Desert ecosystem

Definition
• Desert  an ecosystem found where
there is very little rainfall
• Main characteristics  dry, often sandy
region of little rainfall, extreme
temperatures, and sparse vegetation.
 Definition
• The desert ecosystem is an arid type
ecosystem that exists in the areas where
the rainfall is very little and the climate in
this ecosystem is generally extreme in
harshness
 Types
• 2 types
• Hot desert
• Cold desert
 Types - Hot desert
• Hot desert --- It has high daytime
temperature for the whole year, though
rather cold at night as temperature may
fall below 10oC (50oF) or even below the
freezing point When the maximum daytime
temperature is above 40oC (104oF).
 Food web in Hot desert
• The food web in the hot desert biome is a simple one. Life in this
hot, dry environment is challenging, requiring adaptations from both
animals and plants.
• The soil is often dry, and desert winds carry fine dust particles away,
leaving a stony landscape.
• Plants that live in the desert year round have evolved special
adaptations for capturing and storing water.
• Adaptations include secreting a waxy substance to protect their
leaves from drying out, thorns and spines to keep hungry animals at
bay, and body shapes that can expand rapidly when water becomes
available.
• Plants have large networks of roots that lie near the surface and can
capture rain when it falls.
• One bush, the creosote bush, actually secretes a substance in its
roots that keep other roots out of its feeding area.
 Food web in Hot desert
• Many desert plants no longer have leaves, or grow only
very small ones.
• They have chlorophyll in their stems.
• Many cacti do not have leaves at all.
• Their rounded bodies have a low surface to volume ratio,
and the spines that protect them also cast a little
precious shade on their green bodies.
• Annual desert plants germinate, grow, and flower quickly
when there is a rainy year.
• They make small, hard seeds that may not sprout for ten
years or longer.
• Some perennial plants store moisture in underground
tubers or bulbs.
 Food web in Hot desert
• Primary producers:
• 1 st trophic level
• Plants
• These are plants that make food through
photosynthesis. Limited by the availability of
water, they produce fewer than 200 Kilocalories
of food for the animals for each square meter
each year.
• Including:
• Trees, shrubs, cactus, wildflowers, grasses
 Food web in Hot desert
Consumers:
2 nd trophic level:
Primary consumers:
*The plant-eating animals are the primary consumers.
*These animals are small, and can get by on very little food.
*Many are insects, or reptiles, who are cold blooded and who use less
energy to maintain their bodies than mammals and birds do.
*As food for predators, they provide about 20Kilocalories per square
meter per year for predators.
*The warmth of the desert sun heats their bodies so that they can move
quickly.
*A few small warm-blooded animals, such as kangaroo also live here.
They hide from the heat in burrows, and come out at night to feed.
• Eg:Ants and other insects, rats and mice, some reptiles the largest of
which are the tortoise and chuckwalla.
 Food web in Hot desert
• 3rd Trophic Level:
• Secondary Consumers
• Small Carnivores
• The predators are the secondary consumers.
They occupy the third trophic level. Again we
see cold-blooded animals, such as snakes,
insect-eating lizards, and tarantualas. Only
about 2 Kilocalories per square meter per year
are stored in their bodies. In the harsher desert
environments, they are the top predators.
 Food web in Hot desert
• 4th Trophic Level:
• Tertiary Consumers
• Carnivores
• These are high level consumers,
carnivores that will eat other carnivores.
 Oasis

