2. D ESERTS By Hina Javed Trish Tieu and Melody Cruz

3. Temperature Hot Deserts-43.5 to 49° C (summer) 20 to 25° C (winter) Cold Deserts- -2 to 4° C (winter) 21 to 26° C (summer) Rainfall- less than 30 percent per year

4. C HARACTERISTICS Adaption's to low rainfall Plants: Water-storing leaves and stems Thick epidermal layers to reduce water loss Salt tolerance Plants are mainly ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees

5. Adaptions to low rainfall Animals Nocturnal (avoid sun’s heat) Rodents have highly concentrated urine and feces

6. Soils are course-textured, shallow, rocky or gravely with good drainage Clouds are scarce

7. T YPES OF O RGANISMS Plants Low growing shrubs Water storing plants Insects and arachnids Reptiles Mammals Birds

8. S AHARA D ESERT : F OOD W EB Producers Cacti Rabbit Brush/Sage Brush

9. Primary Consumers Desert insects [locust, yucca moth, ants] Rodents [Kangaroo Rats] Reptiles [Lizards] Sahara Desert

10. S AHARA D ESERT : T OP C ARNIVORES Small Carnivores Tarantulas Scorpions Lizards Snakes Large predators Knit Foxes Hawks

11. C OLD D ESERTS The deserts that occur in Greenland, Antarctic and the Nearctic areas are called cold deserts characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high overall temperatures throughout the winter and sometimes the summer too The main plants in this area are deciduous

12. ATACAMA DESERT F OOD W EB Primary Producers Low growing shrubs Low growing bushes

13. ATACAMA DESERT Primary consumers Rabbits Squirrels Rats Seed-eating birds

14. ATACAMA DESERT Top Consumers Spiders Foxes Owls Hawks

15. H UMAN I MPACT Slow-growing vegetation is quickly damaged by off-road vehicles.

16. Live stock are destroying much of the plant cover in deserts.