A Sonoran Desert Community

[Sean Nash]

*A simulation... doggone it!

On October 15th, we will be conducting another species diversity study. However, unlike the deciduous forest and freshwater pond communities here in our own town... this task will be to examine data from a Southern California desert community. This will be done using detailed maps from MWSU. I am pretty excited about seeing this one play out, as I have yet to see the actual maps.

The actual diversity index will be done in much the same way as our field study from this week. However, we will dive more deeply into the meaning of the data from this lab. Makes sense to progress, right?

We will use this thread to do some pre-studies in order to familiarize ourselves with this ecosystem. It will help to be able to have a picture of the Sonoran desert in your head while conducting the simulation. More specifically, we will be comparing two sub-zones of this community, the bajada zone and the wash zone. We will be evaluating species diversity using a quadrat sampling method.

As we are accustomed, we will also revisit this same thread to reflect on both the content of the lab as well as the process of the learning event. A few questions to ask yourself as you process this new ecosystem might be... What do I expect to find living there? What are the most common plants and animals of the Sonoran desert? How do the bajada and wash zones typically differ? What might a typical food web for this community look like? What might approximate a trophic pyramid for this system? How does this community compare to the terrestrial habitat (deciduous forest) we sampled this week? How are they different? Perhaps even more challenging... how are they the same? What is truly unique?


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[Shelby Hawkins]

One of my first questions was: What is a quadrant sampling method? IF I understand this right, the quadrant method is where we kind of study a square, a plot; where when we went to Missouri Western we used the transect method.
In the desert, you usually don't imagine much life. This is almost 100% wrong. There is a lot of variety of life that we just aren't used to. Animals are more active at night when it is cooler and there are more ideal weather commercials. This means there are also a lot of nocturnal animals. Some nocturnal animals are the coyote, badger, jackrabbit, and cottontail snake. There are also diurnal animals, those who are active during the day, such as most insects (beetles especially), horned lizard, wild burro, roadrunner, and the tarantula. These animals survive mostly by conserving energy, being water efficent, and hanging in the shade whenever they can. There are also cathemeral animals, which are active during random periods during the day and night.
The Sonoran Desert includes 60 mammal species, 350 bird species, 20... Plant life is actually very successful in the desert. Plants such as cactus were very important to the Native Americans. Plants were used as a water and food source to animals. I wonder why so many plants are bush-like? Is it a water-efficiency thing? Is being close to the ground more beneficial to them? It’s not like they need to grow upwards to get more sunlight, anyway. All of the animals above are examples of life found in this desert. I think this one is one of the cutest:

(awwwww)

An example food web for this community would be:
A.) Producer-plant
B.) Jack-rabbit, herbivore, eats plant
C.) Coyote, eat jack-rabit, Apex predator


This community is fairly different from the one at M.W.S.U. First of all, there was a lot of shade in that forest, giving you a greater chance at observing something awesome. They way the animals function, eat, and even sleep are affected by their climate. The plant life is vastly different. In the desert, we see short, spikey bushes. In the forest we saw huge trees older than ourselves, and green everywhere. It was also cold! Both of these environments are the same because their food chain process is the same. They each have their own distinct characteristics. You might be able to find some of the desert plants in a sun-blasted portion of the new forest, although I bet they are modified, just like the animals. In the forest we have rabbits, in the desert, there are jack rabbits. Can you see the differences?

Rabbit

Jackrabbit

[Shelby Hawkins]

One thing in Planet Earth that resonated with my post exactly was where they talked about ears, like the jack rabbit's. The purpose of their funky ears is to radiate heat. Planet Earth had a short section on the Sonara desert. It talked about the Giant Saguaro. I read about these but didn't really research much into them. This video helped to show me how important they are! Who knew birds lived inside them? Or that they bloomed flowers, in the desert! I also loved the time-lapsed video that showed the cacti absorbing water.

One important concept in this video was the Rain shadow effect. This really reminded me of the movie HOLES. This concept is that there are usually mountains by deserts. On one side of the mountain, it will be green and lush, and on the other side there is the dry, arid desert. This is because the mountains suck up all the moisture from the desert.

[Hannah Rush]

I'm really excited to study the Sonoran Desert. I'm expecting to fine lizards, scorpions, snakes, and cacti. I think that there will be a large abundance of plants there that are used to that harsh conditions. . I think that the majority of the animals that live there would be reptiles and amphibians that don't really need to be near water a lot. I think that there would be flowers on the plants that are there. I picture them in really bold colors like oranges, reds, yellows, and pinks. On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoran_Desert" target="_blank">wikipedia, it mentions the saguaro cacti. It says that the Sonoran Desert is that only place that it grows! I think that is really cool. I find it kind of ironic that the United States grows this really rare plant in a desert. I am guessing that there are a lot of bushes and shrubs that would be probably all over the desert.

