Desert Biome Credits Presentation: Arlette Bujanda Notes: Arlette Bujanda Information source: CERM Environmental Summer Camp Handbook 2008

The Desert Deserts are areas with dry climate: they receive little rainfall and have high levels of evaporation. This change is because deserts are bare. There is little protection to keep them from heating up in the sun and cooling off when the sun disappears at night. The amount of rainfall also varies. Though there is little rain in a desert, and when it does rain, it pours. Violent rainstorms can cause flash floods in the desert. After a storm, the desert may not see any rain for weeks or months. Deserts are areas with dry climate: they receive little rainfall and have high levels of evaporation.

How is the desert climate? The desert is the hottest biome on earth. However, the desert is also a land of extremes. It can be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day but below 32 degrees at night. Very hot! & Very cold!

Types of Deserts H O T S E M I C O L D ARID COASTAL Desert biomes can be classified according to several characteristics. A Hot and Dry Desert is, as you can tell from the name, hot and dry. Most Hot and Dry Deserts don't have very many plants. They do have some low down plants though. The only animals they have that can survive have the ability to burrow under ground. This is because they would not be able to live in the hot sun and heat. They only come out in the night when it is a little cooler. A cold desert is a desert that has snow in the winter instead of just dropping a few degrees in temperature like they would in a Hot and Dry Desert. It never gets warm enough for plants to grow. Just maybe a few grasses and mosses. The animals in Cold Deserts also have to burrow but in this case to keep warm, not cool. Hot and Dry Deserts are warm throughout the fall and spring seasons and very hot during the summer. The winters usually have very little if any rainfall. Cold Deserts have quite a bit of snow during winter. The summer and the beginning of the spring are barely warm enough for a few lichens, grasses and mosses to grow. ARID

Temperatures of the Desert Hot Desert 110 F 77 F Hot and Dry Desert 68 F 39 F Cold Desert The temperature from hot and dry deserts ranges from 20 to 25° C. The extreme maximum temperature for Hot Desert ranges from 43.5 to 49° C. Cold Deserts temperature in winter ranges from -2 to 4° C and in the summer 21 to 26° C a year. 28 F

Deserts of the World Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's land surface. Most Hot and Dry Deserts are near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn. Cold Deserts are near the Arctic part of the world.

“The Chihuahuan Desert” El Paso TX Is located in “The Chihuahuan Desert” El Paso is located in the Chihuahuan Desert of extreme western Texas, along the Rio Grande River. It adjoins both the state of New Mexico and the country of Mexico with the Franklin Mountains, the southern tip of the Rockies, slicing El Paso nearly in two.

What kind of plants are in the desert? Brittlebush The most common plants that can be found in deserts are the following: Barrel Cactus Brittle Bush Chainfruit Cholla Creosote Bush Crimson Hedgehog Cactus Desert Ironwood Joshua Tree Jumping Cholla Mojave Aster Ocotillo Palo Verde Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus Saguaro Cactus Soaptree Yucca Triangle-leaf Bursage Chain Fruit Cholla Barrel Cactus Hedgehog Cactus

What about the animals? Armadillo C a me l Bobcat C o yot e Bobcat The following list includes the animals of the desert: Armadillo Lizard Banded Gila Monster Bobcat Cactus Wren Coyote Desert Bighorn Sheep Desert Kangaroo Rat Desert Tortoise Javelina Cactus Ferruginoug Pygmy Owl Sonoran Desert Toad Sonoran Pronghorn Antelope Thorny Devil Bobcat

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