Secrets of the deserts may just seem bland at first sight. It may seem that deserts are nothing but chunks of land masses with the whispering sands and the endless skies. But hold your horses… Deserts are much more than just sand and skies.
In fact only 20% of sand accounting for the surface of the desert. Deserts are barren lands, in harsh and unforgiving climates. But however deserts exist even in Antarctica. Except they are called cold deserts or polar deserts. Well as it seems deserts are not just hot places with sand like we understand. Desert is a term used to describe any land mass, with scarce vegetation and extreme climates. So as it happens deserts can be found even in the North Pole! Just not the way we expect it.
But is there any use for desert in our ecosystem? Well I am sure you may be pondering about this question right now. Deserts provide many benefits that can meet the demands of both the local inhabitants and other surrounding communities. In reality deserts span about 40% of the earth’s surface area and are one of the links to our delicate ecosystem. And their uses have been fully exploited to by us humans. Be it in the heat or in the cold, we humans have conquered these adverse conditions and used them for purposes we could not live without.
So let us begin by exploring the hot deserts.
Secrets of the Hot Deserts
The first desert that might come to your mind might be the Sahara desert. Nestled in Africa, the desert touches eleven countries: Algeria, Morocco, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. However, deserts like the Sahara are much more than barren lands. Want to see for yourself? Then continue reading…
Importance:
Hot deserts are rich in minerals. For instance, let’s go back to the Sahara Desert, which has substantial deposits of iron, phosphorus, manganese and uranium as well as a large volume of oil and natural gas. which prove to be vital to various industries. And the scorching heat too plays a great role as they ensure the existence of desert energy.
Desert Energy is simply a term for all energy produced in deserts. For instance, solar energy is harnessed due to the extreme sunlight that falls on these lands. The Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai or the Southern Californian desert solar panels also play a great role in providing renewable energy.
Well the deserts have as many secrets to unearth just as many uses they have. Huge empires may lie beneath deserts like the Garamantian Empire which was unearthed under the Sahara in the 1960’s. Who knows what else lies in wait under the whispering sands and endless skies. Well, we cannot do much but wait and see.
Flora and Fauna:
Some plants and animals do thrive in these unforgiving ecosystems. However, they would not be able to exist without some help from nature. Plants with adaptations which allow them to live in hot and dry conditions are called xerophytic or xerophytes. Their special adaptations include thorns instead of leaves to reduce loss of water through transpiration, waxy leaves again to prevent transpiration and long tap roots that can access water from the deep aquifers.
Fauna on the other hand are of a rich variety. Camels, snakes, meercats and oryx are some of these animals. They have different adaptation which is again based on their size, the type of food they eat and other conditions. But let us take the instance of a camel.
Camel, being the ‘ship of the desert’ has a leathery mouth which allows them to feast on succulent cacti without causing much damage to their mouth. A common misconception is that camels store water in their humps, but this is far from true. Their fur prevents sunburn and their humps store fat, which provides them with energy for long distances. Additionally, the fat helps keep camels away from getting thirsty often. Camels also don’t sweat as much as humans and their metabolism lowers at night.
Threats and Conservation Efforts:
These biomes are threatened by many different things including anthropogenic activities. They include illegal wildlife poaching, invasive species and urbanisation. But perhaps the greatest issues are climate change and desertification. Personally I feel these two issues are interconnected. Climate change, which by the way definitely deserves to be the #1 most wanted criminal across the globe, seems to sniff trouble almost everywhere. By disrupting the global temperatures, fertile or semi-arid lands are being converted into deserts which harm organisms as well as humans alike due to the lack of water and food, essential to foster life.
However many people and organizations have played a pivotal role in ensuring that millions of people and animals do not face the tough consequences of human induced climate change. Governments are vital as they initiate protected areas for animal species and enforce anti-poaching lives. Even the establishment of renewable energy projects such as the Noor Ouarzazate Solar Complex in Morocco harness energy without causing any ecological imbalance. However all this is up to no use without our support. Simple steps like smart irrigation and even sacrificing a long drive on a weekend could really make the difference in protecting our delicate ecosystems.
