11.hot Deserts

Hot Deserts Vegetation
By: Anouchka, Doxa and Emmanuelle

Why did Flowers bloom in the Atacama Desert? Answer at
the end of this lesson!!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WZPI6AVLKE
Hot desert vegetation
Objectives
• To be able to state why hot
desert environments are good for
plant growth.
• To understand WHY hot deserts
are scarce of plants.
• To understand plant adaptations
to the hot desert climate.
Watch a Video
The vegetation in the desert regions are usually thorny and
fleshy to adapt to the hot dry climate of the area. Cacti and
Acacia are the most common vegetation found in desert
regions.
Types of Vegetation
• There are two types of vegetation
Xerophytes
• These include plants which are adapted to
• tolerate drought e.g. the cactus
and
Ephemerals
• These include plants which avoid drought. E.g.
• Plants that lie dormant until the rains come and
• Plants that can uproot themselves and get blown to a new location by the wind
(tumbleweed).
Vegetation
Plant Growth
Hot desert environments are good for plant growth because:
• High temperatures all year.
• Long hours of daylight.
• Unbroken sunshine.
Conditions of hot desert vegetation:
• Little infiltration, so surface runoff is high.
• Evapotranspiration.
• Little organic material to form humus.
• Strong winds.
• Large diurnal temperature ranges
These conditions make life in hot deserts hazardous
Plants are able to support plant growth depending on
• Total annual rainfall
• Frequency of rainfall
• Depth of water table
• Salinity of soil
Adaptation
Plants adapt to these local conditions in the

following ways
• Dormancy
• Water retention
• Leaf adaptation
• Increasing water collection
• Tolerance of saline(salty)soils
Thunk
Question
Is someone in Africa seeing
the same sky as someone in
Antarctica?
Thunk question
“A Thunk question is a…simple-looking question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light.”
https://www.independentthinking.co.uk/thunks/
n.b. Thunk in this sense is not an official word in the Cambridge English Dictionary!
Glossary
• Evapotranspiration - Evapotranspiration is the term used to

describe the part of the water cycle which removes liquid water
from an area with vegetation and into the atmosphere by the
processes of both transpiration and evaporation.
• Salinity - refers to the concentrations of salts in water or soils.
• Succulents - succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened,
fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil
conditions.
So, why did flowers bloom in the Atacama Desert?
Most hot deserts are caused by sinking air between the Ferrell and the Hadley Cells, but there are other reasons
why even places next to oceans get little precipitation.
• The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar place on Earth

• Found along the western edge of South America, between the
Andes and Chilean coast range.
• The average rainfall is 15mm/ year, with some places receiving 1-
3mm.
It is dry because the Humboldt COLD current passes by – little
evaporation occurs from the cool water of the current and cloud
formation is limited.
Every few years, the normally cold waters in the eastern South Pacific warm
dramatically. This can lead to warmer, wetter conditions in the Atacama desert.
During 2015, 23mm of rain fell in a single day.
This led to a ‘desert bloom’ – the flowering of flowers whose seeds had lain
dormant for decades.
Atacama in bloom image - By Javier Rubilar - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3055444
Exercise
Making plants and animals – Deserts
Look at the task sheet
You have to create both a plant and an
animal using the characteristics on the Drought resistant Loves water Stores water
tables opposite. Both of these need to Wide root system Deep root system Lives on other plants
Floats Survives under water Dies back seasonally
fit the climate and environment of a hot Waxy, pointed leaves Deciduous Evergreen
desert. Broadleaves Needle leaves Stunted
Thick bark Rough bark Wind blown seeds
1. Your plant and animal can have 6 Heavy-weighted seeds Fragments take root Seeds with Velcro like
characteristics each. hooks
Runners put down Climber Like strong sun
2. List the characteristics that would roots
be useful. Likes shade Tall Salt tolerant
Bears fruit (nuts and Flowering Pollinating
3. Pick six from the lists. berries)
4. Creatively draw both your animal Eats insects Branching Sticks to rocks
Lifecycle within days Colourful Drab
and plant to display its Pleasant smell Awful smell Changes colour
adaptations to the climate of hot Buttress roots (large Flexible branches Sticky surfaces
deserts. roots to support huge
trees)
5. Name your plant or animal. MAKE UP YOUR OWN CHARACTERISTICS AS WELL!
6. Around your drawing you need to
JUSTIFY the characteristics,
linking to the original data sheet.
This should be written in full and
link to the actual climate.

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Hot Deserts Vegetation

By: Anouchka, Doxa and Emmanuelle

• There are two types of vegetation

Plants adapt to these local conditions in the

• Evapotranspiration - Evapotranspiration is the term used to

• The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar place on Earth

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