Desert Biome

Raghd Atatri, Layana Salah, Tareq Musmar and Ameed Malhees

8th Grade Honors, Pioneers Baccalaureate School-Nablus, Palestine
February 18, 2016
ABSTRACT
This project is about the desert biome, and specifically the Sahara
desert in Africa, and the Negev desert in Palestine. The Negev desert covers
half of Palestine, which is nearly 50% of Palestine is desert. A lot of people live
in it, and there are thousands and millions of different animals and plants.
The Sahara desert is in Africa, and it is in many countries:
Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, and
Tunisia. Its surface area is 9,400, 000 square kilometers. It is considered the
hottest desert because of its climate, even in the winter its super hot.

INTRODUCTION
Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earths surface, and its not what
people think it is. Its a really good place to live in, and much healthier. Thats
true it has a lot of sand, but that doesnt mean it can kill. People go to the
beach, and the beach contains a lot of sand, and nothing happen to them.
In the summer, the temperature in the desert can go up to maximum
100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 49 degrees C), and in the winter it can get to
minimum -18 degrees C. There are a lot of types of deserts, hot and dry
deserts, and cold deserts.

METHODS

Materials

Dirt
Shoe Box
Paint
Paint Brushes
Rocks
Flowers
Cups
Paper
Cardboard
Styrofoam

DISCUSSION

Natural Resources in the Desert

Layana Salah
The desert contains a lot of natural resources, and some of those
natural resources are copper, and it is found in the deserts of Nevada,
Arizona, California. It is used for conducting heat and electricity. Another
resource is Crystal, and it is found in Utah, California, and it is used for jewelry.
Another natural resources that could be found in the desert are Gold and
Jade. Gold is mostly found in the US. It is used for jewelry and conducting
heat and electricity. Jade is a mineral that is used in jewelry such as
necklaces and earrings.1

Types of Landforms in the Desert

Layana Salah
There are a lot of landforms in the desert that are created by natural
accidents. The landforms in the desert:

Alluvial Fans: fan shaped land created by minerals that the rain carried.
Arroyos: dried streams that can create canyons in the desert.
Buttes: small mounds of rocks that have been carved sharply or
jaggedly by constant wind.
Dunes: Piles of sand that has many shapes and those shapes can
change by the change of the direction of the wind
Mesas: large-flat hills created by the wind.
Oasis: a fertile area that could lie next to a spring, or underground
stream.
Playas: a landform that is with no outlet, which could fill with water to
form a lake.2

Geographical location
Ameed Malhees
Desert is in every continent in the world, and it has massive parts
in Africa, especially in the north. In Asia it's in the middle in Mongolia. It
has parts in the Middle East specifically in the Arabian land of Saudi. It
has made major parts in South America like in Brazil, and has a lot of
nature in it. There's a desert in Antarctica, and the Arctic that covers 21
percent of the Earth. The desert in South Africa covers most of the
country. There are massive deserts, Middle East part of Australia. The

top ten largest deserts are: 10. Syrian Desert, Middle East 9. Great Basin
Desert, North America 8. Kalahari Desert, Africa 7. Great Victoria
Desert, Africa 6. Patagonian Desert, South America 5. Gobi Desert, Asia
4. Arabian Desert, Middle East. 3. Sahara Desert, Africa 2. Arctic
Desert (Arctic) 1. Antarctic Desert, Antarctica.3

Palestines Desert
Ameed Malhees
There is a large desert that covers half of Palestine, and it's in the
occupied part. It's called Negev. It's a desert that has a long history. It
has more than 196000 people. It has a lot of animals inside just like
snakes, and some kinds of goats. The Negev desert is the only desert
that covers almost all Southern Palestine. And it has the space of 13000
km squared. It's unlike every place it has plants, and animals that don't
appear most of the times at deserts. It's 370 to 530 meters above sea
level. This gave a big ability for Arabian Leopards to live in Asia. Negev
desert is the nearest desert to the Suez Canal, which explains a lot of
things, and means that there is a lot of water near the Negev desert. It
also has the connection of the Dead Sea by Jericho, which means
there is a lot of chance to get water and natural resources.4

Flora and Fauna

Raghad Atatari
People think that there arent plants or animals in the desert
because there isnt water. That is wrong a lot of types of animals and
plants live in the desert. Animals in the desert have adaptation to cope
with the lack of water and the shortage of food. Example of the
animals hawk, scorpion, snake, fox, lizard, insects. In Sahara Australia
there is bilby, dingo, and kangaroo. In Arabian Peninsula there is
promedary, flamingo and in Africa there is gazelle, gerbil. Different
types of animals in desert dont get out due morning because it is hot
and sandy. If they want to get out they will hide in the shade. The most
common question is how do animals live and there is a lack of water?
Many of the animals dont drink at night they get water from the food
they ate. Most of the desert animals are small like insects they dont
need a lot of food and water to live and as I said they are adapted to
the desert. There are thousands of types of plants in the desert in
different looks, smells and nature. The most beautiful time in the year in
the desert is when it rains and all the flowers and trees grow up.

Example of the plants in the desert: barrel cactus, saguaro, palm trees,
desert lily, desert sage, elephant tree, orange pipe cactus. Plants in the
desert are like animals they adapt to the heat and to live without a lot
of water. There are a lot of types of Wildflowers ex: desert star its a
sandy flower its color is white the leaves of it are long and the base is
the short.5

Climate
Tareq Musmar
Most deserts have temperatures as high as 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. The temperature drops quickly after sunset in all deserts.
The annual rainfall in the Sahara desert is 2.5 cm or 25mm per year.6

Tourist Attractions in the Sahara Desert

Tareq Musmar
Many scientists go to the Sahara desert in order to dissect a very
common type of snake, rattlesnake. In all deserts there is caves and
architectures go to the Sahara desert in order for them to find new
caves that nobody has discovered yet. In the Sahara desert there is
places called cave hotels, which is a place where tourists that are
sleepy can rest in a natural environment. In some Sahara desert caves,
there is clues to the dawn of Egypt.7

Interesting Information About the Sahara Desert

Ameed Malhees
The Sahara desert was a ocean 1500 years ago. There is fossils for
whales in the Sahara desert, as proof that there was an ocean in the
Sahara desert before. In 1,500 years, the ocean that was once in the
Sahara desert will be refilled. The Sahara desert still has giant aquifers
beneath the sand that holds as much water as the Great Lakes.8

Attractions in the Negev Desert

Tareq Musmar
Tourists visit a winery in Negev desert because of their fresh
grapes. Tourists visit Alpaca farms in order to ride horses and llamas. A
jeep or ATV picks you up and you ride through some of the amazing
Negev terrains, this is how to enjoy Negev desert.9

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is written by Tareq Musmar, Raghad Atatri, Ameed
Malhees, and Kahana Salah. Special thanks to Pioneers Baccalaureate
School because they provided us with Internet and gave us space to
work.
LITERATURE CITED

1
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Demand Media, 7 Feb. 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

2

Lees, Brian S. "The Desert Biome." Powayusd. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb.
2016.

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2016.

Israel. "The Negev Desert." Israel Land of Creation. Netwise, n.d. Web.
18 Feb. 2016.

UCMP. "The Desert Biome." The Desert Biome. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb.
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UCMP. "The Desert Biome." The Desert Biome. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb.
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Zimmermann, Kim Ann. Live Science. Reddit, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 18

Feb. 2016.

Zimmermann, Kim Ann. Live Science. Reddit, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 18

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Israel. "The Negev Desert." Israel Land of Creation. Netwise, n.d. Web.
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