The Desert
By Kevin, Azaria, Cory, Landry
Geography By: Kevin
• Deserts are found in these places around the
world (Antarctica is technically a cold desert
but it is cut off on this map.) Some deserts are
full of sand dunes others may look very flat.
Off roading is one of many ways that humans
impact deserts because They ruin the soil and
crush plants and sometimes animals.
Wooly Daisy
Bonaist
Saguaro Catcus
How does it grow?
Drought plants often grow only about 1/4
before Producing one Head
How does a saguaro cactus plant Grow?
The Thing that help it is growing thick, column like
stems, branches and flower. These thing help The
cactus live for 75 years
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Prickly Pear Cactus
Botanist
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/stein_made/Adaptation.htm
Adaptation is its defense mechanism, in the
intimidating aspect and the painful impact of its
barbed spines and bristles. Still another adaptation
is the flexibility of its stem. The stem moves,
processes and stores water, nutrient solutions, and
energizing photosynthetic products.
• Prickly Pear Cactus
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http://www.buzzle.com/articles/barrelcactus-adaptations.html
What helps it grow is?
A swollen trunk which stores water, a
shallow root system to catch water
whenever it rains, rounded shape and
no leaves to minimise water loss.
They also have a special metabolism
which allows the stomata to stay closed
during daytime when water loss would
be greatest, opening at night to release
oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide which
is stored as malate which is then used in
photosynthesis during the day.
Barrel Cactus
Botanist
What Helps it grow
The leaves are spirally arranged, with a deeply toothed margin.
Some species, notably X. spinosum, are also very thorny with
long, slender spines at the leaf bases.
• Cocklebur
http://scienceray.com/biology/ecology/plants-and-animalsadaptations-to-the-desert-biome/
What Help the Tree Grow?
They have a thick waxy layer over the cuticle for even more
protection from water loss. The leaf lasts for several years as part
of rosette of short pointy leaves at the ends of bra
branches.Leaves in the lower rosette are more horizontal and
shaded by upper leaves. Leaves in the upper rosette are more
vertical to reduce heat and water stress
• Joshua Tree
Botanist
http://oleaeuropea.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/in
dian-paintbrush-a-pretty-parasite/
http://www.youaskandy.com/questions-answers/30-articleseries-1970/10659-how-does-a-tumbleweed-live-.html
What help it survive?
What helps it Grow?
Haustoria it diggen to other roots and takes there
resource
The Brown dead twigs, bowling down the road or over a
field. Naturally you wonder how
in the world such a plant manages to survive.
• Tumble Weed
Botanist
What helps a cactus grow?
Plant the Hedgehog cactus in the spring or
fall in full sun. This type of cactus does not
respond well to compacted soil that doesn't
drain well, or soil that is too fertile. In fact,
this cactus plant thrives in rocky or gravelly
soil
• Hedgehog Cactus
What's help it grow?
When it flowers, the spike with a cyme of big
yellow flowers may reach up to 8 m in height.
Its common name likely derives from its
semelparous nature of flowering only once at
the end of its long life
• Century Plant
Meteorologist Part 1
Desert Biome Temperature
The desert climate is normally dry. It is
immensely hot. The average wind speed or velocity
for the desert is 11 MPH. The average temperature
for a desert is around 40° celsius or 104° fahrenheit.
The highest recorded temperature in a desert is 134°
in Death Valley a desert in California. The lowest
ever for a desert is -128.6° is in the Arctic Desert.
Meteorologist Part 2
• DEATH VALLEY
ARCTIC DESERT
Meteorologist Part 3
Precipitation and Rainfall
The desert biome on average receives about 15
centimeters of rainfall a year. That is not a lot
at all. But think about it, if your in the one of the
most dry places on earth how much rainfall do
you expect? Not a lot. The lowest is 1.5 CM of rainfall
in the Atacma Desert of Chile. Some years for them
are even completely rainless. American deserts
get a lot more rainfall around 28 cm. A popular american
desert is the Great Basin desert. It is located in 5 different states.
Nevada, Oregon, Washington, California, Utah and Idaho.
It is mostly in Nevada though. It is the largest North American desert
at 184,427 square miles.
Meteorologist Part 4
• ATACMA DESERT
GREAT BASIN DESERT
Meteorologist Part 5
Air Pressure and
Humidity
Patterns
Actually a desert has very high
air pressure because dry air
is so clear that the sun can easily
heat through the ground
causing it to have very low
humidity. That's also why there
is
little precipitation in deserts.
Indentify significant weather
patterns month to month or
through out the year.
In summer in most deserts its
extremely hot during the day
and only hot during the night.
For us it mostly is warm
during the day and cold at
night. But then again dont
forget the arctic desert where
it is cold in the day and
freezing at night. But that is
because it is in Antarctica.
Meteorologist Part 6
How would these patterns
impact the enviorment and
the organisms living in it?
Well it depends on what kind
of organisms your talking
about. If your talking about
animals then it depends if
they are nocturnal or if they
live in the day. They can live
by being heated or they could
die of dehydration. They could
keep cool at night or freeze to
death.
Zoologist part 1
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Abiotic factors of the desert are the Sand, water, and temperature these help for hiding places, and
protection from predators.
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Biotic factors of the desert are cacti, and other plats these help for shade, and cacti give homes for
some small animals.
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Adaptions: The most common adaptation is staying in the shade of plants or rocks or by burrowing
underground in the heat of the day. Many desert animals are nocturnal: they stay inactive in shelter
during the day and hunt at night when it is cool.
Some animals get all the moisture they need from the insects, plants and seeds they eat, and do
not need to drink water. Most pass little moisture out of their bodies. They do not have sweat
glands and pass only small amounts of concentrated urine.
Fat increases body heat, so some desert animals have concentrated the body's fat in one place,
such as a hump or tail, rather than having it all through the body.
Some animals develop unique ways of surviving. The Thorny Devil, a lizard that lives in Australian
desert areas, has a body that channels raindrops directly into its mouth when rain falls. The waterholding frog spends most of the year under the ground in Australian desert areas, and develops a
sort of cocoon that enables them to store water to keep them going through the dry times. When it
rains, they emerge to lay their eggs in puddles. The eggs hatch within days and the tadpoles
develop quickly, before the water dries out.
Camels are one of the few large mammals to survive in the desert, and have many special
adaptations to help them.
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Zoologist part 2
• Food chains
Zooligist Pt 3
• Carnivores:
Rattlesnake
Vulture
Roadrunner
Zooligist Pt 4
• Ommivores
Desert Rats
• Raven
• Desert Night Lizard
Zooligist Pt 5
• Herbivore
• Camel
• Desert Cottontail
• Desert Tortoise
Zooligist Pt 6
• Decomposers
Earth worms:
The role in the ecosystem they significantly modify the physical, chemical and biological properties of the
soil profile. These modifications can influence the habitat and activities of other organisms within the soil
ecosystem.
Thank You For Watching!