Desert Biomes

The temperate desert biome's climate has high daytime temperatures in the summer and low temperatures in the winter and very little rainfall. The Mohave Desert, which is located in the southwestern portion of the United States, is considered to be a temperate desert. It has sparse plant life, and consists of mountains, rock, and sand. It covers more than 25,000 square miles. There are many plant and animal life that are able to exist in this type of desert.

Some of the plant life found in the temperate desert would be the cactus, prickly pear, and wildflowers and grasses. They are able to exist with very little rainfall. The black toad is only found in the Mohave Desert and it is in danger of dying out. The red-spotted toad is also only found in the Mohave Desert and can live without water for long periods of time by living under rocks until there is precipitation. Lizards and snakes are common to this area because the high temperatures allow the success of cold-blooded life.

Some organisms that find their homes in desert ponds are the dragonflies and tadpole shrimp. They need very little water to survive and both of them are predators. They feed and chase all of the other pond inhabitants. They would be an example of mutualism as they coexist together in the same environment and prey on other pond life. Another organism found in the temperate desert is the caddis fly. When they hatch, they immediately gather together pieces of sand and rotting plant material. They then glue it together with their sticky saliva and make themselves a case to live in and grow. When they reach adulthood, they leave their cases and resemble moths. The caddis fly would be an example of commensalisms as it obtains it food from plant material that has already rotted. It benefits from the death of the plant material, yet it did not cause it to die.

Another organism found in the desert is the rotifer. It is made up of about 1,000 cells and is about the size of an amoeba. It is found in fish-free standing water. If the water dries up, as it often does in the desert, it will turn into an embryo and rest in the dry mud. It can stay in this state for years and will rehydrate and develop into an adult when it rains. It is an example of parasitism as it feeds on algae and bacteria it finds in the standing water that result after rainfall.

A saltwater life zone that would be close to the temperate desert biome I chose would be the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest body of water and it covers about one-third of the Earth's surface. The Pacific's water near the equator is less salty and the water is warmer than the Atlantic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean contains about 25,000 islands that are located mainly south of the equator. The Pacific Ocean is also shrinking in size due to the motion of the earth's crust.

The similarities between terrestrial biomes and aquatic life zones are that they both contain organisms, plants, and animal life. They are also both affected by temperature and rainfall. The differences between terrestrial biomes and aquatic life zones are that the aquatic life zone has a more complicated food chain as there more ways to obtain food in water than on land. There are also no obvious boundaries in the aquatic life zones as there are in terrestrial biomes. It is hard for scientists to know what exactly goes on in the aquatic life zone due to its enormous size and difficulty to observe what goes on in the water.