VPE 511: Environment and Environmental Hygiene (2+1)

DESERT ECOSYSTEM

The desert ecosystem occurs in a region where there is less rainfall and snow and more evaporation. The main features of the ecosystem are as follows:

• Rainfall less than 25cm in a year
• Evaporation exceeding precipitation (rainfall, snow etc.,)
• 1/3 of the world’s land area is desert.
• Little species diversity, with xerophytic characters.
• Day to hot , night too cold due to copper insulator of atmosphere.

Types

• Tropical deserts e.g. Sahara in Africa and Thar in Rajasthan with sand dunes.
• Temperate deserts e.g., Mojave in Southern California.
• Cold deserts e.g., Gobi deserts in China.
• Abiotic factors
  • The factors include more temperature, less rainfall, less mineral cycling and soil has more nutrients but less water.
• Biotic factors
  • Producers
    • They include shrubs, armed plants, grasses few trees fleshy plants like Euphrobia, Agaves with adapatations, lichens and
  • Consumers
    • Primary consumers (herbivores): Camles, rats , insects and birds.
    • Secondary consumer: Snake, lizard with thick skin.
    • Decomposers: Fungi and Bacteria are some of the thermophilic decomposers