Desert Biome The ecology all over the world is different and the desert is an extreme environment. Deserts are found over one fifth of the earth surface. To be classified as a desert the rainfall is a criterion. The Iquique, Chile received only 0.6-inch rainfall for a twenty year period. Even in the worlds driest desert, like the Atacama Desert there is infrequent rain and it may also receive snowfall. (Bowman, 37)

The most cases of rainfall is usually lesser than 50 cm for a year. Great desert areas are the Sahara, Mexico, and other smaller deserts are found in the lower latitudes and are hot deserts. There are also cold deserts, like the desert at Utah and Nevada and some places at western Asia. There are vegetation and animal life found in the deserts that are suited to the harsh climate and the vegetation and all biomes are special. The ecology consists of both the biotic and non-biotic factors. (Thinkquest)

Biotic factors include all living forms like animals, plants and even fungi and bacteria. The other end is the abiotic, meaning the non-living things that affect living organisms. This includes the soil, water, rainfall, ponds, and generally weather and other climatic factors. These factors comprise the ecosystem of the desert. If one of these factors get changed, or in someway corrupted --...

(Thinkquest)
Thus we have the biotic and abiotic factors, and of the abiotic factors which feature in the desert is the soil and climate. The desert soil has nutrients but the lack of water does not make it productive and does not contain any subsoil organic matter. (University of California)

Soils often have abundant nutrients because they need only water to become very productive and have little or no organic matter. The soil is sandy and has low salt concentration. 1 Mountains of the desert have large bases of minerals, and in the Central Andes, the places like Potosi, Corocoro, and farther south, in the Puna de Atacama, have great mineral wealth. (Bowman, 62)

Desert biomes are different from the rest of the world. The classification of desert biomes are based on the types of the deserts, thus hot and dry desert, where temperatures are high and the solar radiation is direct and more. Thus temperature can range from 20° C. To 25° C. some time to 49° C. Likewise at night the temperature can drop to -18° C. There is almost no rain or long rainless periods. The lowest rainfall is in the Atacama Desert of Chile and Sahara. In such a desert the plant life consist of small shrubs and short woody trees.…