Nevada, US

AFRICA

NORTHERN ARABIAN PENNINSULA

It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia.

a large salt desert in southeastern Iran

A desert in India and Pakistan

Almeria, Spain

Chile and Peru

A central Australian desert

the second largest "desert" in the world, though it is frozen ocean, so (like the rest of this section) not a desert climate in any conventional sense

The Desert Biome is an important part of

Earth because many animals live in it

and it is a source of sand. Also, a lot of oil

is often found under many deserts.

The Desert Biome is home to insects and

spiders that frogs and birds eat. Several

species of vultures also live in the desert

to scavenge on animal remains.

The Desert Biome is also important because

it has its own ecosystem. Like all other

ecosystems, if one species of plant or

animal is overpopulating or under-

populating, the whole ecosystem will be

affected by a ripple effect. All the

populations of the different animals will be

affected if one of the populations change.

THREATS in Desert

Global warming is increasing the incidence

of drought, which dries up water holes.

Higher temperatures may produce an

increasing number of wildfires that alter

desert landscapes by eliminating slow-

growing trees and shrubs and replacing

them with fast-growing grasses.

Irrigation used for agriculture, may in the

long term, lead to salt levels in the soil

that become too high to support plants.

Grazing animals can destroy many desert

plants and animals.

Potassium cyanide used in gold mining may

poison wildlife.

Off-road vehicles, when used irresponsibly,

can cause irreparable damage to desert

habitats.

Oil and gas production may disrupt

sensitive habitat.

Nuclear waste may be dumped in deserts,

which have also been used as nuclear

testing grounds.

More efficiently use existing water

resources and better control

salinization to improve arid lands.

Find new ways to rotate crops to

protect the fragile soil.

Plant sand-fixing bushes and trees.

Plant leguminous plants, which extract

nitrogen from the air and fix it in the

ground, to restore soil fertility.

Use off-road vehicles only on

designated trails and roadways

Dig artificial grooves in the ground to

retain rainfall and trap windblown

seeds.

Major changes are likely to be

experienced in the arid and

semi-arid lands in the next few

decades. The most important

changes will be induced by

increasing human pressure of

various kinds:

Urban populations have profound

impacts in semi-arid lands, which are all

the more obvious for the absence of

vegetation cover.

Rural populations may be reaching the

limits of cultivable land in many areas,

and this could, though not necessarily

have impacts on soils and vegetation.

These changes may or may not be

serious enough to influence climate and

so induce a real and perhaps lasting

change in these environments.