DESERTSSSSSSSSSS
(GET IT) ^
Deserts
Sand dunes
other type of desert !
Oasis
climate
COLD DESERT
The average rainfall: 15-26 cmThe average temperature:-2 to 4° C and the mean summer temperature is between 21-26° C.
The seasonal changes for cold deserts are that they have short, moist, and moderately warm summers with fairly long, cold winters.
HOT DESERT
The average rainfall: less than 1.5 cm
The average temperature:Many mean annual temperatures range from 20-25° C. The extreme maximum ranges from 43.5-49° C. Minimum temperatures sometimes drop to -18° C.
The seasonal changes in a hot desert are that during the summer its very hot, and dry. During the summer it gets really cold at night and the night might be hunmid.
Plant life
whenever you think of a desert you think of a cactus (or sand)! Majority of the plants have:
- short leaves and stems to preserve the water and to get the water after it rains.
- storing water in themselves to continue growing with out rain.
- plants learn dormant when water is scare.
- most plants are active at night to save energy.
- protective outside layers that protect them for animals eat them
since it freezing no plant can live here !
Animals
Majority of the animals in a cold desert have thick fur. Arctic animals are hearty creatures because low temperatures and precipitation with strong winds are not uncommon in the Arctic.
The characteristics of the animals and the adaptation:
- thick fur: to keep them warm
- fatness: to use the energy to them warm
- warm blooded: don't need the sun that much to keep them warm
- powerful claws to keep them steady on the ice
- No nest is made, eggs then chicks sit on the parents feet
cooperation / competition relationship:
- birds living in cactus / competing for the rain water that falls \
- snakes living together / hunting for there food
predictor/prey relationship:
- hawk / lizard
- scorpion / insect
- snake / jack rabbit
- lizard / insect
hot desert:
The characteristics of the animals are that they can all stand the hotness of the desert and they can find food and water to drink.
The characteristics of the animals and the adaptation:
- Cold blooded that helps they so they don't feel the so bad in the heat
- at night it get really cold so they can hind in rocks where its still warm
- Another big adaptation is to have some way to lose excess heat, and a common method for that is having a large external surface area, often by way of the ears or folds in the skin.
- Furred animals have fur on the undersides of their paws and growing between their toes to help protect their paw pads from searing desert sand and rock.
- Most hot desert animals are light in color both to blend in with their often sandy or rocky surroundings, and to reflect the sunlight rather than absorb it like a darker coat would.
cooperation / competition relationship:
- pack of wolfs hunting together / competing for the same food
- polar bear mating / having to hunt later in life for the same food
predictor/prey relationship:
- bear / seal
- arctic fox / Eider duck
- Fulmar / polychaeta
- bearded seal / benthic fish
Ecological concerns
Threats: global warming melting the ice caps
two endangered species:
- polar bears: people hunting them for their fur
- The Eskimo curlew is a 12-inch-long shorebird that nests in the Arctic tundra. Not only is this bird on the endangered list, it might very well be extinct. The last one was seen in 1996 in the Canadian province of Manitoba, though that sighting was not officially documented. The last verified sighting, in 1962.
Holds thousands of life forms and these life forms can only live and survive in the cold
HOT DESERT:
Threats: Global warming is increasing the incidence of drought, which dries up water holes.
two endangered species:
- desert tortoise: The desert tortoise has lived in the Mojave and Colorado/Sonoran deserts of California, southern Nevada, Arizona, southwestern Utah, and in Mexico for thousands of years. This reptile is able to survive ground temperature exceeding 140 degrees F and is known to live as long as 60 to 80 years. careless drivers have been unable to baby tortoise killing them. :(
- The kangaroo rat: over time this animal has been hunted by animals and eaten. They don't drink water since they get them all from what they eat.
Global importance: All living things are closely related to their environment. Any change in one part of an environment, like an increase or decrease of a species of animal or plant, causes a ripple effect of change in through other parts of the environment.
INTERESTING FACTS
The largest cold desert on Earth is Antarctica.
The largest hot desert on Earth is the Sahara