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Plant macrofossils from woodrat (Neotoma) middens collected in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada were used to reconstruct the timing and magnitude of vegetation change during the past 1000 yr. Although vegetation at the site now is dominated by the shrub Coleogyne ramossissima, this species does not occur in fossil middens prior to 600 +/- 50 yr B. P. The appearance and persistence of C. ramosissima in middens was coincident with the Little Ice Age (ca. 1250 to 1850 A.D.) and was probably related to an increase in precipitation. (C) 1994 University of Washington.