Introduction To Desert Ecosystem

While deserts are dry, they can be found all around the world. While we may think of a desert as a hot, dry piece of land, it can be cold as well. Regardless of the region, any desert is usually cold at night and receives very little rainfall. However, they do produce plants that have adapted to such living conditions. Several things make up a desert ecosystem. Among those are: structure, characteristics, and animals. The ecosystem is dependent upon the type of desert; temperate deserts, also referred to as cold deserts or hot or subtropical deserts. Hot deserts and cold deserts have different kinds of ecosystems.

In general, deserts are made up of several abiotic components – including sand, the lack of moisture, and hot temperatures – basically anything that makes up an ecosystem that isn’t alive. However, there are also several biotic factors that affect deserts, which include living things, such as plants and animals.

Salient Features Of The Desert Ecosystem

The temperature of a given desert will vary due to its geographic location. However, a characteristic of all deserts is the dryness. Heat is reflected by water vapor, which is either in the form of cloud cover or humidity, resulting in a cooling effect because of the reactions and the characteristics, deserts experience extreme temperatures, regardless of whether it is heat or cold.

The desert environment has unpredictable and uneven precipitation that it does receive,  although that precipitation is minimal in nature. Precipitation amounts can vary from year to year. Some years it may seem as though the desert has gotten more rainfall than usual, but most years have very little rainfall. There can be entire years that the desert doesn’t see a drop of rain. Cacti and other succulent plants store water in their spines, which are residual leaves. The stem is where photosynthesis takes place, and the stem has pleats that can expand fast when rain falls.

Threats To Desert Ecosystem

The threats to desert ecosystem are mainly due to the unnecessary anthropogenic activities that needs to be prevented to prevent the destruction of the forest ecosystems and the desert ecosystem.

About the Author: Wardah Razzaq is an Environmentalist, a Certified Climate Reality Leader and Mentor, Green Blogger, Environmental and Climate Change Activist, Environmental and Climate Writer/Author, Researcher, and an International Mentor at the New York Academy of Sciences. Her ambition is to raise awareness among the masses regarding various environmental issues and about their multifarious impacts and solutions via my piece of writings.