Reprinted from the
3(9//
JOURNAL OF THE ARIZONA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
Vol.
3,
No.
3 — April 1965
AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF QUITOBAQUITO SPRING, ARIZONA'
GERALD A. COLE and MELBOURNE C. WHITESIDE 2
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION. — An important water hole
along the old Camino del Diablo, a trail which ran
from Sonoyta, Sonora, to Yuma, Arizona, was Quitobaquito Spring, now a part of Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument. The spring is a series of seeps
from which water flows about 100 m by way of
shallow ditches, perhaps 30 cm broad, to a small
pond, which is best described as a desert oasis. The
original ditches and impoundment are said to be the
work of Papago Indians, but in recent years National
Monument personnel have maintained them and have
rejuvenated the pond by removing much of the
emergent aquatic vegetation and dredging the sediments.
Little biological information has been published
about the seeps and the pool. Hensley (1954) made
an ecological study of the birds of Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument in the late 1940's, and furnished
some descriptions of the springs, the pool and associated biota. Hubbs and Miller (1948) have written
of the unique form of Cyprinodon macularius Baird
and Girard which occurs in the pool, and is probably
endemic to it and the nearby Sonoyta River, a disrupted segment of the Colorado River drainage.
On June 28, 1963, Dr. Richard S. Peckham collected plankton from the pond, and Dr. A. E. Dammann collected water from one of the seeps. We are
grateful to them for bringing us their samples.
Further studies of the spring were made on May 24
and 25, 1964. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the 1963 collections and our own later investigations although we are well aware of the cursory
and superficial nature of this report.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA.—Quitobaquito Spring lies almost exactly on the International Boundary at about N lat 31°55', long
113 °01' and approximately 355 m above sea level.
It is in the Lower Sonoran Life-zone in a magnificent
region of cacti and other plants typical of the Sonoran Desert (see Lowe 1964:24-31). The annual
precipitation averages 7.7 inches, May and June being
the driest months and September usually the wettest.
The area receives 85% of the possible annual solar
radiation. August is the hottest month of the year
with a mean temperature of 87.6°F.
The water of the spring originates from an ancient
fault in granite-gneiss rook. It is believed to be
derived from deep water forced up seams of broken
rock created by the fault. It issues from a hillside
above the level of impoundment. The total flow from
the various seeps could not be estimated, but was
certainly lower in 1964 than Gould's (1938) figure
of 43 gal/minute (ca. 163 1/min). We calculated
the rate of outflow from the pond, which is of course
less than the inflow because of seepage, evaporation,
and transpiration losses. An overflow pipe 7.1 m
long leaves the pond at the shore opposite the
influent ditches. We measured the volume of water
in the pipe and the speed of fluorescein dye passing
through it, arriving at an outflow rate of 5.1 1/min.
This may represent an unusually low condition, and
is certainly far from the order of magnitude reported
by Gould. Dr. Dammann reported the ditches carried
water approximately 7.5 cm deep in June 1963, but
in 1964 only 2 cm of water were flowing.
A survey of the spring pond was made using compass, calibrated chalk line, and sounding line. The
surface area is about 0.22 ha and the pool is almost
uniformly one meter deep. A volume estimate of
2,200 in 3 applies whenever the pond is high enough
to flow through the outlet pipe.
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL FEATURES OF THE
WATERS.—Dr. Dammann recorded a temperature
of 27.8°C at a spring in 1963; eleven months later
we measured 23.9°C. We are not sure temperatures
and collections were from the same place both years,
but apparently there was a greater flow in 1963. Dr.
Dammann's notes describe his water collection as
being from the ". . . main source . . ." We were
forced to dip from a nearly stagnant pool below a
seep, from which water was moving at a very low
rate. Whatever the case, there were some differences
between the seep samples of 1963 and 1964 (Table
1)
Water from the hillside springs showed no turbidity when compared to distilled water. Unfiltered
pond water of May 1964, however, showed a turbidity of 70 on a standard silica scale supplied by
the Hach Chemical Company, Ames, Iowa.
The 1963 sample had a pH of 8.15 after aeration
in the laboratory. Our 1964 hydrogen-ion data were
lost except those from the pond surface. These
waters were 7.8 at sunset May 24, and 7.6 at dawn
the 25th.
The temperature of the pond surface water was
31.1°C at 2:30 PM on May 24, 1964; at 0.5 m it
was 30.6 ° ; and 30.0° at the bottom. At dawn the
next morning it was uniformly 27.2 °C, indicating a
loss of roughly 240 g cal/cm'.
