Desert Biome Beth Anne Brock Description Physical Deserts

Desert Biome Beth Anne Brock

Description • • Physical: Deserts usually contain shrub lands and dirt. Little precipitation occurs in the desert causing plants and animals to adapt to survive on little water. Plants like cactus have water storing succulents to survive in an area that has infrequent rain. Some animals are also nocturnal to avoid harsh, high temperatures. • • Chemical: Soil is rocky because of low chemical weathering Plants can have thick bark to control loss of water.

Percipitation/Temperature Graph

Desert Location

Food Web

Animals • Snakes: Arizona’s state snake is the diamond back snake. They can weigh about 10 lbs. and eat household pets like mice and other rodents. Diamond back’s venom is a hemotoxin which can kill red blood cells, even though they only attack humans in defense. Bites rarely cause death. • Coyote: Coyotes can be found anywhere from Canada to the Panama. There are cousins to the grey wolf and can weigh between 15 -45 lb. They usually travel in a pack of six and hunt in pairs. They usually live to be 10 years old in the wild. They usually eat small animals like voles, prairie dogs, mice, and birds, and are also nocturnal. • Mountain lions: These endangered species live in western US. They are very solitary and territorial animals. When they hunt, they hunt from the behind attack the necks of preys. After killing animals like deer, mice, squirrels, the mountain lion will bury the animal to feed on it later when it is hungry again. They weigh about 110 -180 lb. And live for 12 years in the wild.

Plants • Sagebrush: This plant can be found in western US and Canada. This silvery-grey bush can grow about 10 ft. above the ground, and bloom about late summer and early fall. When the flowers bloom they are usually yellow. They also have a distinctive smell after been wet. • Prickly Pair Cactus: This cactus, which is found through out desert lands, have several functions like water storage, photosynthesis, and flower production. They are also edible. The flowers range from red, yellow, and purple. They also can vary in height from 6 -7 ft. • Barrel Cactus: The most commonly spotted cactus is the Barrel cactus because of the circular shape of it. One of the largest cacti, it can reach up to 11 ft tall. They also use the spines to make cactus candy.

Environmental damage • • • Urbanization, or building, is causing many animals to eliminate habitats and move else where. Off-road vehicles (quads) causes destroy habitats and kill animals Agriculture: Animals can overgraze an area destroying endangered species.

Solutions • • • Urbanization: planting more of the same specie to make up for the loss during building. Off Road Vehicles: creating designated roads and trails for these vehicles and using fences Agriculture: efficiently using water to stabilize resources and new ways to rotate crops.

Bibliography • "Mountain Lion Facts - Defenders of Wildlife. " Defenders of Wildlife - Protection of Endangered Species, Imperiled Species, Habitats. Defenders of Wildlife. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http: //www. defenders. org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/mountain_lion. php>. • "Prickly Pear Cactus - Desert. USA. " Desert Biomes by Desert. USA. Desert USA. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http: //www. desertusa. com/magoct 97/oct_pa/du_prkpear. html>. • "Artemisia Tridentata. " Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Artemisia_tridentata>.