Desert Biome Project

By: Colton, Sathivk, Dominic, and Patrick

Geographer

Patrick

Where deserts can be found

Along coastsSubtropics

On mountains30 degrees north and 30 degrees south

A map of a desert

Anterican,Iranian,Takla Makan-Gobi,Atacama,Patagonian,Saharan,Thar,Terkestan,

Arbian,Australain,Calahari.

landscapes

they have a lot of valleys,

hills rocky surfaces , sand dunes ,salt flats.

How we pollute the deserts

We get the deserts wet to buildGolf courses ,oil platforms

Meteorologist

Dominic Hanke

The wind velocity is 11 miles per hour.

Wind Velocity

The climate is 24 degrees Celsius or about 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Climate

The annual rainfall is only 2 inches a year.

Annual Rainfall

The weather is usually hot and dry, effecting anything that needs moisture.

Weather patterns and their effects

Botanist

Colton

Barrel Cactus- It usually reaches a height of 5-1feet tall. It has rings of yellow-green or red blossoms at its top. The Native Americans who lived in the Dessert used the cactus as a food to eat. It has a cylinder shaped body and a really a man sized cylinder. It adapts by the spines. The spines serve not only as a defense mechanism against hungry desert animals, they also provide some shading to the plant. The stem is covered in a thick, waxy coating that seals the plant, protecting it from excessive evaporation.

Brittle Bush- This plant is common in the Mojave and Sonoron desserts. It is a small shrub which grows to be as low as 2-5 feet high. Its flowers from March to June turning the dessert bright yellow. It can be found growing in California and the Colorado Dessert. It can be used as glue or a gum. The Native Americans used this plant to make those Materials. It adapts by the hairy leaves on this bush. They act as a insulating layer against the cold and heat. Also they reduce the loss of water. Lastly they trap moisture that is in the air.

Chain fruit Cholla- This plant is like a dessert tree. It can be found in the Sonoran and Chihuahua Dessert south Arizona and northwest Mexico. It is found at elevations up to 4,000 feet above sea level. This plant is a shrubby cactus. They are covered with a dense lair of sharp spines. As the Cholla gets older the spines fall of and leave a rough and scaly bark on the trunk and old branches. The largest cholla can grow to the height of 15 feet and be 6 feet across. It adapts by it has no leaves, only spikes, that prevents water loss by transpiration.The thick covering of spines shades the plant from the desert heat and also prevent animals from eating the plant. Also its minor growth rate saves energy. It is composed of long, barbed cylinders that produce shorter barbed cylinders and finally circular barbed appendages called fruit, all these elements are used to help store water.

Creosote Bush- This bush was named the Creosote bush because It smells like the creosote tar that is used on telephone poles to preserve the wood. This plant is found in Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. This was made into antiseptics and emetics by desert Native American desert tribes. This destroys germs and emetics. The bush is a robust shrub that grows very abundantly. The Creosote Bush has flowers that also grow along the stems. These flowers are yellow and about the same size of the leaves. It adapted by The leaves are shiny due to a waxy coating that prevents water loss. Rain, however, volatilizes that waxy coating which then produces a distinct, camphor-like odor.

Crimson Hedgehog Cactus- This plant is commonly called Hedgehog Cactus, Claret Cup Cactus, King's Cup Cactus, and Mound Cactus. The stems are cylindrical in shape and are up to 1 foot long and 1 to 2 1/2 inches thick. During the day the plants do their photosynthesis, but they keep their stomata closed so they won't lose any moisture.

Desert Ironwood- This plant will only grow in the Sonoran below 2,500 foot elevation. Desert ironwoods are usually found in sandy washes where water is available. Desert ironwoods are from the pea family and their leaves and flowers resemble those of the sweet pea. They're the tallest trees in the Sonoran Desert, reaching heights of 15 to 25 feet, but they can grow as tall as 30 feet. It has sharp spines at the end of each node. Which help it store water. A node is the area of a plant's stem from which the leaves grow.

Joshua Tree- The Joshua Tree got its name from the Mormon pioneers who thought the tree reminded them of Joshua, from the old testament of the Bible, a prophet who was waving them on to the Promised Land. The Joshua Tree bears 1.25 to 1.5 inch flowers that are a creamy yellow and green. The flower is bell shaped, and has many 12 to 18 inch clusters on each branch. It adapts by the leaves are somewhat concave, which allows rain to collect and be drawn into the plant, where it can make its way down the trunk to the roots.

Jumping Cholla- As you get closer you realize that the cuddly looking plant is completely covered with silvery spines. If you are unlucky enough to touch the spines, you will find yourself painfully stuck to a spiny segment that seems to have "jumped" off the plant. The jumping cholla blooms from February to May. The jumping cholla have developed several adaptations to survive in the desert environment. The thick covering of spines shades the plant from the desert heat.

Mojave Aster- The Mojave aster is a member of the sunflower family. They usually bloom in March and May but will on occasion also bloom in the fall. The Mojave Aster grows in the Sonoran, Great Basin and Mojave deserts of southeastern California. It may get as many as 20 blooms. After flowering, the plant dies back. It tends to grow in creosote scrub growths on rocky slopes, in canyons or dry, flat areas at about 2,000 to 5,500 feet. The Mojave Aster has adapted by they usually germinate in the spring following winter rains. They grow quickly, flower and produce seeds before dying and scattering their progeny to the desert floor.

Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus- The prickly pear cactus grows in many places. It's found in the Sonoran and the Mojave Desert. The Sonoran Desert is located 25.3° to 33° North and 105° to 118° West. In many places the prickly pear is grown as a crop, but in others they are just grown in the wild. The pancake prickly pear cactus grows up to 7 feet tall. It has circular pads arising from a thick, round trunk. The pads are actually fast growing stems. There are many adaptations that the pancake prickly pear cactus has to the Sonoran Desert. It’s leaves are reduced to spines to reduce water loss and to protect the cactus. It has spikes so it can store up water and so herbivores don’t eat it and take it’s stored up water.

The Abotic feathers of the desert can do harm or help the plant. The water deep down in the ground help some plants grow because they drink the water under the ground. They have to drink from this water because of the lack of rainfall. Because the desert has little rainfall there is more sunlight. The plants need this sunlight but they end up getting to much and they can die. The amount of rain fall effects how the plants look. Like the plants have spikes because of the lack of rainfall. The soil commonly found is alkaline which allows the desert plants grow and gain nutrients through the ground more effectively. Sand dunes prevents soil erosion by storing sand that replaces the eroded sand below it so that the total amount of sand in an area does not decrease. This help so this help there to be more soil that helps the plants grow. This is how these Abotic feathers can help.

Some plants have adaptations to live in the desert. An example is that cacti store up water so that can survive. Some plants lack traditional leaves, replacing them with spines or thorns. The bark covering xerophytes seals moisture gathered by the plant inside, further preventing excess water loss and enhancing survival in the desert. The spines prevent herbivores from eating them so they can store up water. These plants are called Xerophytes. Other plants can grow because their roots grow deep down into the ground. This helps these plants by the farther into the desert sand the roots extend, the more likely the plants will be able to tap into the water table below, allowing them to live through dry desert heat. These are called Phreatphytes. Other plants have other adaptations too. There are so many I can not name them all.

Sources

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert_plant_page.htmhttp://www.desertusa.com/du_plantsurv2.html

By Sathvik

3 Herbivores

Desert Tortoise

The desert tortoise is cold-blooded. To survive in the desert, the tortoise investigates the remains underground in its burrow during the hottest times of the day in the summer and hibernates it sleeps underground in its burrow through the winter. Tortoises come out in the spring to eat grasses and wildflowers and drink water from the spring rains although they obtain most of their water from the plants they eat.

The White-tailed antelope squirrel

White-tailed antelope ground squirrel: The white-tailed antelope squirrel is common to abundant in the deserts of California from Mono Co. south to the Mexican border, and along the northeastern border of California in Lassen and Modoc cos. optimal habitats are desert scrub.

DESERT BIGHORN SHEEP

Desert Bighorn Sheep: The Desert Bighorn Sheep creatures, with rams having large brown horns curling around, under and forward. They are typically found in the higher elevations near water sources or rocky cliff areas. They eat grasses and other plants. Bighorn Sheep have hooves adapted to steep, rocky terrain and use their climbing abilities to escape predators.

3 carnivores

The Road RunnerA large black-and-white on the ground it is quick enough to catch and eat small rattlesnakes. The Roadrunner prefers walking or running they run up to about 18 miles per hour rather than attempting to keep its large body in the air with its short rounded wings. Primarily carnivores, the roadrunner will eat lizards, snakes, scorpions, other birds, rodents and insects found in the open or rolling terrain it inhabits throughout the desert. Depending on the scarcity of prey, the Roadrunner may supplement a small portion of its diet with vegetation.

Mountain LionMountain Lion: Mountain Lions are true carnivores, feeding only on other animals. The preferred food of the Mountain Lion is mule deer, or occasionally a bighorn sheep but a lion will make a meal of any small animal, such as coyote, fox, raccoon, rabbit rodents, and birds. Lions often keep a carcass covered with dirt, leaves or snow and return to feed on it over the course of a few days.

The Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is named after it’s golden colored feathers on the crown and it’s neck. It weighs about 8-12 ponds the body is colored with dark brown feathers and so is the tip of it’s tail.

3 Omnivores

The Coyote

The coyote is the deserts most successful praetor because it could run up to 40 mph. The coyote’s diet is mostly insects ,lizards , snakes, birds rodents and rabbits. The coyotes are famous for there howling and also there barking.

Jet Black Ravens

The ravens average life span in the wild is about 13 years. It size is 24-26 in. and it’s weight is about 2.3 lbs.

Cactus WrenThe bird is 7-9 inches tall they are also very active birds. They always investigate new things in there territory.

Food chain

Role Play

The desert has many decomposers but here is one. It is the dung beetle. It helps this biome by eating animal waste and there are the only species other than humans to use the Milky way to navigate themselves. By burying and consuming animal poop, they improve nutrient recycling and soil

Desert Animals Adaptations • 1 reason is that turtles stay under ground• They make there territory so they don’t have

to mess with other animals.• They make there own shelter to protect

themselves from predators.

sources• Wikipedia.com• Natural geographic