Desert Biome: Animals and Plants

Deserts are found in areas where rainfall is less than 50 cm a year. Desert examples comprise the Sahara of North America and the deserts of southwestern U.S., Mexico and Australia, that are at low altitudes, including the cold deserts that are in the basin and range area of Utah and Nevada, and in parts of western Asia. Some deserts have an isolated area of vegetation, which surround a similar water source or spring, and this feature is called a desert oasis.

Most of the deserts have a considerable amount of specialized vegetation, and vertebrate and invertebrate animals as well. There are only a few large mammals in the deserts because they are not capable of storing sufficient water or withstanding the blistering heat.

The desert biomes can be separated according to several features. Deserts are of four kinds.

• Cold
• Hot and Dry
• Semiarid
• Coastal

Characteristics of the Cold Desert

The deserts that are in Greenland, Antarctic and the Nearctic ecozone, are called cold deserts. These deserts are characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high overall temperatures throughout the winter, and sometimes the summer too. The mean winter temperatures in cold deserts falls between -2 to 4°C, and the mean summer temperature fall between 21-26°C.

The mean annual precipitation in cold deserts ranges from 15-26 cm. The soil in this area is salty, silty and heavy. The plants in cold deserts are widely scattered and vary between 15 cm to 122 cm in height. The main plants in these areas are deciduous, most of which have spiny leaves. Animals species found in the desert are jackrabbits, kangaroo rats, grasshoppers, pocket mice, and antelope ground squirrel. Deer are found too, but only in winter.

Types of Desert Animals

Armadillo Lizard
The armadillo lizard is an animal that preys on bigger and stronger predators like humans, etc. Its body length is 15-17 inches, the tail is 14-16 inches long, and it weighs 8-17 lbs. The hind legs of an armadillo lizard are a little shorter than its fore. It is able to wriggle easily because of its head, body and club-like tail that are flattened in appearance. Predators are unable to harm the armadillo lizard because of the hardened shell-like armor on its body.

Desert Tortoise
The forelegs of a desert tortoise are muscular and flattened with long claws, which are adapted to dig deep burrows. Desert tortoises make popping, hissing and poinking sounds when in distress or fear. These tortoises live in burrows to escape the cold and heat. Desert tortoises catch the infrequent rains that fall in basins. Most of their water intake comes from moisture found in wildflowers and grass that they eat during the spring. The desert tortoise has the ability to store about a quart of water in its bladder to be used when necessary. It is considered a threatened species, thus, it is unlawful to touch, harass, harm, or keep a desert tortoise.

Water-holding Frog
This frog, unlike its many relatives, develops a cocoon for storing water, where it nestles underground most of the year. The water lasts long enough for it to sustain itself during the dry months of the year, where the rainy season allows them to leave their hiding place and lay eggs in puddles formed by the rain. The eggs then hatch within these puddles, soon enough before the water dries up.

Camel
The camel is the largest animal of the desert. This animal has the ability to store large amounts of water for a long time, and because of that, it is able to survive in the dry and harsh desert. Camels are a nomad's and desert traveler's main mode of transportation. These animals have transparent eyelids which enable them to keep sand out of their eyes.

Desert Kangaroo Rat
A Kangaroo desert rat lives in a large den with wide openings leading into them. It is a very cute critter that resembles a mini-kangaroo, but is only as large as a mouse. It has hair that is buff in color above and white below. The tail of the desert rat has a white turf at the end. This animal has adapted its body by getting water from the food it consumes. It also has a cheek pouch in which it is able to store food for weeks while looking for shelter. The desert or kangaroo rat is not an endangered species.

Thorny Devil
The Thorny Devil, as this Australian lizard is called, is a fascinating species of their kind where they direct raindrops into their mouths, during rainfall. Animals tend to adapt themselves to their surroundings, and the Thorny Devil has its own one-of-a-kind way of surviving the arid desert.

Other just as unique species are the...

• Coyote
• Sonoran desert toad
• Bobcat
• Desert Bighorn sheep
• Javelina
• Banded Gila Monster
• Sonoran Pronghorn antelope
• Cactus Wren
• Cactus Ferruginoug Pygmy owl
• Iguana

Types of Desert Plants

Mojave Aster
This is a shrubby plant that is able to grow up to 30 inches high. It has stems that are gray-green and long with silverfish-green, narrow, hairy leaves. This desert plant has narrow purple flowers with lavender rays surrounding a yellow disk-like shape, which grows up to 2 inches in diameter. Unfortunately, this desert plant dies after flowering.

