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Desert Introduction: Deserts are known to have a very harsh and tough environment. Yet lots of plants and animals have adopted to live in those areas according to the conditions held by each type of desert. Deserts occupy about one fifth of the earth’s land surface. There are two main types of desert biomes. These are hot and dry desert and cold desert. The two types of deserts differ greatly, yet they tend to share some similarities. In order to make a comparison between the two types of deserts, this essay will discuss the differences that exist between the two deserts in terms of the location, animals, plants, climate and soil nature, and people’s thought of the desert. Subject Starting with hot and dry desert, as its name reveals is hot and dry. In total, there are eight hot and warm deserts. Four of these are located in the United States and these include Mojave, Sonoran, Great Basin, and Chihuahuan. The other four include Southern Asian realm, Neotropical, Ethiopian, and Australian. Most of the hot and dry deserts are located near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricon. Due to the high exposure of this desert to the sun, the only animals that are able to live in the hot and dry desert are the animals that can burry themselves under the ground during the day. In other words they can live under the ground by digging holes and they come out at night since it will be a little cooler. Examples of these animals include small nocturnal carnivores, burrowers and kangaroo rat. Some insects, reptiles, and birds can also exist in the hot and dry desert. Moving on to the cold desert, a cold desert is characterized by having snow in the winter. This in other word means that the temperature in the cold desert does not just drop few degrees in the winter like the hot desert, it will have snow. There are three cold deserts and these include: Antarctic, Greenland, and Nearctic realm. Most of the cold deserts are located neat the Arctic part of the world. Some of the same animals found in hot and dry deserts are also found in the cold desert but in this case the animals have to burrow in order to escape from the cold and stay warm. Animals found in cold deserts include: kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, jack rabbits, grasshopper mice, squirrels, and pocket mice. Moving on to the second point of comparison, plants. In the hot and dry desert, some short plants such as shrubs and woody trees exist. The plants that live in this desert include: yuccas, ocotillo, turpentine bush, prickly pears, false mesquite, sotol, ephedras, agaves, and brittlebush. Some of these plants have microscopic openings in the epidermis of the leaves. These are called stomata and they are used for gas exchange especially when the evaporation rates are low at night. In general, the plants that live in the hot and dry desert are short, small, and thick. In the cold desert, most of the plants found there usually have spiny leaves. The cold desert has almost inappropriate weather for plants to grow. It can never reach an acceptable warmness level for plants to survive. There are some exception plants which include grasses and mosses. However, there is one main characterized plant that exists in the cold desert and this is called deciduous. These plants can vary from 15 cm to 122 cm in height. Climate and soil nature is the third point to be discussed in this essay. Generally, the hot and dry desert experiences a warm weather throughout the four seasons. Small amount of rainfall fall during the winter season. The temperature is usually very high since there is only little amount of humidity that works to block sun rays. More than twice the amount of solar radiation is received by the desert surfaces during the day and more than twice the heat is lost at night when compared to humid regions. The average annual temperature ranges from 20-25 degrees Celsius. The extreme maximum temperature ranges from 43.5 – 49 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature sometime reaches 18 degrees Celsius. Since there is less chemical weathering, the soil is usually course textured. Since there is very little water on the surface available, some of the soil solidifies becoming rocks and other stays as gravel. The cold desert is characterized by having a long cold winter season experiencing snowfall and high amounts of rainfall. Cold desert usually have very short summers in which the weather is warm and moist and rainfall is rare. The average winter temperature ranges from -2 to 4 degrees Celsius and the average summer temperatures ranges from 21 to 26 degrees Celsius. The soil is of salty nature and usually is heavy. The soil contains some pores which help in the filtering or leaking of the salt. People usually visit desert areas for tourism and recreational purposes. Recreational purposes include rock climbing, biking and hiking. Some people just like to visit the desert to examine the amazing sand colour and the pattern of rock formation. Some people like to take their vacation in the desert since it is a quiet place and they want to take a break from their business and busy life. Deserts uses widen to include road building projects, mining, and grazing. conclusion: , differences and similarities between the hot and dry desert and cold desert are clearly illustrated through examining location, animals, plants, climate and soil nature. The deserts are used greatly by people for tourism and recreational purposes. References: 1) <http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert.htm> 2) <http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/deserts.h tml> 3) <http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/nceasweb/kids/biomes/desert.htm>