Other desert plants have shallow, fibrous root systems to capture the moisture made available by cloudbursts, flash floods, and melted snow. Woody perennials may send roots as deep as 18 m to exploit ground moisture. Other plants have higher salt tolerances, which enable them to exploit the saline waters that typify areas of the Great Basin. Most Great Basin animals are solitary or live in small groups. They have fewer options for surviving the arid environment, although their mobility gives them an advantage over plants.
Many animals sleep during the day or rest in the shade to minimize water loss.
The light coloration of many animals reflects solar radiation, while hair and feathers create a dead space that helps keep heat out and water in. Some animals have highly evolved metabolisms to make the most efficient use of available moisture, recovering all water in their kidneys before excretion of waste. Others estivate, the summer equivalent of hibernation. The warmer, drier environment affected not only plant and animal species, but also the human population. Prehistoric people, who lived in small, dispersed groups for most of the Basin's 12,000-year human history, also learned to survive in the changed surroundings.