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Desert

Desert. Renée Nolan, Rachel Nauert, Christine Campbell, Taylor Sutton. Hot and Dry. There are 4 major North American Hot and Dry Deserts. The Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave, and Great Basin

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Desert

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  1. Desert • Renée Nolan, Rachel Nauert, Christine Campbell, Taylor Sutton

  2. Hot and Dry • There are 4 major North American Hot and Dry Deserts. The Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave, and Great Basin • Outside of the US there are Hot and Dry Deserts in the Southern Asian realm, Neotropical (South and Central America), Ethiopian (Africa), and Australian

  3. Precipitation and Temperature • Rainfall is lowest on the Atacama Desert of Chile, where it averages less than 1.5 cm. Some years are even rainless. Inland Sahara also receives less than 1.5 cm a year. Rainfall in American deserts is higher—almost 28 cm a year. • Because the temperature is so high, evaporation exceeds precipitation and sometimes rain evaporates before it reaches the ground. • The daily temperature is very extreme due to the low humidity, which allows more heat to come through the atmosphere during the day and escape at night • Temperatures range from 20-25° C. The extreme maximum ranges from 43.5-49° C. Minimum temperatures can be as low as -18° C.

  4. Animals • The dominant animals are small, nocturnal burrowers and kangaroo rats. • There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. • There are almost no large mammals. • Most of the animals come out in search for food at dusk to avoid the heat.

  5. Vegetation • Mainly ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. • Leaves are very small and have water conserving characteristics. They have very thick cell walls that help prevent water loss. • Dominant plants include yuccas, ocotillo, turpentine bush, prickly pears, false mesquite, sotol, ephedras, agaves and brittlebush.

  6. Cold Desert

  7. Cold Deserts • Characterized by cold winters with snowfall • In the Antarctic, Greenland and Nearctic Realm • Short, moist, and fairly warm summers • Fairly long, cold winters

  8. Temperature • The mean winter temperature is between -2 to 4° C. • The mean summer temperature is between 21-26° C.

  9. Rainfall • There is high overall rainfall throughout the winter and occasionally over the summer. • The mean annual precipitation ranges from 15-26 cm. It has been as high as 46 cm and as low as 9 cm. • The heaviest rainfall of the spring is usually in April or May. In some areas, rainfall can be heavy in autumn.

  10. Plants • The plants are widely scattered; about 10 percent of the ground is covered (but in some areas of sagebush it is about 85 percent) • Plant heights vary between 15 cm and 122 cm. • Most plants are deciduous and have spiny leaves.

  11. Animals • Widely distributed animals are jack rabbits, kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice, grasshopper mice, and antelope ground squirrels. (All except the jack rabbits are burrowers.) • In some areas, population density of these animals can range from 14-41 individuals per hectare. • Deer are found only in the winter. Antelope Ground Squirrel

  12. Cities and Conservation Issues • The cities in the cold desert biome are not very big. Nuuk, Greenland has a population around 14,000. • Few conservation issues. Global warming affects the plants and animals.

  13. Coastal Desert

  14. Temperature and Precipitation • Annual temperatures: maximum- 35C minimum- -4C • Annual precipitation: maximum 37cm minimum 5cm

  15. Plants • Some plants have extensive root systems close to the surface where they can take advantage of any rain showers. • Plants have thick and fleshy leaves or stems that can take in large quantities if water for future use. • The plants living in this type of desert include the salt bush, buckwheat bush, black bush, rice grass, little leaf horsebrush, black sage, and chrysothamnus.

  16. Animals • Animals have specialized adaptations for desert heat and lack of water • Animals include: insects, mammals (coyote and badger), amphibians (toads), birds (great horned owl, golden eagle and the bald eagle), and reptiles (lizards and snakes

  17. A few Costal deserts are located in: -Sechura Desert- South of Piura region in Peru -Atamaca Desert- Northern Chile -Namib Desert- Southern Africa

  18. Issues in the Desert • Sudden rain can cause flooding and a lack of rain, even in a Desert, can cause changes in abundance and scarcity in resources • Global warming is said to have something to do with this • Human populations around deserts take this already scarce water • Wildfires • Desertification,the lack of ability to sustain life,has become more common • Invasive creatures have been introduced to the desert • Digging for fossil fuels • Soil aridity can cause some plants/shrubbery to not be able to live in the desert biome anymore • Some deserts have been used as nuclear testing areas • Nuclear wastes have also been dumped in the desert

  19. Solutions • Limit the taking of water, digging of fossil fuels, off roading vehicle misuse • Not introducing invasive creatures • Less disturbing of the biome

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