Geography 5 Ecosystem Lab Project

Anosh Ali

&

Rodrigo Mojarro

THE SAHARAN DESERT

Just how big is the Sahara? The Sahara desert is the second biggest

desert after Antarctica. It is 9400000 square kilometers long

covering most of North Africa. It stretches from the Red Sea including

parts of the Mediterranean coast to the even the Atlantic Ocean.

Historically

Historically, thousands of years ago people lived on the edge of the desert.

The Sahara was much wetter than it is now.

• Over 30000 petrogphys of river animals like crocodiles have been found. Also have found many fossils of dinosaurs.

Modern day Modern day the Sahara is not full of

vegetation like it once Due to a climate change the savannah

changed into the sandy desert we now see. • Some

Mediterranean plants grow here such as the olive tree.

• The region has been this way for about 4200 years.

Human impact Not much of the desert has been

changed besides small cities and settlements usually by oasis.

However, the local pressure on natural resources can be intense. The remaining populations of large mammals have been greatly reduced by hunting for food and recreation

Some benefits • There are many big

animals that are edible such as camels ostrich antelope and dorcas gazelle.

• Some of these animals can live without drinking water for over a year.

• Lack of illness, crime, pollution, predators

• Beautiful • Solar energy

FUTURE PROSPECTS• The prospects for the Sahara are not to bad, however.• With continued hunting in regions of the Sahara, the populations of certain animals that inhabit it may decrease in the future. • The Sahara will have less trees due to increased deforestation and vegetation will also decrease due to pastoralism.• However in the next centuries due to climate change the Sahara will warm up to about 5-6 degrees. • Evaporation in the ocean will cause the Sahara to become a savanna and with more rainfall in the future it will become greener and have more vegetation.

Protected Areas and Status The Sahara overall is not heavily

protected because many people do not live within its range and the people who do inhabit it are nomadic.

The Banc d’ Arguin National Park and Reserve Integrale de Cap Blanc of the Atlantic Coastal desert in Mauritania are protected areas. Both of these protected areas are degraded due to drought, overgrazing, and hunting.

The Ahaggar National Park and Parc National de Tassili N’ajjer are also protected areas from the Montane Xeric woodlands. These areas have minor woodcutting and poaching problems. These areas however are strongly protected due to tourism.

What can be done to improve human impacts?

What can be done to maintain balance between the Saharan desert and humans is a strict law that would reduce the hunting of animals.

There should also be a restriction that would limit the amount of trees being cut as deforestation is increasing in the area.

What can be done to maintain balance between the Saharan desert and humans is a strict law that would reduce the hunting of animals.

There should also be a restriction that would limit the amount of trees being cut as deforestation is increasing in the area.

Sources World Wildlife. 2011. World Wildlife Fund. 27 Nov 2011.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/pa/pa1304_full.html

World Wildlife. 2011. World Wildlife Fund. 27 Nov 2011. http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/pa/pa1332_full.html

World Wildlife. 2011. World Wildlife Fund. 27 Nov 2011. http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/pa/pa1327_full.html

Discover Magazine. 25 Oct 2006. Kalmbach Publishing Company. 27 Nov 2011. http://discovermagazine.com/2006/oct/sahara-desert-savanna-climate

Wikipedia. 30 Nov 2011. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 27 Nov 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara_desert

Foley A. Jonathan, Michael T. Coe, Marten Scheffer, and Guiling Wang. “Regime Shifts im the Sahara and Sahel: Interactions between Ecological and Climatic Systems in Northern Africa” Ecosystems 6.6 (2003): 527.

Zaimeche Eddine Salah. “The Consequences of Rapid Deforestation: A North African Example” Ambio 23.2 (Mar., 1994): 138.