Dissolved oxygen at a depth of 0.5 m in the pond
ranged from 5.46 to 5.82 mg/1 during the afternoon. At the prevailing water temperature these
'Supported by National Science Foundation Grant GB-154.
'Present Address: Department of Zoology, Indiana University.
159
160
Vol. 3
JOURNAL OF THE ARIZONA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
Table 1. Major chemical constituents in the waters of Quitobaquito, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument,
Arizona. Expressed as mg/l.
Ion or Compound
Quitobaquito Spring (pool)
Pool Compared to Source
May 1964
May 1964
May 1964
191.0
4.5
34.0
12.6
284.0
6.0
36.8
11.7
350.0
7.0
27.2
17.5
+ 66.0
+ 1.0
- 9.6
- 5.8
316.0
148.0
71.0
-
402.0
318.0
91.0
4.3
41.0
0.08
411.0
383.0
100.0
5.3
+ 9.0
+ 65.0
+ 9.0
trace
trace
0
0
-
Quitobaquito Spring (source)
June 1963
Na
IC+
Ca.+
ivig,.,
Total Alkalinity
as -IIC01
Cl
-
FSi0,2
Total Iron
Copper
Manganese
Ammonium-N
1\103-N + Na-N
Ortho-Poi
Computed Total
28.0
0.09
0.1
0
0.09
2.59
0
808
2.25
0
1198
oxygen concentrations represent a saturation of about
105%.
The pool water collected in May 1964 shows some
effects of concentration when compared with the
spring issue (Table 1). The gain in computed dissolved solids is more than 100 mg/1, and changes
in relative composition are especially instructive. The
most conspicuous gains are in sodium and chloride,
a trend to be expected in cases of concentration (see
Hutchinson, 1957). Also, the Ca/Mg ratio changes
from 3.1, by weight, in the spring water to 1.5 in
the pond. This relative enrichment of magnesium
may be a reflection of the greater solubility of its
compounds compared to those of calcium.
Some chemical features of Quitobaquito waters
which might be expected in inland sodium waters
are the fairly high concentrations of silica and
fluoride (Hem, 1959:57, 113).
Total iron was determined for the three samples,
but differentiation was made between soluble and
particulate iron only in the 1963 spring water. The
water contained 0.025 mg/1 soluble iron, and 0.075
mg/1 particulate iron retained by membrane filter,
pore size 0.8 micron.
No phosphate could be determined by the molybdenum blue method, using stannous chloride as the
reducing agent, in any of the three samples. Water
was assayed for soluble ortho-phosphate and for total
43.0
0.08
0.007
0
+ 1.0
+ 2.0
0
0
0
-
- 2.243
0
1344
phosphorus following hydrolysis by boiling with acid.
Ammonium nitrogen was assayed by direct Nesslerization in the seep water of 1963, but was not
determined in later samples. Brucine nitrogen was
determined for all three samples. This includes both
NO,-N and NO3-N. The Brucine nitrogen of the
pool was in trace quantities in spite of high values
each year in the spring (Table 1). This almost complete depletion of the high ground-water nitrogen
must have been associated in some way with plant
activity both in the entering ditches and in the pool.
The saline nature of the Quitobaquito waters is
one of its major ecological factors. Although relatively dilute when compared with many western waters, the white evaporite along the shallow ditches
implies occasional strong concentrations associated
with drying.
A comparison between the Quitobaquito waters
and those of Dripping Springs, one of the other
major permanent water holes in Organ Pipe Cactus
,National Monument, can be made (Table 2). Dripping Springs is about 10 km north of Quitobaquito
in the Puerto Blanco Mountains and is different in
many respects. This is a small, north-facing grotto
on a mountain slope. Water drips down the inner
rock surface to form a small pool of about 4 m2,
and 1.3 m deep. The turbid water (ca. 40 on a
silica scale standard) was 15.6°C on May 25, 1964.
April 1965
COLE -WHITESIDE
— QUITOBAQUITO SPRING, ARIZONA
Table 2. Chemical constituents of the water of Dripping Springs, Organ Pipe Cactus National
Monument, Arizona. May 25, 1964.
Ion or Compound
Na+
K+
Total Hardness as CaCO3
Total Alkalinity as —HCO3C1804-F8102
Total Iron
Copper
Manganese
NO2—N
NO2—N
Ortho—PO4
Computed Total
mg/1
90.0
2.5
20.0
93.3
46.0
35.0
0.1
67.5
0.28
trace
2.5
0.675
358
It contained no obvious macroscopic life except
larvae and pupae of the mosquito Culiseta incidens
(Thomson).
