming, New Mexico|Deming]], [[Fort Stockton, Texas|Fort Stockton]], [[Fort Sumner, New Mexico|Fort Sumner]], [[Las Cruces, New Mexico|Las Cruces]], [[Marfa, Texas|Marfa]], [[Pecos, Texas|Pecos]], [[Roswell, New Mexico|Roswell]], and [[Willcox, Arizona|Willcox]] are among the other communities in this ecoregion.
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==Climate==
The desert is mainly a [[rain shadow]] desert because the two main mountain ranges covering the desert, the [[Sierra Madre Occidental]] to the west and the [[Sierra Madre Oriental]] to the east, block most moisture from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, respectively.<ref name=NMSU>{{cite web | url = http://ddl.nmsu.edu/chihuahua.html | title = The Chihuahuan Desert | publisher = New Mexico State University | access-date = February 16, 2013 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121227092714/http://ddl.nmsu.edu/chihuahua.html | archive-date = December 27, 2012 }}</ref> Climatically, the desert mostly has an arid, mesothermal climate with one rainy season in the late summer and smaller amounts of precipitation in early winter, the mean daily temperature of the coldest month warmer than {{convert|0|C|F|abbr=on|}}.<ref name= NMSU /> The majority of rain falls between late June and early October
==Flora==
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[[File:Antelope, Otero Mesa NM.jpg|left|thumbnail|A [[Pronghorn|Pronghorn antelope]] among [[yucca]]s in the [[Otero Mesa]].]]
The creosote bush (''[[Larrea tridentata]]'') is the dominant plant species on gravelly and occasional sandy soils in valley areas within the Chihuahuan Desert. The other species found with creosote bush
[[Herbaceous plant]]s, such as bush muhly (''[[Muhlenbergia porteri]]''), blue grama (''[[Bouteloua gracilis]]''), gypsum grama (''[[Bouteloua breviseta|B. breviseta]]''), and hairy grama (''[[Bouteloua hirsuta|B. hirsuta]]''), are dominant in desert grasslands and near the mountain edges including the Sierra Madre Occidental. Lechuguilla (''[[Agave lechuguilla]]''), honey mesquite (''[[Prosopis glandulosa]]''), ''[[Opuntia macrocentra]]'' and ''[[Echinocereus pectinatus]]'' are the dominant species in western [[Coahuila]]. Ocotillo (''[[Fouquieria splendens]]''), lechuguilla, and ''[[Yucca filifera]]'' are the most common species in the southeastern part of the desert. Candelilla (''[[Euphorbia antisyphilitica]]''), ''[[Mimosa zygophylla]]'', ''[[Acacia glandulifera]]'' and lechuguilla are found in areas with well-draining, shallow soils. The shrubs found near the Sierra Madre Oriental are exclusively lechuguilla, guapilla (''[[Hechtia glomerata]]''), Queen Victoria's agave (''[[Agave victoriae-reginae]]''), sotol (''[[Dasylirion]]'' spp.), and barreta (''[[Helietta]] [[Helietta parvifolia|parvifolia]]''), while the well-developed [[herbaceous layer]] includes grasses, [[Fabaceae|legumes]], and cacti.
Desert or arid grasslands comprise 20% of this desert and are often mosaics of shrubs and grasses. They include purple three-awn (''[[Aristida purpurea]]''), black grama (''[[Bouteloua eriopoda]]''), and sideoats grama (''[[Bouteloua curtipendula]]''). Early Spanish explorers reported encountering grasses that were "belly high to a horse
The United Nations Environment Programme reported in 2006 that nearly half of the bird, mammal, and butterfly species in the Chihuahuan Desert are expected to be replaced by other species by 2055 due to climate change.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Global_Deserts_Outlook/EEz8yAMp7SAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR7&printsec=frontcover|title=Global Deserts Outlook|publisher=United Nations Environment Programme|year=2006|isbn=9789280727227}}</ref>
==Protected areas==
A 2017 assessment found that {{cvt|35,905|km²|sqmi}}, or 7%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas.<ref name = dinerstein/> Protected areas include [[Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge]] in Arizona
==Gallery==
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