Desert

Biome Research

ByLondon Edwards

DesertGeography & Climate

• Location: North and • South America And outside the United States• Description: Hot and dry days and cold nights • Precipitation: 3 – 5 inches of rain • Temperature range: Summer = 55 – 75 degrees

Fahrenheit and Winter = 41 degrees Fahrenheit or lower• Climate: Warm summers and cold winter

DesertBiodiversity

• Plant Species: Creosote bush, sage bush, ocotillo, and cacti

• Animal Species: snakes, insects, lizards, skins, geckos, gazelles, dik diks, kangaroo rat, and kit fox

DesertAdaptations Needed for Survival

• Plants: Their good for storing and finding water. Some plants have seeds that can stay dormant in the sand for a long time, until there is enough rain for them to grow.

• Animals: Some mice build their homes out of fallen cactus spines to protect themselves from predators.

DesertInteractions of Biotic and Abiotic

• Biotic: Snakes, coyotes, and hawks eat mice.

• Abiotic: There’s not much grass because there’s not much rain.

What is Biodiversity?• The number of different species of plants and animals in an area.

• Biodiversity, short for biological diversity, is the term used to describe the variety of life found on Earth and all of the natural processes. This includes ecosystem, genetic and cultural diversity, and the connections between these and all species.

• The different aspects of biodiversity all have a very strong influence on each other. We have only just started to understand the relationships between living things and their environments. It is helpful to think of an ecosystem as a woven carpet; if you pull on a loose thread it might only affect the thread and those closest to it or it might unravel the whole carpet.

• Biodiversity also helps us in our day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, the greenhouse gases produced by human activities are building up in the atmosphere and causing climate change. Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity.

How does biodiversity contribute to the sustainability of an ecosystem?

• Biodiversity is an important part of ecological services that can make life livable on earth. They include everything from cleaning water and absorbing chemicals, which wetlands do, to providing oxygen for us to breathe – one of many things that plants do for people.

Work cited

• Mouse Photo: arkive.org• geocaching.com• ekspublishing.com