The water had a pH of 7.3 and contained only
about 25% the computed weight of dissolved solids
found in Quitobaquito (Tables 1, 2). Other conspicuous differences were the low calcium and magnesium values implied by EDTA hardness, the much
lower fluoride content, and the higher silica level in
Dripping Springs. Comparing relative percentages of
the principal anions, and using the categories proposed by Clarke (1924), the Quitobaquito seeps, and
especially the pond, lie midway between carbonatechloride and chloro-carbonate waters, while Dripping
Springs, although dilute, contains triple water.
THE AQUATIC MACROPHYTES. — At the
shores of the pool are some Cottonwood trees (Populus fremontii Wats.) and many seep willows (Baccharis glutinosa Pers). There are a few clumps of
the conspicuous, introduced grass Polypogan monspeliensis (L.) in moist places. Occasional plants referable to Anemopsis californica (Nutt.) were flowering in the white saline soil near the ditches. This is
a plant of ". . . alkaline floodlands . . ." (Mason,
1957). Small succulents also occurred along these
shallow water courses. Where the ditches enter the
pond and along the ditches leading from the springs
are luxuriant stands of the spike rush Eleocharis
geniculata (L.) Roem. and Schult. (=E. caribaea
Blake) .
The conspicuous emergent aquatic plant is the
halophytic rush Scirpus olneyi Gray (=S. chilensis
Nees and Meyen) which forms a magnificent marginal stand some five meters broad. At the lakeward
edge of the S. olneyi there occurs a small Scirpus
which is very much like Scirpus smithii Gray.
Hensley (1954) stated that the ". . . small pond
at Quitobaquito supports a fine stand of the sedge
Cyperus laevigatus. . . ." Furthermore, he wrote that
161
Mearns collected this during early expeditions of
the International Boundary Survey. C. laevigatus is
widespread in the tropics and occurs throughout
desert and coastal southern California (Mason, 1957:
269). However, we saw no plants referable to
Cyperus at Quitobaquito, and the most conspicuous
plant there is Scirpus olneyi.
Submerged macrophytes in the Quitobaquito pool
induded charophytes and Najas marina L. Hevly
(1961) stated that Chara sejuncta had been identified from the pool, but Donald R. Tindall, to whom
we are indebted for determining our material, did
not find it. He reported, "C. globularia Thuill. abundant; plant immature; C. contraria A. Br. ex Kutz.,
sparse; and C. zeylanica Klein ex Willd., sparse, but
abundant germinating spores seem to be of this
species."
Some macrophytes at Quitobaquito reflect the
saline nature of the environment. This can be said
for S. olneyi, N. marina and Anemopsis, at least.
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.—Although we made
no plans to study vertebrate animals, we observed a
few things which should be reported. The Desert
Pupfish, Cyprinodon macularius, was very much in
evidence about the margin of the Quitobaquito pool,
although it did not appear until rather late on the
cloudy morning of May 25. There were a great many
tiny young-of-the-year fish. This species occurs in
only two Arizona localities, and if the Quitobaquito
and Sonoyta River populations represent a distinct
subspecies (see Hubbs and Miller, 1948; Miller,
1943), a most precarious situation exists. A catastrophe such as the introduction of Gambusia or some
other exotic species could destroy this entire population; almost the entire gene pool is contained by this
tiny body of water.
On the pond there were several Coots (Fulica
americana Gmelin), a species which Hensley (1954)
noted very rarely. There were also some small grebes
which were not identified, but may have been the
Mexican Grebe, Podiceps dominicus (L.) which was
reported from the pool in 1941 and 1943 (Monson
and Phillips, 1964). They were not referable to the
Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps (L.).
A few specimens of the Boat-tailed Grackle, Cassidix mexicanus (Gmelin) were evident in the trees
about the pond. Hensley did not find this bird in
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument during 1948
and 1949, and it would be expected to occur only
rarely so far west (see Monson and Phillips, 1964:
235).
BIOTA OF THE DITCHES.—The small ditches,
leading from the seeps to the pond, contained about
two cm of water in which mats of filamentous algae
grew. The commonest type was either a small species
of Mougeotia Agardh or a member of Debarya Wittrock; the filaments were all vegetative with no evidence of conjugation or gametangia. A species of
Zygnema Agardh was also present, exhibiting many
162
JOURNAL OF THE ARIZO NA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
zygospores. Coenobes of Pediastrum integrum Naeg.
were scattered among the filaments as were many
diatoms. The most abundant diatom was referable to
Cocconeis Ehrenberg. Species of the blue-greens,
Lyngbya Agh., Chroococcus Naeg., and Merismopedia
Meyen were also present, although not common.