• An interesting desert "extra" is the oasis, a place where springs of

water flow to the surface, providing an environment where palm
trees and shrubs may grow.
• Though rare, oases gladden the hearts of travelers, and provide a
refreshing micro-world with its own ecology. Not all land classified
as desert is equally arid.
• The driest parts may look very stony, but where there is more
moisture there will be more plants, such as sage brush, seasonal
grasses, and small shrubs.
• There may tree sized cacti, palo verde, and Joshua trees.
• These greener deserts may be home to quail, pygmy owls, and
even desert foxes and hawks.
• A few tertiary consumers may be able to survive in these richer
environments.
 Hot deserts
• Examples : Sahara, Namib/Kalahari,
Arabian, Iranian, Atacama, Australian and
in North America: Sonoran, Mojave and
Colorado.
Sahara desert
 Types – Cold desert
• Cold desert--- It has hot summers but
extremely cold winters.
• Examples : the desert complex in Western
North America (Great Basin), Patagonian,
Turkestan & Gobi Deserts
 Food web
• Food production in this system varies with the seasons.
• In winter, when the south pole is in darkness, there is no
light for photosynthesis, and so no plant growth.
• In spring, deep ocean currents bring up nutrients from
the ocean bottom, and the plankton grows rapidly with
both light and food.
• The animals that live on it grow and reproduce. Later in
the year there are fewer nutrients, and growth slows.
• Some of the animals swim away to areas with more
food.
 Food web in cold desert
• This biome is an ocean shore environment.
• The animals that live here find their food in the ocean.
• Some of the top predators go onto the land to rest or
reproduce, but the food that they eat is in the icy waters.
• The cold desert is inhospitable to life.
• The valleys in the interior of Antarctica and the snowy
tops of high mountains cannot support life.
• Birds or insects may visit there, but the cold keeps plants
from growing.
• Without plants, there can be no animals because there
is nothing for animals to eat.
 Food web in cold desert
• 1st trophic level:
• Primary producers:
• The waters of the antarctic support plankton,
which includes unicellular plants.
• These tiny plants photosynthesize during the
antarctic spring and summer, and become the
primary producers of a food chain that nourishes
animals on land as well as in the sea. This is the
first trophic level of this system.
 Food web in cold desert
• 2nd trophic level:
• Primary consumers:
• Tiny animals, such as krill (a kind of tiny shrimp) and
very small fishes, feed on the plankton.
• They become the primary consumers, taking on the role
of herbivores and becoming the second trophic level of
this system.
• Krill are a very important part of the food chain in the
ocean.
• During the recent El Nino seasons their numbers were
reduced by environmental changes in the water, and
many larger animals starved.
 Food web in cold desert
• 3rd trophic level:
• Secondary consumers:
• The secondary consumers include the
huge blue and humpback whales, who
feed on krill. Seals and many kinds of
fishes also feed on krill and the smaller
fish. Many kinds of sea birds utilize these
resources, and, in the Antarctic, penguins
also feed on them.
 Food web in cold desert
• 4th trophic level:
• Tertiary consumers:
• The top predators in this food chain are killer
whales. (Polar bears occupy this position in the
arctic north) These are large, powerful animals,
well adapted to their niche in a cold, demanding
environment. They eat whatever they can catch,
and prey mainly on penguins and seals.
Cold desert
Cold desert
 Types based on landscapes
• Sand desert --- a wavy sand sea
• Stony desert --- gravel surfaces
• Rock desert --- bare rock surfaces with
huge pavement that kept clear of sand or
gravel by wind
 Types based on landscape
• Plateau desert --- rocky plateaux , deeply
eroded wadis, buttes or  inselbergs
• Mountain desert --- bare and arid arrays
of jagged rock peaks( The above
landscapes can be found quite close to
each other, like the desert complex in
North America )
 Characteristics
• A desert ecosystem may look like a barren
land that is devoid of living organisms but,
several animal and plants do exist in the
desert ecosystem. But the number of
animals and plants is usually not as large
as that is present in other ecosystems.
 Characteristics
• Other arid type ecosystems are
semidesert ecosystem, subdesert
ecosystem, steppe ecosystem, and
semiarid or arid grassland ecosystem.
• Due to presence of low moisture content in
deserts the biological activities in this
ecosystem are regulated by the ephemeral
water availability.
 Plants
• Plants present in the desert ecosystem are normally dwarfed in size
due to lack of rainfall.
• The most common plant that is present in this ecosystem is the
cactus.
• More than hundred different types of cactus plants are seen in
desert ecosystem and each one of these plants are evolved to
sustain the desert ecosystem and are endemic.
• Other plants this ecosystem includes saltbush and gravillias.
• Plants of the desert ecosystem are evolved with succulent bodies so
that they can retain the precious available moisture which is needed
for the growth and are with narrow needle like leaves that minimizes
or reduces the loss of moisture easily.
• Also some plants in desert ecosystem grow under the shades of
larger plants or spread across the ground.
 Animals

• Animals that are present in this ecosystem include very

few numbers of large mammals of which camel is the
prominent animal found in desert ecosystem.
• Other animals that are found in desert ecosystem are fox
like creatures, rabbits, rats, small rodents, and moles,
burrowing animals, ants, snakes, insects, few species of
birds, beetles, and lizards.
• Animals and other living creatures present in the desert
ecosystem have adapted to survive in these harsh
climates, hot days, and freezing nights, by controlling
their body heat.
 Conclusion

• The fragile equilibrium of the desert

ecosystem is been nowadays damaged
due to the excess human activity. It is very
important to recognize and understand the
life forms involved in the food chain of the
desert ecosystem and take necessary
preventive measures to preserve the
desert ecosystem.
End

Madhumitha.M