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The desert is an ecosystem easily recognizable for its landscapes with large stretches of sand, extreme temperatures, and low rainfall.
Desert climate
Its climate is characterized by a great thermal amplitude: during the day the temperature can exceed 50 ° C while, at night, the temperature can drop considerably below -10 ° C.
Precipitation in the desert is practically nil, although snowflakes can fall that freeze quickly (especially at night) in some deserts. Being found in different parts of the world, there are some subtypes of desert climate:
- Semi-arid zone or steppe. Rainfall ranges between 250 and 500 mm per year, with average temperatures between 20 ° C and 27 ° C and, at night, 10 ° C ..This climate is found on the edges of deserts.
- Coastal desert area. Temperatures can reach between 13 ° and 14 ° C during the summer and up to 5 ° C.
- Arid zones. The precipitations oscillate between 25 and 250 mm annually.
- Hyper-arid areas. Due to the low humidity, the sun's radiation is intense, which allows temperatures to vary considerably between day and night and exceed, in certain cases, the 20 ° C variation. In these areas it may not rain all year round.
Desert flora
The flora of the desert is very scarce and dispersed by the great surfaces of the ground covered with sand, rocks or ice (in the case of the cold desert).
Due to the extreme conditions and low rainfall, the plants have deep roots that allow them to find fertile soil to feed on.
You can find low herbs and isolated shrubs, napales, bushes, dairy, thorns, goat horns, friar's crown, saltpeter herbs and cactus. In the area of the oases, (small places with water), other species arise such as palm trees and other shrubs.
Desert fauna
The fauna of the desert is composed of small animals that can take refuge from the high temperatures under the sand, rocks or earth.
Reptiles such as snakes, chameleons, desert tortoises, and lizards can be found; and some small mammals such as foxes, gerbils, jackals, coyotes, and desert mice.
The only large mammal is the camel. In addition, there are insects such as ants, arachnids and scorpions. Finally, you can see birds of prey and vultures.