The most abundant animal among the algal filaments was Limnocythere inopinata (Baird), a cytherid
ostracod crustacean. A second ostracod was present
in far fewer numbers. This was Candonacypria
osborni Furtos, the only described species of this
unusual genus. Limnocythere and Candonacypria
lack effective natatory setae and are typical crawling
species.
A few small gastropods referable to Physa were
present on the algal mats of the ditches.
PLANKTON.—The plankton of the Quitobaquito
pond was sampled with nets of No. 20 bolting silk
on June 28, 1963, and May 24, 1964. Because of the
extreme shallowness of the pool, the net samples
contained some species more typical of the microbenthos than the plankton community.
Net phytoplankton was not abundant. There were
some filaments of the Mougeotia and Zygnema which
flourished in the ditches. In addition, Spirogyra
Link, Pleurotaenium Naeg., Oscillatoria Vaucher,
and Closterium Nitsch were present sparsely.
The zooplankton was predominantly of the Rotatoria with a species of Hexarthra Schmarda the most
abundant type in the 1964 collection. Brachionus
quadridentata Hermann was also present. In the
June 1963 collection this was the most abundant
species and only questionable fragments of Hexarthra
occurred. At least two species of Monostyla Ehrenberg were present each year; one of these was probably M. quadridentata Ehrenberg.
Microcrustaceans were uncommon in the plankton
both years. There were no calanoid copepods and no
cladocerans which could be considered typically
limnetic. The cyclopoid copepod Macrocydops albidus
(Jurine) was represented by many nauplii and a
few adults. A swimming ostracod of the genus Cypridopsis Brady, but not the common C. vidua (0.F.M.),
was present. There were a few of the Limnocythere
which were so common in the ditch, and some individuals of Herpetocypris reptans (Baird).
The most interesting species in the collections of
both years were two chydorid cladocerans, referable
to Alona Baird. Alona diaphana King and A. pulchella King were originally described from Australian
material (King, 1852:260). The latter is probably
synonymous with A. cambouei Guerne and Richard,
and has been reported rarely. Harding (1955) found
it in Lake Titicaca, and in collections from Africa
(Harding, 1957). This species occurs also in Dead
Man Lake, N. M., on the flat crest of the Chuska
Mountains which extend into northeastern Arizona
(Megard, 1964).
A. diaphana also is known from South America
Vol. 3
and has been collected in southern USA and southward (Birge, 1918; Brooks, 1959). There is, therefore, a Southern Hemisphere affinity shown by these
two crustaceans.
BOTTOM FAUNA AND SWIMMING INSECTS. — The benthic fauna of the Quitobaquito
pool was sampled quantitatively by Ekman dredge.
The samples were screened through a No. 40 Tyler
sieve, so only macrobenthic forms were retained.
Two dredge samples contained a total of 41 animals,
implying about 882/m2 . Of the total obtained, 38
were chironomid larvae and pupae, two were water
mites, and one was a tubificid oligochaete. The
formalin weight of the total was 29 mg, from which
6.24 kg/ha can be calculated for comparative purposes. The standing crop at the time of sampling
must be considered very low on a weight basis. The
common midge species was very small. There may
be several generations a year, however, and annual
productivity may be far greater than implied by the
low mass of our sample.
The margins of the ponds and the Scir pus beds
were sampled qualitatively with a dip net. Several
insects were present, the most conspicuous forms
being odonatan naiads and beetles. The damsel flies
were referable to Agria Rambur, Neoneura Selys,
and Teleallagma Kennedy; the dragonflies were libellulids referable to Tramea Hagen.
Most of the Coleoptera were adult, but a few
spectacular larvae of the dytiscid Cybister Curtis
also were collected. This form probably preys on
small individuals of Cyprinodon in Quitobaquito.
Other beetles included: the hydrophilids, Tropisternus ellipticus (LeC.) and T. lateralis (Fahr.); the
dytiscids, Deroneaes roffl nebulosus Sharp, Dytiscus
habilis Say, and Laccophilus fasciatus terminalis
Sharp; a dryopid referable to Helichus Erichson; and
the haliplid, Pelodytes dispersus Roberts.
PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY.—Most of the primary productivity in the shallow Quitobaquito pond
probably can be attributed to the emergent macrophytes. We attempted to estimate planktonic primary
productivity by gathering data on diurnal oxygen
changes. A light-dark bottle experiment failed when
the dark bottle was broken, and the 25th of May,
for which we had planned an experiment, was overcast and dull. In spite of these misfortunes, we
obtained some information.
