DESERT BIOME
Desert Biome
Location
Located in the American Southwest (Arizona, California, New
Mexico, California, Mexico, South America, Africa, Asia and
Australia.
Temperature
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The hot desert is a land of extremes:
extreme heat and extreme dryness;
sudden flash floods and cold nights.
Because deserts are such a harsh
environment, deserts often have
names likes "Death Valley," "the
empty quarter," and "the place from
where there is no return."
Temperature
Everyone knows that during the day many
deserts are hot, very hot.
Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees
Fahrenheit are not uncommon. Yet at
night, the same deserts can have
temperatures fall into the 40’s or 50’s.
Precipitation
 Deserts are usually very, very dry. Even
the wettest deserts get less than ten
inches of precipitation a year.
 Deserts receive the least amount of
rainfall of all the other biomes.
Flora
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Many of the fascinating features of desert plants
are adaptations -- traits that help the plant
survive in its harsh environment. Desert plants
have two main adaptations:
Ability to collect and store water
Features that reduce water loss like waxy leaves.
Examples: Ghost Flower, Barrel Cactus,
Tumbleweed, Cottonwood Tree, Sand Verbena,
Saugaro Cactus
Sand Verbena
Ghost Flower
Barrel Cactus
Saugaro cactus
Desert Food Chain (US)
Fauna (US)
Fox, hawk, tarantula, lizard, king snakes,
kangaroo rat, frogs, scorpions, mule deer,
cottontail, wolves
Sahara Desert Africa
As the world's biggest desert, the Sahara covers
a third of the African continent-an area about the
size of the United States.
What makes the Sahara a desert?
The Sahara is one of the hottest places on
Earth. Even though temperatures there may rise
to 136 F (57.7 C), its dryness, not heat, that
makes a place like the Sahara a desert.
It receives less than 3 inches of rain per year!