Well all this might seem overwhelming at first sight. So here’s a poem written by me to keep our mind fresh and flowing. We still have a lot to talk about the fascinating secrets under the cold deserts as well. So here it goes…
Hot deserts hold many secrets,
Both dark and plain,
Desserts of mysteries buried underneath,
So juicy are they for the curious,
With many hard to explain.
A whole civilization may be beneath,
Like the Garamantian Empire under its heath.
There are some quiet, candy secrets too,
Like sandstone, a dandy resource indeed.
That’s all about what’s underneath,
No mention yet,
Of the skies teeth.
It’s arid jaws,
And its red, hot claws,
Ohh! It’s too much sweat for my flaws.
Sizzling sand basking in the heat,
Complete with the basilisk’s cleats,
Not a bird’s tweet to be heard,
For they hurt,
In the sun’s hot verse.
Hark! At the deserts!
They seem to hold no sweetness,
Like the desserts we prefer,
But it’s the fur to the economy of the world!
Full of minerals,
It’s secrets whisper.
A pool of liberals,
To the heat of the sun,
Are the sand’s bountiful mineral sisters,
Such as fossil fuels and iron ore,
That run our life and this poem too!
Well the fun is not over yet. It’s time to move over to the chilly cold deserts. Sand and snow are both characteristics of a desert. Hot and cold both of which are opposite but yet again turn out to be characteristics of the same term: deserts. As if things were not awkward enough, we have the cold deserts who have a sharp contrast to each other but still fall under the category of deserts.
Cold Deserts: Uncovered
Importance:
You most probably will know about the water crisis that we are facing right now. Well as covered in a previously published article on this blog ( you can visit the same by clicking on this link: https://ethansliteraryhaven.com/the-agonizing-cry-from-the-parched-land/) most of the freshwater is stuck in glaciers and ice caps. And where are they situated in? Well of course in the cold deserts.
These biomes hold water and also house a variety of minerals, fossil fuels to name a few resources in them. However, they play a major role in the global fight against climate change. The ice and snow in cold deserts reflect sunlight, helping regulate global temperatures (albedo effect). Their remote location in the arctic and the antarctic also ensure projects and other studies can be conducted.
These cold deserts also have other quite ‘marsy’ purposes. They seems like a mimicry of Martian conditions, making them prime locations for testing space exploration technology.
Flora and Fauna:
Like any other ecosystems, cold deserts are inhibited by many species, like musk oxen, arctic foxes, snow leopards etc-. But one special animal that fascinated me and surely will stand out to you as well is one species of camels called the Bactrian Camels.
These two humped-creatures are found in both cold deserts and hot deserts. A critically endangered species, wild Bactrian camels (Camelus ferus) are resilient and survive in remote areas of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts, enduring both freezing winters and scorching summers. These creatures are just amazing, highlighting the unique diversity of animal species.
Threats and Conservation:
Yet again the cold deserts face immense challenges like illegal poaching, invasive species and again the elephant in the room, climate change. Climate change yet again encroaches into our stress as the rise in temperatures leads to the melting to ice caps that deplete our freshwater sources and also lead to a rise in sea level which can flood low lying lands, even entire countries! Water conservation, community involvement, legal influence are key in downplaying the consequences faced by these biomes.
Well, want to exercise your brain some more. Presenting to you a crossword that will surely test your knowledge based on what you learned in this post. And don’t you worry. If you are stuck in any of the questions just refer to the answer key behind. After all, “Learning is a Journey, Not a Destination”
That’s the end of this post. While this post may seem quite long, I really wanted to pass on the message of deserts and their link to our ecosystems. It is hard to even live without them however with some many threats surrounding them, their resilience may come to a stop. However, we, humans got into this mess but it is also up to us to get out of it. Anyways, hope you found the post informative and engaging. Until then……
_________________________________
Credits
Cover Image: http://view.genially.com/5fe1713d0c9dff0fa4bc7549/presentation-hot-and-cold-desert
https://www.bbc.com/
https://www.britannica.com/
https://unsplash.com/
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/
https://opensnow.com/news/post/albedo-explained
https://www.vedantu.com/evs/the-desert-facts
Do follow https://ethansliteraryhaven.com/ for more such posts.
