DESERT AND TUNDRA

DESERT

 Any large, extremely dry area of land with sparse vegetation.

 Most fundamental characteristic is a shortage of available moisture for
plants, resulting from an imbalance between precipitation and
evapotranspiration. There is considerable variability in the timing of rainfall,
low atmospheric humidity, high daytime temperatures, and winds.
 Trees are usually absent, and under normal climatic conditions, shrubs or
herbaceous plants provide only very incomplete ground cover.
 Deserts may be hot or cold, with great expanses of barren sand or snow or
sandy gravel with hardy vegetation.
 HOT DESERT
 precipitation falls as rain
 very little precipitation
 very low humidity
 Temperatures may reach 38°C (100°F)
more at night the temperatures may
fall to 0°C (32ºF) or less
 The dry air and lack of a cloud cover
that admits solar radiation during the
day, allows for a rapid heat loss at night
 Examples: Arabian Desert on the
Arabian Peninsula; the Great Sandy,
Victoria, and Gibson Deserts in
Australia; the Chihuahuan, Mojave, and
Sonoran Deserts in Mexico and
southwestern United States; the
Kalahari and Sahara Deserts in Africa;
and the Thar Desert in India and
Pakistan.
COLD DESERT
 It falls as snow
 very little precipitation
 very low humidity
 have short, moist, and moderately warm
summers
 winters are long and cold
 The average winter temperature is
between –2 and 4°C (31–39°F); the
average summer temperature is between
21 and 26°C (70–79°F)
 Examples: Atacama Desert along the
coasts of Peru and Chile, the Gobi in
northern China and southern Mongolia,
the Great Basin in the United States, the
Namib Desert along the southwest coast
of Africa, and the Turkestan Desert in the
Middle East and southwest Russia
Arabian Desert
Great Sandy Desert
Sahara Desert
Atacama Desert
Great Basin
Desert Fox or Fennec fox
Addax antelope
Deathstalker Scorpion
Camel
Armadillo Lizard
Thorny devil
Barrel Cactus

One of the most popular

cactus varieties for use
as succulents. It is also
one the most common
plant found in deserts
across the world. Low to
the ground and with a
lovely center flower,
beware of trying to pick
it – the Barrel’s spines
can be toxic
Saguaro Cactus
Mostly resembles a tree, and
it can grow arms up to 40
feet tall. Saguaros live for
extremely long times and
they are well designed for
life in the desert as they are
able to collect and store
rainwater.
Organ Pipe Cactus
Desert Sage
Desert Palm
TUNDRA
 Tundra regions make up some of the coldest regions on Earth
 Comes from the Finnish word tunturi, meaning treeless plain.
 It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little
precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Dead organic
material functions as a nutrient pool.
 The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created
by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation.
 Characteristics: Extremely cold climate
Low biotic diversity
Simple vegetation structure
Limitation of drainage
Short season of growth and reproduction
Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material
ARCTIC TUNDRA

 located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the north pole and extending
south to the coniferous forests of the taiga
 known for its cold, desert-like conditions
 The average winter temperature is -34° C (-30° F), but the average summer
temperature is 3-12° C (37-54° F)
 Soil is formed slowly. A layer of permanently frozen subsoil
called permafrost exists, consisting mostly of gravel and finer material.
 When water saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may form, providing
moisture for plants. There are no deep root systems in the vegetation of the
arctic tundra, however, there are still a wide variety of plants that are able to
resist the cold climate.
 There are about 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic and subarctic, and these
include: low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grasses, 400
varieties of flowers, crustose and foliose lichen
 All of the plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the
soil. Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and
are protected by the snow during the winter. They can carry out
photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities. The growing
seasons are short and most plants reproduce by budding and division
rather than sexually by flowering.
 Herbivorous mammals: lemmings, voles, caribou, arctic hares and squirrels
 Carnivorous mammals: arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears
 Migratory birds: ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, sandpipers, terns,
snow birds, and various species of gulls
 Insects: mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, blackflies and arctic bumble
bees
 Fish: cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout
ALPINE TUNDRA

 located on mountains throughout the world at high altitude where trees

cannot grow.
 The nighttime temperature is usually below freezing. Unlike the arctic
tundra, the soil in the alpine is well drained
 The plants are very similar to those of the arctic ones and include:
tussock grasses, dwarf trees, small-leafed shrubs, and heaths
 Animals living in the alpine tundra are also well adapted:
Mammals: pikas, marmots, mountain goats, sheep, elk
Birds: grouselike birds
Insects: springtails, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies
Moss Arctic Willow
Labrador Tea

Arctic poppy
Lichen
Reindeer
Arctic Fox
Arctic Ground Squirrel