Animals in the Desert Biome Madison

Decomposers Desert Varnish One unique type of bacteria found in the desert is “desert varnish.” This is a type of bacteria that can turn desert rocks shades of green, orange, and yellow. This type of bacteria is believed to be one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. An decomposer is an animal that breaks down the dead or decaying organisms. Desert Varnish

Carnivores A carnivore is an animal that has adapted to eat and hunt for meat.

Thorny devil Size: 16cm Diet: Ants and termites Class: reptiles Scientific Name: Moloch horridus

Fennec fox Size:37 - 41 cm Diet: Small mammals Class: Mammals Scientific Name: Vulpes zerda

Lappet-Faced Vulture Size: 100 - 115 cm Diet: Carrion (dead animals) Class: Birds Scientific Name: Torgos tracheliotus

Herbivores An herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat plants

Desert lark Size: 15 cm Diet: seeds Class: Birds Scientific Name: Ammomanes deserti

Fat sand rat Size: 14 - 18.5 cm Diet: Seeds, vegetation Class: Mammals Scientific Name: Psammomys obesus

Addax Size: 1.3 m tail: 25 - 35 cm Diet: Plants Class: Mammals Scientific Name: Addax nasomaculatus

Omnivores An animal that has adapted to eat plants as well as hunt and eat meat

Great Jerbaro Size: 19 – 15 cm tail: 16 - 22 cm Diet: Seeds and insects Class: Mammal Scientific Name: Allactaga major

Coyote Size: 44 -52 inches tail: 14-inch Diet: of mice, rats, insects, rabbits and plants Class: Mammals Scientific Name: Canis latrans

White tailed antelope ground squirrel Size: 15 -16 cm tail: 6-7 cm Diet: seeds, fruits, vegetation, arthropods, and carrion. Class: Mammals Scientific Name: Ammospermophilus leucurus

In the food wed below the producer are the seeds and grass, the ants are first level consumers, the Great Jerbaro the ground squirrel and the Thorny Devil are all second level consumers. The final level is the Coyote the third level consumer that receives the lest amount of energy from the sun.

On this food web below the producers are the seeds and grass like most food webs in the desert. The second level consumers is just the Fat Sand Rat. The third level consumers are the Fennec fox and Sidewinder snake. The Dingo is the fourth level and finally the animal that gets the lest energy is the Lappet-Faced Vulture that mostly eats dead organisms or sometime large alive ones.

What abiotic and biotic factors help these types of animals to live in this area? Abiotic= are nonliving factors Biotic= are living factors There are many different types of Abiotic factors in the desert. A few of these are water, sunlight heat rocks and soil/sand. Soil/sand can help small prey such as a Fat Sand Rat to borrow into the ground to hide from prey. Other factors such as water barely affect these animals because they have adapted to be able to survive with little water. In the desert there are also biotic factors that help these organisms survive. A few examples of this is food such as other animals or plants and protection from vegetation. The Addax above is a great example of something like this. He can help other organisms by protecting and defending them from other predators like the Desert Lark. The addax might want vegetation near this birds nest and protect her nearby predators that are too afraid to attack. This is one way an animal can help another animal with maybe not even knowing it.

What special adaptions allow these animals to live in this Biome? These animals have very many adaptions that need to occur in order to survive in this ecosystem. The number one priority they need is water to be able to be stored for long amounts of time. Another adaptation that is necessary is the food they need to survive. They need to have access to a stable food supply such as near an area with a lot of vegetation or maybe near a reliable water supply such as a small sprig in the cooler parts of a desert. Also a less obvious adaption is that a few animals have is the adaption of scales or fur that reflects heat from its body to protect itself from the suns harmful rays. These are a few adaptions needed to live in the Desert Biome.

Sources http://www.itsnature.org/ground/mammals-land/white-tailed-antelope-squirrel/ http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/desert.html http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/desert/animals/index.htm http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/abiotic-factors-of-the-desert I also used some images from Google images.