Desert!
by Paul Wittle
Contents!
- Location
- Climate
- Plants
- Animals
Location
As
always try to remember two or three examples to help you answer
exam questions. This is one of the best case studies because the
Sahel regions make it easy to bring in global warming.
ALWAYS
READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY!
Climate
The climate
is described as Arid! It recieves less than 25cm of
rainfall per year and this rain comes as a torrential
down pour.
The sudden
rain will often result in Flash floods and cause sereve
soil erosion.
The
temperatures tend to rise very quickly during the day,
but then drop just as quickly in the evening.
Plants
- There are three main types
of vegetation in a desert:
- Quick growing plants that
apear flower and then disapear after the rainfall.
- Stunted shrubs such as the
Mesquite.
- And the group called the
Succulents (Which include the Cacti). These are able to
store water in their tissues.
Animals
- The desert animals display
some strange ways of adapting to the arid environment.
These include producing dry excretory products such as
Uric Acid and living in burrows, only coming out at dawn
and dusk to feed.
- The Desert Jerboa is an
example of a desert animal that is nocturnal and feeds on
seeds, roots and insects.
- There are also some birds
which drink water from Cacti.
That is
the desert biome which is said to be expanding as a result of
human induced soil erosion.