The document summarizes information about tropical deserts, including their locations, climates, biodiversity, and human impacts. Tropical deserts have extremely hot and dry conditions, with average temperatures of 90 degrees Fahrenheit that can rise to 120 degrees. Common animal species include coyotes, owls, rattlesnakes, and vultures, while plant life includes barrel cacti, brittle bush, and creosote bush. Tropical deserts have low productivity rates due to the harsh climate. While some countries have established laws to protect deserts, overexploitation by humans, such as draining aquifers and nuclear testing, has negatively impacted tropical desert ecosystems.

1. Tropical Desert
Martin Merino, Sebastian Seara, Alejandro Gil
Period: 5

2. Biome Locations/Climates
 Most of the soils in the tropical deserts are dry soils called
Aridisols.
 The average temperature of the tropical desert is 90 degrees
but in the midpoint of the day it can get as high as 120
degrees.
 They are the hottest and driest locations on earth with no
rainfall recorded.

3. Biodiversity- Animals
 Coyote- Omnivores that hunt in small packs or
alone, live in dens, and can be found in North
America, Mexico, and Panama
 Great Horned Owl- Nocturnal carnivores that
have great hearing and vision. They live inside
cacti, in small caves, etc
 Rattlesnakes- Extremely poisonous snakes that
swallow their food as a whole and feed off of
animals such as lizards, rodents, etc
.

4. Biodiversity- Animals (2)
 Vultures- Scavengers who wait around for their
dead food. They live in caves, ledges and burrows
 Thorny Devils- Predators that eat only ants and
use their tongues to capture them. To sleep, they
dig underground burrows
 Ground Squirrels- Small rodents that vary in color
and dig burrows to sleep.

5. Biodiversity- Plants
 Barrel Cactus- Cylindrical plants that
are among the largest cacti of North
American deserts. They usually grow a
flower on the top and fruits
 Brittle Bush- frost sensitive plants that
have a life span of less then 20 years
and are part of the sunflower family.
 Creosote Bush- On of the toughest
plants in north America, that compete
roughly for water.
 Crimson Hedgehog Cactus- Small type
of cacti that has short spiny stems and
has a cylindrical shape

6. Energy Flow

7. Gross Primary Productivity- Is among the biomes
with the lowest gross primary productivity
Net Primary Productivity- Still among the lowest
out of all types of biomes
Photosynthesis- Most plants in tropical deserts
have adapted to a water-saving modification to
conserve water for photosynthesis. The average
rate is less than 200 kilocalories per square meter
per year

8. Succession
 Succession is the aging of an ecosystem, but its not like
human aging that moves forward for example: New weeds in
the sidewalk, later turn into bushes that later on can be plants
and last become trees over time. Most frequently by erosion,
dropping water levels, or invasion species.

9. Human impact
 MDC’S – more developed countries are impacting tropical desert
greatly because of high human exploitation. Human exploitation of
desert regions include the drainage of the underground aquifers and
soil poisoning through salinization. This is causing the desert and
it’s biodiversity to die off very rapidly. All throughout the world
tropical deserts are being drilled for oil also and it is affecting it.
Developed countries also dump nuclear waste on deserts. They use
the deserts for nuclear testing as well. Developed countries use
deserts to run pipelines for gas, Water, Oil, Etc., and this most
definitely makes the soil unstable.

10. Human impact part two
 LDC’S – lesser developed countries especially in Africa 10
too hard deserts and that ecosystem because they usually
live in those areas. Humans of the lesser developed
countries in many parts of the world settle in deserts and
harm the organisms and take up the small stock of resources
that it contains.

11. Compare differences in how handled
 Due to the negative environmental impacts on desert caused
by drilling of fossil fuels and factory pollution, certain
countries have established laws protecting the desert biome.
The United States ratified the California Desert protection act
which protects resources in the California desert from being
used. Lesser developed countries most of the time do not
because companies pay them money that they need for the
land.