Deserts

All around the world, deserts can be found.  While commonly thought of as wastelands, deserts are in actuality home to a diverse array of plants and animals.  Many of the inhabitants possess special features that help enable their survival. Each desert system is unique and home to its own exclusive array of plants and animals.  For this activity, you will visit the desert biome and learn about the distinct advantages and disadvantages living in a desert has.  You will discover the different types of deserts and be able to analyze adaptations that make desert living possible.  In addition, you will be able to hypothesis similarities of biomes based on a graph of annual precipitation.  Please visit the above link to begin the activity.   Below you will find a list of questions to help make sure that you are on the right path to understanding the desert biomes.

1) How do mountains play a role in desert formation.

2) Visit here.  Compare and contrast the types of American deserts.  What features, plants, and animals do they share and what is unique to each desert?

3) Choose 3 desert plants and 2 desert animals.  Describe their adaptation(s) and explain why the adaptation(s) is necessary for survival in this ecosystem.

4) After reading the types of deserts, look at the graph below and rank the amount of precipitation from greatest to least.  Hypothesis what differences you would find between the dessert and the tundra ecosystems.  What type of plants and animals might you find in each?  How would their adaptations differ?