DESERTSBy: Jessie Tavenner

&

Austin Kiner

Plant Biotic factors

• Prickly pear flower: • Fleshy, flat pads that look like leaves

• Pads are used for water storage, photosynthesis, & flower production.

• Has small white prickly projections on their leaves

• Saguaro cactus:• Found in southeaster California, Southern Arizona, and Northwestern

Mexico.

• Located mainly on desert slopes, & in rocky areas.

• Can grow up to 18- 24 inches in diameter

• Has a shallow root system

Animal biotic factors

• Horned lizards:• - There are many different types of lizards these are just a few:• Round tail Horned Lizard • Flat tail Horned Lizard • Regal Horned Lizard • Texas Horned Lizard

• Snakes:• - snakes in the desert include, coral snakes, king snakes, gopher snakes, &

the glossy snake.• The coral snake only grows up to 12-20 inches in length\• Their venom is very potent.

Abiotic factors

• - There are 4 basic abiotic factors in the desert:

• 1.) Sand:- Finely composed of rock and mineral particals.

- Particles range in 0.0625 mm down to 0.004 mm in diameter.- An individual particle in this range size is termed a sand grain.

• 2.)Sunlight:- Sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach the Earth. - When the direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is

experienced as sunshine.

• 3.) Water:- co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice , and gaseous, state, water,

vapor steam. - Approximately 70% of freshwater is consumed by agriculture.

• 4.) Air: -Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around

1%.

- Air is mainly composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, which together constitute the major gases of the atmosphere.

The hottest deserts• Arabian: -Arabian Peninsula

• Australian:- (Great Sandy, Victoria, Simpson, Gibson, and Sturt)

Australia - Chihuahuan

-North Central Mexico and Southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas)

- Kalahari -Southwestern Africa - Mojave

- -Southwestern United States (Arizona, California, Nevada) - Monte

-Argentina - Sahara

-Northern Africa

Map of the hottest deserts

Some of the hottest deserts in the world:

Climate

• Approximately 1 in. (.25 cm) of rain falls in dry deserts per year. The average annual temperature of these miles of hot sand is 64° F (18° C).

• 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. 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.

• Animals found around the desert:rattlesnake

Lizards

Ant

camels

Endangered animals

• Some endangered animals are:• The ocelet• The kangaroo rat• The gilla monster• The prairie dog• The peregrine falcon

The prairie dog

The kanaroo rat

The ocelet

Trees in the desert

• Sweet acadia• Cat-claw acadia• Bottle tree• Mexican blue palm• Saguaro cactus• Blue palo verde• Lemon scented gum.

The lemon scented gum

Blue palo verde

Saguaro cactus

The end! (:Mostly done by Jessie

All Austin did was slide 6.