Desert ecosystem

The Gobi occupies a vast arc of land 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long and 300 to 600 miles (500 to 1,000 km) wide, with an estimated area of 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square km). In the present discussion, the Gobi is defined as lying between the Altai Mountains and Hangayn Mountains to the north; the western edge of the Da Hinggan Range to the east; the Physical features Physiography

Docks and buoys, once floating atop dozens of feet of water, sit stranded on the sand at Bullfrog Marina on April 9, 2023. Dropping water levels have made it harder to operate marinas and docks that are part of Lake Powell's recreation industry, which attracts millions of people each year. Alex Hager / KUNC If you want to see the Colorado River change in real time, head to Lake Powell. At the nation’s second-largest reservoir, water levels recently On a warm afternoon after the reservoir had dipped to a record low, Jack Stauss walked along a muddy creek bed at the bottom of one of those canyons. He works as the outreach coordinator for Glen Canyon Institute, a conservation nonprofit that campaigns for the draining of the reservoir and highlights the natural beauty of Glen Canyon, which was flooded in the 1960s to create Lake Powell. “I call this the moon zone,” Stauss said, as his shin-high rubber boots splashed through cold pools and eddies. “There are ecosystems that thrive in these side canyons, even when they’ve been de-watered for just, like, four years. You start to see stuff come back on a really unprecedented scale.” A pontoon boat is tied up at the shore of a recently-revealed beach in one of Lake Powell’s side canyons on April 10, 2023. The evening sunlight casts a reflection of the canyon’s “bathtub rings” on the still water. Alex Hager / KUNC Lake Powell is already receiving a major springtime boost. Until July, snow from an Stauss – an environmentalist who ref...

The Sahara exhibits great climatic variability within its borders, with two major climatic regimes differentiating along a north-south axis: the desert’s northern latitudes are arid subtropical and have two rainy seasons, while the southern ones, although also arid, are more tropical and have only one rainy season. The southern reaches of the Sahara end in the In Arabic the Sahara is called Al-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā, or “the Great Desert.” The Arabic word ṣaḥrāʾ simply means “desert,” and its plural form, ṣaḥārāʾ, is where the northern African desert gets its Anglicized name. The word ṣaḥrāʾ shares its roots with the Arabic word aṣḥar, which translates to “desert-like” and specifically connotes the yellowish red color that characterizes the Sahara’s sandy expanses. People have lived in the Sahara long before recorded history, at certain times in regions that are now too arid for human inhabitance. Archaeological findings indicate that there were once ancient Saharan lakes, upon the shores of which humans lived, hunted, and fished. Even after these lakes ceased to exist, humans survived for centuries in the desert using alternative methods: nomadic pastoralists herded goats, sheep, or camels to whatever pasturage could be found; sedentary agriculturalists, confined to oases, harnessed their limited water resources to grow crops such as date palms and barley; and specialists (for example, blacksmiths) traded wares with their agriculturalist and pastoralist neighbors. Certain groups...

Characteristics of Desert Ecosystem A desert ecosystem is an ecosystem that is characterized by its extreme aridity, sparse vegetation, and harsh living conditions. It has following particular characteristics: Low rainfall Deserts are known for their low levels of rainfall. In fact, some deserts receive less than 25 mm of rain per year, making them one of the driest places on Earth. Extreme temperatures The temperature in deserts can vary greatly between day and night, with daytime temperatures often exceeding 40°C and dropping to below freezing at night. Sparse vegetation Due to the lack of rainfall and extreme temperatures, vegetation in deserts is often limited to plants that are adapted to survive in these conditions, such as cacti and succulents. Adapted wildlife Desert animals have evolved special adaptations to help them survive in this harsh environment. Some examples include the ability to store water, camouflage, and burrow underground to avoid the heat. Structure and Function of Desert Ecosystem The structure and function of a desert ecosystem are shaped by the extreme aridity and harsh living conditions of this environment. Here are some key components of a desert ecosystem and their functions: Producers in the desert ecosystem The main producers in desert ecosystems are plants such as cacti and succulents. These plants have adapted to the lack of water by storing water in their tissues or having long roots that can reach underground water sources. Consumers in...

Earth is the only planet where life is possible and comprises of an atmosphere, ecosystem and various land formations that are necessary for the survival. Earth is 70% covered by water and remaining part is covered by land. 1/5 th of the earth’s land is covered with deserts. Every continent on this earth has a desert and every desert has its own ecosystem which is known as Desert ecosystem. Desert Ecosystem Characteristics Table of Contents • 1 WHAT IS A DESERT ECOSYSTEM? • 2 DESERT ECOSYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS • 3 TYPES OF DESERT ECOSYSTEM • 3.1 WHY DESERT ECOSYSTEM IS IMPORTANT FOR EARTH? WHAT IS A DESERT ECOSYSTEM? Before going through the details about Desert Ecosystem let’s understand what is ecosystem first- An ecosystem is a community of all the living organism and non-living organisms interacting with each other in a specific area. Living organisms include all the organisms, plants and animals whereas non-living organisms include the physical environment that comprises air, water, sun, atmosphere, earth, climate etc. In simple terms, an ecosystem is a setting where all the living and non-living components interact in a physical environment. Coming to deserts… When we hear the word ‘desert’ the very first thing that strikes our minds is a big barren, abandoned and dry land without plants covered with sand. A desert can be hot and cold both. Desert is one of the most dried land areas on this planet that receives very little precipitation annually. It is a land with very...