Established in 1903 by the Carnegie Institution for the purpose of studying "the methods by which plants perform their functions under the extraordinary conditions existing in deserts," the Desert Laboratory was for over 35 years the center for the study of North American desert ecology. Much of the framework of plant ecology generally, and desert ecology in particular, was formulated here. Now part of University of Arizona.

Information provided by the National Registry of Historic Places, a program of the National Park Service