The net gain in oxygen during the last two hours
and 37 minutes of the sunny afternoon of May 24
was 0.36 mg/1 at 0.5 m depth. Ignoring atmospheric
exchange, this implies a rate of about 0.0138 mg
02/cm 2 /hr. Daylight was 14 hours that day, permitting us to calculate a net gain of 0.193 mg
0 2 /cm 2 /day.
The loss of oxygen overnight was 0.98 mg/1;
assuming 10 hours of darkness this would be 0.0098
mg 0 2 /cm 2 /hr. The gain and loss data may be
referred to 14 hours and summed to derive a gross
April 1965
COLE-WHITESIDE
-QUITOBAQUITO
primary productivity rate of 0.33 mg 02 /cm2 /day.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.-We are indebted to
the personnel of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and especially to Chief Naturalist Victor L.
Jackson, for making information in the Monument
files available to us, and for extending other courtesies. We also wish to acknowledge the help received from Leo Ryan of Tempe, who accompanied
SPRING, ARIZONA
163
us and helped with the fi eld work. Taxonomic aid
received from several specialists is very much appreciated. They include: Dr. John N. Belkin, Culicidae;
Dr. Edward Ferguson, Jr., cytherid ostracods; Dr.
Robert 0. Megard, chydorid Cladocera; Dr. Frank N.
Young, Coleoptera; and Dr. Donald R. Tindall,
Characeae.
LITERATURE CITED
BIRGE, E. A., 1918. The water fleas (Cladocera) In Ward
and Whipple's Fresh-water Biology. 1st ed. pp. 676-740.
BROOKS, J. L., 1959. Cladocera. In Ward and Whipple's
Fresh-water Biology. 2nd ed. (Ed. W. T. Edmondson),
PP. 587-656.
CLARKE, F. W., 1924. The data of geochemistry. 5th ed.
U.S. Geol. Surv., Bull. 771:1-841.
GOULD, C. N., 1938. Geology of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Southwestern Monuments Rep. 455.
Suppl. for June. Santa Fe, N. M.
HARDING, J. P., 1955. Crustacea: Cladocera. The Percy
Sladen trust expedition to Lake Titicaca in 1937. Trans.
Linn. Soc. London 1:329-357.
, 1957. Crustacea: Cladocera. Exploration hydrobiologique du lac Tanganika (1946-1947). Resultats
scientifiques. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belgique. 3:55-89.
HEM, J. D., 1959. Study and interpretation of the chemical
characteristics of natural water. Geol. Surv. Watersupply Pap. 1473. U.S. Govt. Print. Off. Washington.
1-269
i-ix p.
HENSLEY, H. M., 1954. Ecological relations of the breeding
bird population of the desert biome of Arizona. Ecol.
Monogr. 24:185-207.
HEVLY, R. H., 1961. Notes on aquatic non-flowering plants
of northern Arizona and adjoining regions. Plateau
33:88-92.
Hunas, C. L., and R. R. MILLER, 1948. Correlation between
fish distribution and hydrographic history in the desert
basins of western United States. pp. 17-166 ± figs. 1029, 1 map. In The Great Basin with emphasis on glacial
and postglacial times. Bull. Univ. Utah 38.
HUTCHINSON, G. E., 1957. A treatise on limnology. Vol. I.
Geography, physics, and chemistry. John Wiley and
Sons, New York. 1015 + xiv p.
KING, R. L., 1852. On Australian entomostracans. Royal
Soc. Van Diemen's Land (1852, 1853):253-263.
LOWE, C. H., 1964. Arizona landscapes and habitats. Part I.
In The Vertebrates of Arizona (Ed. C. H. Lowe). Univ.
Arizona Press: Tucson. pp. 1-132.
MASON, H. L., 1957. A flora of the marshes of California.
Univ. California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles.
p.
1-878
MEGARD, R. 0., 1964. Biostratigraphic history of Dead Man
Lake, Chuska Mountains, New Mexico. Ecology 45:
529-546.
MILLER, R. R., 1943. The status of Cyprinodon macularius
and Cyprinodon nevadensis, two desert fishes of western North America. Occ. Papers Mus. Zool., Univ.
Michigan 473:1-25.
MONSON, G., and A. R. PHILLIPS, 1964. An annotated
checklist of the species of birds in Arizona. Part 4. In
The Vertebrates of Arizona, (Ed. C. H. Lowe). Univ.
Arizona Press: Tucson. pp. 175-248.