DESERT
Location
The distribution of desert across the globe.
As you can see from the picture, there are desserts in
- North Africa
- Central Australia
- Southwestern North America
- Eastern Asia
- South America
The biggest desert in the world is called the Sahara Desert (over 9,000,000 km square)
Climate
Everyone knows that deserts are the driest place on Earth. In a year, a desert typically receive less than 25 cm of precipitation. The lack of moisture in the air causes heat to distribute quickly as the sun sets. The temperatures here swing between temperature extremes; 38 degrees Celsius during the day and -36 degrees Celsius during the night. Deserts are mainly categorized by the amount of precipitation they receive, not by temperature.
Wildlife
Common sense: no water = no plants
Vegetation:
Not a lot of vegetation can survive in this biome due to the dry conditions and poor soil quality. However, the plants that do grow here already have adaptations so that they can survive. Take a cactus for an example. A cactus has thin needle-like leaves to reduce water loss. Some examples of vegetation that exist here are cacti, buckwheat bushes, prickly pears, and black bushes.
Animal:
Animals that inhabit this biome are burrowing animals, which means that they live in a hole or a tunnel. In addition, most of them are nocturnal. What this means is that they hide underground during the day to escape the heat and come out at night to feed. This is beneficial for the animals since it allows them to conserve water and energy. Other species of animals found in the desert could stay in their holes and remain dormant until more water becomes available. Some examples of animals here are badgers, toads, snakes, coyotes, foxes and eagles.