Air movement and turbulence influence both the water cycle through evapotranspiration from the soil and plants as well as the energy flux in the ecosystem. The energy budget of the ecosystem directly controls the function and behavior of the animals and plants. The duration of monitoring should be at least for three years in order to better determine plant response and plant invasion of the site. Biotic recovery is a slow process and changes continue to occur until the plant and animal community is in balance with the newly created environment. Solar Conversion System Simulation Sites (Figure 3) The use of solar conversion simulation sites is primarily to determine the validity of the theoretical hypotheses about which ecosystem parameters are most responsive to modification of the desert ecosystem by construction and maintenance of solar conversion systems. The solar conversion system simulations can be used to manipulate and monitor a great variety of system functions on site which would be impossible to accomplish at an actually operating solar conversion system. Through comparison of on and off site ecosystem fluctuations, it is possible to determine the relative significance of a particular type of structure or activity modification based on the relative degrees of change in that activity. The simulation sites should be used to measure all of the apparently significant ecosystem parameters under standard and manipulated processes. Initially the simulation solar conversion systems should be treated as standard solar conversion sites with monitoring of ecosystem parameters taking place on both the site and an adjacent control area. After a minimum of a year or two, various manipulations should be incorporated into the "operation and maintenance" processes of the simulation conversion panels. These manipulative changes should include (a) modifying maintenance activities, (b) changing the ground surface texture in part of the panel array, (c) modifying "washing techniques" and washing compounds and (d) using alternative arrangements of the solar collector panels such as stationary position or solar tracking. If heliostats are simulated, modifications in stow position should also be attempted. Changes in biotic parameters should be carefully monitored. These not only include density and diversity of the various species, which is an
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