Desert

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What is a desert?

Desert biomes are the driest of all the biomes. In fact, the most important characteristic of a desert is that it receives very little rainfall.

Fast Facts

The temperature in the desert can change drastically from day to night because the air is so dry that heat escapes rapidly at night.

Some plants in the desert, such as cacti, store water in their stems and use it very slowly, while others like bushes conserve water by growing few leaves or by having large root systems to gather water or few leaves.

Some desert plant species have a short life cycle of a few weeks that lasts only during periods of rain.

Temperature

104 degrees in the day to 25 degrees at night

Vegetation

Cacti, small bushes, short grasses

Location

Between 15° and 35° latitude; examples are Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahua, Great Basin, Sahara, Negev, and Gobi