BIOME PROJECT THE DESERT

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BIOME PROJECTTHE DESERT

• An Elliot-Asaf Production

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What is a Desert?

• A biome in which evaporation exceeds
  precipitation and the average amount of
  precipitation is less than 10inch per year.
• Deserts have little vegetation or have widely
  spaced mostly low vegetation.
• The desert exhibits extremes in temperature, the
  temp rises to sweltering levels during the day
  and reaches cold temps at night.

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World Distribution of Deserts

• 30 of earths surface is Desert! They are
  situated between tropical and subtropical regions
  north and south of the equator.
• The largest deserts are in the interiors of the
  continents far from moist air carried by the sea.

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Climatogram

• The graph shows the average rainfall and
  temperature of the biome, per month
• The graphs shows very high temperatures a very
  low levels of precipitation

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Three Types of Desserts
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Three types of Deserts

• Tropical-ex Sahara, high temp, little rainfall
  (1-2months/year) sparse plant-life and rife with
  rocks.
• Temperate Deserts-ex Mojave, daytime temps are
  high in summer and low in winter. More
  precipitation than tropical deserts. Sparse
  vegetation/ mostly shrubs and cacti and very
  little animal species.
• Cold Deserts-Winters are cold, summers are
  warm/hot, and precipitation is low.

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Plant and Animal species Food Web
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How do plants survive in the desert

• Barrel Cactus
• Having no leaves
• Storing water and synthesizing food in their
  expandable, fleshy tissue
• Reducing water lass by opening their pores to
  take up CO2 (for photosynthesis) only at night
• Apache Bloom
• Wax coated leaves that minimize transpiration
• Using deep roots to tap into groundwater
• Octillo
• Use widely spread shallow roots to colect water
  after brief showers and store it in their spongy
  tissue
• Drop their leaves to survive in a dormant state
  during long drying spells

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How do Plants Survive ?(cont)

• Devils Claw-Become dormant during dry periods,
  uses deep roots to tap into ground water
• Organ Pipe- Stores water within fleshy leaves.
  Stores biomass in seeds during day periods.

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Common animals in desert!

• Black-Collared Lizards
• Coyote
• Rattle-snakes
• Scorpion
• Cactus Wren

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And dont forget The jabster
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How Animals Survive?

• Hiding in cool burrows or rocky crevices by day
  and coming out at night or in early morning.
• All animals have physical adaptations to conserve
  water. Insects and reptiles have thick outer
  coverings to prevent water loss. There feces is
  dry in to conserve water.
• The animals obtain water from the food they eat,
  many insects and small animals obtain water from
  dew that accumulates over night.
• Most animals are dormant during the periods of
  extreme heat

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Desert Soil

• Very poorly developed
• Large quantity of mineral particles.
• Low amount of organic matter.-caused by low plant
  productivity. Which is intern caused by the arid
  climate.
• The soil cannot retain a large amount of water.
  The high level of evaporation (due to heat)
  brings salt to surface which greatly impedes
  plant growth.

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Common Abiotic Features

• Temperature
• Soil
• Precipitation (lack of)
• Topography

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Ex of Symbiotic relationship (mutuality)

• Between Yucca Moth and Yucca Plant
• Yucca Moth pollinates the Yucca Plant and the
  Yucca Plant provides a safe haven for the moth to
  lay eggs.

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Environmental Degradation Of desert Biome

• Caused mainly by human cultivation of desert
  Biome
• The already weak soil is being increasingly
  degraded by vehicles and urban development.
• The desert is used to store radioactive waste and
  to test underground nuclear weapons. These cause
  the soil to become poisonous and kills many life
  forms that inhabit such areas within desert.
• Humans are depleting the deserts underground
  water supply to support urban-desert cities, this
  takes away the necessary water needed for desert
  animals and plants to survive.

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Human Impacts on Deserts

• Large desert cities
• Soil destruction by vehicles and urban
  development
• Depletion of underground water supplies
• Land Disturbance and pollution from mineral
  extraction
• Storage of Toxic and Radio-active waste
• Large arrays of solar cells and solar collectors
  used to produce electricity
• Deserts require an extensive period of time to
  recover due to their slow plant growth, low
  species diversity, slow nutrients cycling, and
  water shortages.

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Sources

• www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert.htm
• www.wikipedia.com/desert/biome/.htm
• www.desertusa.com/animals.html
• Miller, Arthur. Living in The Environment
• www.livingdesert.org/