Tropical Desert Martin Merino, Sebastian Seara, Alejandro Gil

Period: 5

Biome Locations/Climates Most of the soils in the tropical deserts are dry soils called

Aridisols. The average temperature of the tropical desert is 90 degrees

but in the midpoint of the day it can get as high as 120 degrees.

They are the hottest and driest locations on earth with no rainfall recorded.

Biodiversity- Animals Coyote- Omnivores that hunt in small packs or

alone, live in dens, and can be found in North America, Mexico, and Panama

Great Horned Owl- Nocturnal carnivores that have great hearing and vision. They live inside cacti, in small caves, etc

Rattlesnakes- Extremely poisonous snakes that swallow their food as a whole and feed off of animals such as lizards, rodents, etc

.

Biodiversity- Animals (2) Vultures- Scavengers who wait around for their

dead food. They live in caves, ledges and burrows

Thorny Devils- Predators that eat only ants and use their tongues to capture them. To sleep, they dig underground burrows

Ground Squirrels- Small rodents that vary in color and dig burrows to sleep.

Biodiversity- Plants Barrel Cactus- Cylindrical plants that are

among the largest cacti of North American deserts. They usually grow a flower on the top and fruits

Brittle Bush- frost sensitive plants that have a life span of less then 20 years and are part of the sunflower family.

Creosote Bush- On of the toughest plants in north America, that compete roughly for water.

Crimson Hedgehog Cactus- Small type of cacti that has short spiny stems and has a cylindrical shape

Energy Flow

Gross Primary Productivity- Is among the biomes with the lowest gross primary productivity

Net Primary Productivity- Still among the lowest out of all types of biomes

Photosynthesis- Most plants in tropical deserts have adapted to a water-saving modification to conserve water for photosynthesis. The average rate is less than 200 kilocalories per square meter per year

Succession Succession is the aging of an ecosystem, but its not like

human aging that moves forward for example: New weeds in the sidewalk, later turn into bushes that later on can be plants and last become trees over time. Most frequently by erosion, dropping water levels, or invasion species.

Human impact MDC’S – more developed countries are impacting tropical desert

greatly because of high human exploitation. Human exploitation of desert regions include the drainage of the underground aquifers and soil poisoning through salinization. This is causing the desert and it’s biodiversity to die off very rapidly. All throughout the world tropical deserts are being drilled for oil also and it is affecting it. Developed countries also dump nuclear waste on deserts. They use the deserts for nuclear testing as well. Developed countries use deserts to run pipelines for gas, Water, Oil, Etc., and this most definitely makes the soil unstable.

Human impact part two

LDC’S – lesser developed countries especially in Africa 10 too hard deserts and that ecosystem because they usually live in those areas. Humans of the lesser developed countries in many parts of the world settle in deserts and harm the organisms and take up the small stock of resources that it contains.

Compare differences in how handled

Due to the negative environmental impacts on desert caused by drilling of fossil fuels and factory pollution, certain countries have established laws protecting the desert biome. The United States ratified the California Desert protection act which protects resources in the California desert from being used. Lesser developed countries most of the time do not because companies pay them money that they need for the land.