Cactus
This desert plant is also known by a host of other names like the Hedgehog cactus, Claret Cup cactus, King's Cup cactus, Pancake Prickly Pear cactus and the Mound cactus, to name a few. The stems of this plant is cylindrical in shape and grows up to 1 foot long and is 1 to 1½ inches thick. It has about 9 to 10 ribs on the stem. The flowers of this beautiful plant are deep-red with many petals that form the shape of a cup. It has fruit too that are red and edible. The cactus uses the cool night temperature to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. The most common kind found in American deserts are the Barrel cacti, which are easily identifiable from its bulbous, round shape, which is surprisingly quite huge when seen in person. This unique plant blossoms flowers of red, or yellow-green which grow at its top, turning it into a pretty sight for those who come across this kind of cacti.

Soaptree Yucca
This desert plant is a 10-18 foot plant with palm tree-like leaves, with its leaves placed at the base of the plant. The soaptree yucca gets its name because of the presence of a soap-like material inside the roots and the trunk of the plant. This plant is also used for decoration in many American gardens.

Brittle Bush
The flowers of this plant are quite a sight to take in, with its yellow flowering that brings color to an otherwise bleak desert backdrop. Related to the sunflower family, these miniature versions of their cousins are not far from being just as pretty and eye-catching. It has long stems, with the flowers placed right above a white layer of leaves, with disk-corollas that range from a dark yellow-orange hue, to a purplish one.

Jumping Cholla
This interesting species of desert plant life is one that needs to be approached with caution, even if its innocuous far away look seems appealing. From a distance, the Jumping Cholla looks like a fuzzy arrangement of furry outstretched arms, when on close inspection are actually silver-ish spines. The spines disconnect from the plant even if gently touched, proving to be quite a painful experience for those who brush up lightly/accidentally against the spines. Even those littering the ground around the plant will tend to attach themselves to anything that may walk past it, being light spines that easily cling on. The flowers that grow on this plant erupt at the ends of the stem, where it also bears fruit that is more often than not, covered with spines.

Other fascinating desert plants include the...

• Palo Verde
• Triangle-leaf Bursage
• Desert Ironwood
• Ocotillo
• Joshua tree
• Chainfruit Cholla
• Crimson Hedgehog cactus
• Saguaro cactus
• Creosote bush

Characteristics of Hot and Dry Deserts

Small nocturnal carnivores make up the animal life here. Animals like the burrowers and kangaroo rats make up the dominant animals.

Characteristics of Semiarid Deserts

The sagebrush of Utah, Montana and Great Basin along with the Nearctic ecozone, make up the semiarid deserts. Here, the summers are moderately long and dry with the winters normally bringing in a low concentration of rainfall. Plants and animals are benefited by the cool nights that reduce moisture loss from transpiration, sweating and breathing.

The soil in the semiarid deserts range from sandy and fine-textured, to loose rock fragments, gravel or sand. Near the mountain slopes, the soil is shallow, rocky, gravely, and well-drained, whereas in the bottom land, the soil is sandy and fine-textured.

Plants protect themselves in the semiarid deserts with the help of spines. These also help to shade the surface enough to reduce transpiration to a large extent. Some of them also have silvery or glossy leaves that allow them to reflect more radiant energy. Creosote bush, bur sage, white thorn, cat claw, mesquite, brittle bush and jujube are the names of some of the plants found in the semiarid desert. Mammals such as rabbits, kangaroo rats and skunks, along with grasshoppers, ants, snakes and lizards inhabit this desert.

Characteristics of Coastal Deserts

The Nearctic and the Neotropical ecozones are home to the coastal desert. The average temperature in this area ranges from 13 to 24°C, with the winter temperatures dropping to 5°C and below. The average rainfall measures 8-13 cm.

The soil in the coastal desert is fine-textured with moderate soil content, and is fairly porous with good drainage. The plants have thick and fleshy leaves or stems that can take large quantities of water when it is available and store it for future use. Some plants also have corrugated surfaces with longitudinal grooves and ridges. The salt bush, buckwheat bush, black bush, rice grass, little leaf horse brush, and black sage are some of the plants that thrive in coastal deserts.

This was all about the main animals and plants found in a desert biome. As we can see, they are distinctive in their adaptive capabilities, just so that they are able to survive in the harsh desert conditions.