Desert Biome
Beth Anne Brock
Description
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Physical:
Deserts usually contain shrub lands and dirt.
Little precipitation occurs in the desert causing plants and animals to adapt to survive on little water.
Plants like cactus have water storing succulents to survive in an area that has infrequent rain.
Some animals are also nocturnal to avoid harsh, high temperatures.
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Chemical:
Soil is rocky because of low chemical weathering
Plants can have thick bark to control loss of water.
Percipitation/Temperature
Graph
Desert Location
Food Web
Animals
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Snakes: Arizona’s state snake is the diamond back snake. They can weigh about 10 lbs. and eat household pets like
mice and other rodents. Diamond back’s venom is a hemotoxin which can kill red blood cells, even though they only
attack humans in defense. Bites rarely cause death.
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Coyote: Coyotes can be found anywhere from Canada to the Panama. There are cousins to the grey wolf and can
weigh between 15-45 lb. They usually travel in a pack of six and hunt in pairs. They usually live to be 10 years old in
the wild. They usually eat small animals like voles, prairie dogs, mice, and birds, and are also nocturnal.
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Mountain lions: These endangered species live in western US. They are very solitary and territorial animals. When
they hunt, they hunt from the behind and attack the necks of preys. After killing animals like deer, mice, squirrels, the
mountain lion will bury the animal to feed on it later when it is hungry again. They weigh about 110-180lb. And live for
12 years in the wild.
Plants
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Sagebrush: This plant can be found in western US and Canada. This silvery-grey bush can grow about 10 ft. above
the ground, and bloom about late summer and early fall. When the flowers bloom they are usually yellow. They also
have a distinctive smell after been wet.
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Prickly Pair Cactus: This cactus, which is found through out desert lands, have several functions like water storage,
photosynthesis, and flower production. They are also edible. The flowers range from red, yellow, and purple. They
also can vary in height from 6-7 ft.
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Barrel Cactus:The most commonly spotted cactus is the Barrel cactus because of the circular shape of it. One of the
largest cacti, it can reach up to 11ft tall. They also use the spines to make cactus candy.
Environmental damage
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Urbanization, or building, is causing many animals to eliminate habitats and move else where.
Off-road vehicles (quads) causes destroy habitats and kill animals
Agriculture: Animals can overgraze an area destroying endangered species.
Solutions
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Urbanization: planting more of the same specie to make up for the loss during building.
Off Road Vehicles: creating designated roads and trails for these vehicles and using fences
Agriculture: efficiently using water to stabilize resources and new ways to rotate crops.
Bibliography
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"Mountain Lion Facts - Defenders of Wildlife." Defenders of Wildlife - Protection of Endangered Species, Imperiled
Species, Habitats. Defenders of Wildlife. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/mountain_lion.php>.
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"Prickly Pear Cactus - DesertUSA - DesertUSA." Desert Biomes by DesertUSA. Desert USA. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.desertusa.com/magoct97/oct_pa/du_prkpear.html>.
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"Artemisia Tridentata." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_tridentata>.