The wonderful DesertBy: Jordyn,Quentin,Jaylen and Jacob

The Meteorologist

    In the desert, it gets so hot in the summer that the ground reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer in the daytime. This happens because there is no wet air so you have no precipitation thus plants die off and the land is not protected and the ground therefore gets really hot. Deserts receive less than 20 inches of precipitation each year  

Most deserts get a very small amount of rainfall each year. It doesn't rain enough for the air to get hot and when it does rain, it slowly evaporates.

Most deserts have a slow wind speed of an average minimum of 7.0 miles per hour but the wind can get much higher and turn into a tornado.

The average time that the sun is up in the winter time is 8 hours and in the summer time, the average time is 10 hours

In the Sahara desert, which is one of the driest deserts in the world, it has an average temperature of minimum of 86 degrees up to a temperature of 104 degrees. It sometimes can go up to 116 degrees or more in the summer. In the winter time, the evenings are really cold and it can go down to 55 degrees! That is really cold for a desert.

The Geographer

The desert is an arid biome with sand dunes and mountains. People rarely live there due to high temperatures and no water. There are multiple types of deserts, like a cold desert, in which the biome is reasonably cold. There are also regular deserts, which are the type of desert with no water and high temperatures. Deserts are found mostly in Africa and Australia. Humans have affected the beauty of deserts by dumping pollutants into the desert. They also use deserts as nuclear testing zones, as well as dumping nuclear waste into the desert. Global warming is also affecting the desert by making places hotter. They are also effected by animal waste and other types of animals. The desert is a very interesting place in geography. It has a lot of sand dunes and mountains in it.

The BotanistThe desert has lots of sand, rock and gravel and of course, gets very little rain fallCacti store water in them to stay alive. Dunes form from high pressure zones and the soil absorbs a little.

Creosote bush gets its name because it smells like creosote tar.          

Barrel cactus are cylinder shaped and are from five to eleven feet tall and it stores water and has thorns.

.Pancake prickle pear cactus can be used in many different ways such as for food and it stores water.Brittle bush is a common plant which is a small shrub that grows from a woody trunk

Triangle-leaf bursage is a small round shrub.  Chain fruit cholla looks like a tree in the desert.

Crimson hedge cactus come in different types. Joshua tree gets its name from pioneers. Mojave aster Is a member of the sunflower family. Most plants usually store water in their roots or within themselves and have thorns to protect their water like the cactus.Saguaro cactus has smooth waxy skin.

Zoologist/Camels

Camels can go a couple days without food or water because  its stored in its hump. Camels are found in dry desert areas of southwestern Asia, the Sahara Desert in North Africa and along the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East and Indian desert areas. When running, a camel can reach about a  speed up to 40 mph in short bursts, 25 mph for longer periods of time. Camels do not have hooves. The foot of a camel is made up of a large weather-beaten pad, with two toes at the front. The padding makes the gait of a camel silent, and keeps it from sinking in the sand. The camel also has pads of thick weather beaten skin, on its leg joints, enabling it to kneel or lay in the hot sand. Similar to giraffes, camels move both legs together on each side of their body to walk. There are different sounds that the camel can make. Grumpling, bellowing and grunting sounds are common. They also can bleat like a goat or lamb. They also make a loud roaring noises.

As a domestic animal, the camel is used for milk, food and transportation. Camels can carry up to 200 lbs on their back for distances in the heat. Their dung is so dry that it can be used to fuel fires.

Zoologist/Desert Tortoises

Desert Tortoises have strong limbs with claws and scales to dig deep underground barriers. Their most active time is in the spring so they can maneuver for food . Since they are in hot dry climates there bodies know how to store up all their water. This is especially important in the hot, dry Mojave Desert summers.

Zoologist/Desert Big Horn Sheep

The bighorn's body is well put together and very strong. Surprisingly they have a very short tail. The male sheep is called a ram and it is pretty obvious because of its huge brown horns. The horns curl back over the ears, down, and up past the cheeks. The females, which are called Ewes, are smaller than the rams and have shorter, smaller horns that never pass half a curl.

Zoologist/coyote

Coyotes are often mistaken for dogs but trust me there not. The coyote's natural habitat is grassland, but he changes his diet, breeding habits and social behavior in order to survive in a new environment. He can adapt to all sorts of landscapes like, mountains, mesas, valleys, forests, swamps and even neighborhoods! The coyote is always going places where he can find food. He travels alone, in pairs or in small packs, covering an average of 100 miles a day with a range of 12 square miles.

Zoologist/Raven

Ravens are strong fliers that can hover  or soar like a hawk. They are kind of like stunt pilots sometimes,  times, doing little spins, turns and rolls in the air. The birds may form large flocks of over several hundred birds during their autumnal migration.

Zoologist/Desert Night Lizard

The desert Night Lizard is a desert Gray, yellow-brownish or olive. Can easily to change its color, from light olive (usually during the evening) to dark brown during the day. It has 12 scales across its tiny belly.

Zoologist/Food Chains

food chain #1

the primary producer is the plants like cacti, sage bush, rabbit brush, thorn  acacias, annual flowers, etc. The primary consumer is the plant eaters or in other words herbivores like insects, lizards, rats and rodents. The secondary consumers are the carnivores like the mountain lion and road runner.

food chain 2

Zoologist/Biotic Factors/ Abiotic Factors

Biotic Factors:

Many plants and animals exist in the desert, contrary to popular opinion that deserts are desolate and sustain little life. Scorpions, coyotes, snakes, spiders, lizard, and cacti are just a few of the biotic factors.

Abiotic Factors:

Sand: The soil of a desert is mainly made up  of large sections of sand spanning over miles of land. The sand is dry and does isn't rich in minerals, enabling very little plant life to thrive on its foundation. Sometimes in cold deserts, moss and grass will connect with the sand and make soil rich sand.

(Lack of) Moisture: Precipitation of deserts vary. Depending on if the desert is dry, or cold, the amount of rainfall is different. Hot and dry deserts yield usually only yield less than 10 inches or rain per year. Cold deserts may not receive much more, but it could be in the occasional form of snow as opposed to rain.

Temperature: Hot/ dry deserts are located very near to the equator and have a very warm temperature range: 20-25° C

with an extreme of about 45 degrees Celsius. Cold deserts, like in the Antarctic and Central Asia, are different from hot deserts in that their temperatures drop down much more in winter. Cold deserts' temperatures range from -2 to 4° C in winter and in the summer 21 to 26° C.

Extra Links/Sources

Deserts

Deserts by Melissa Cole Biomes of thEe  World | Biomes Humidity in Deserts Dunbier, Roger. The Sonoran Desert: Its geography, economy, and people.

University of Arizona Press, 1968. Camel Ravens The Habitat of a Desert Coyote Bighorn Sheep Basic Facts About Desert Tortoises

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