I really had a hard time finding information about the bajada and wash zones. It said that the wash zone was a dry stream channel that was caused by rainfall. I couldn't find much on the bajada zone at all so I have no clue what to write about it... I know it kept repeating something about a downslope so I'm guessing its a lower level of the desert.

This is a picture I found of what a food web might look like in the Sonoran Desert, it also is in the form of a trophic pyramid, notice the producers at the bottom.

This community compares with the terrestrial habitat because like that area, there are a lot of plants and animals. They all depend on each other to get food. There is a wide variety of species just like in the forest we studied. They are different because the terrestrial ecosystem that we studied got a large abundance of water. Deserts are very dry. I really don't know a lot about deserts, so I really don't have an amazing answer to this. I'm hoping that by the end of our lab, I'll be able to better answer this question.

[Hannah Rush]

Today during our session we got the chance to watch a show about deserts. I was really interested in it. It wasn't like all the other boring movies that some teachers make us watch therefore I actually stayed awake during it. It talked about deserts all over the world and it showed how they all differ.

It showed the African desert with Elephants walking around. I guess I never really thought about where elephants lived, but i never thought it was on a desert. I always pictured them in a really high vegetation area, but sometimes, the search for food is really hard for them.

It also showed the Siberian Desert. When most people think of deserts, they think hot dry areas. They got the dry part right, but they aren't always hot. It talked about WHY the siberian desert is so dry. It is due to the Rain Shadow Effect. The Himalayas take all the moisture... therefore the area behind them doesn't get any. Snow is the animals source of water, there are no streams or anything like that.

It showed an Australian desert. It said that the temperature rose 7 degrees every hour. It talked about how most of the animals were nocturnal because it was so hot. 120 degrees. Kangaroos were present. They said that one way that they cool themselves off is by licking their forearms. It showed a picture and it was pretty disgusting. It also showed the Kangaroos digging holes in the ground because just an inch underneath the top surface, it stated the earth was a lot cooler.

Desert means lack of water. It really doesn't mean the temperature.

[Ivory Baldwin]

The Sonoran Desert is going to have way more differences from the terrestrial habitat. There are many different habitats in the Sonoran Desert. When you think of desert, what comes to your mind?? When I think of a desert I think of dry land not many living things, but my conception was very wrong. When I came across this website, It showed me pictures of each habitat and a little description. I did think that there was so much vegetation. There are forest and grasslands and even dry land.

I dont really know much about deserts so im really excited to find out whats all in the sonoran desert. I found a picture of this really wierd barrel cactus i would never have guessed this would be in the desert i had a different image in my head about cactus Im also excited to find out what types of animals live in that area.the only animals i know that live there are jack rabbits and snakes and lizzards but im sure there anr many more. The Sonoran Desert covers a big area. ( calforina,mexico, and arzoina )

[Ivory Baldwin]

After the video we watched in class today I learned more about deserts in general and a little more about the sonoran desert. In the Sonoran Desert it rains sometimes, not offen but every once in a while and when it does the saguaro cactus takes in all the water it can. It can hold up to five tons of water. A really instersting thing about the saguaro cactus that i would have never guess it did was that it blooms flowers at night in the summer time. In many deserts there are actually a lot of animals i wouldn't think that would be in there, like for example no in the sonoran desert but in africa elephants live in deserts. I totally forgot about Camels and kangaroo living in the desert, i guess i didn't put to much thought in to my last post. Camels can hold up to fifty gallons of water in their body's and can go a long time tell they have to refuel again. Kangaroos have to lick their bodies to say cool, when they lick their bodies and the salivia drys it helps keep their body temperature down. The rain shadow effect is an area of land that has suffered desertification from proximity to mountain ranges

In the video it talked about the Rain Shadow Effect and how typically by a moutain range thre is a desert, the rain shadow- rain shadow is an area of land that has suffered desertification from proximity to mountain ranges. One of the moutain ranges in the sonoran desert is the Peninsular Ranges. Im Sure durin our lab thursday we will learn more about the moutains in the sonoran desert. Im actually confused a littl bit about the rain shadow effect , i thought the rain shadow effect helped the desert but i did a little research on it and my research led me to find that the moutains take away the moisture from the desert because the moutains are like barriers and he winds lose their precipation befor it reaches the desert.

Mrs Nash also gave us a hint on something we could relate to. When the lizards go down to feed there are millions of bugs compared to the hundred(s) of lizards there were , this is an example of the traphic pyramid. there are way more producers than there are decomposers.

[leigh holland]

When i think about a desert i think hot and dry. But in all reality deserts can have snow, rain , and sometimes even cold air. there's not much i know about deserts. I only know what i have seen on tv or read in books about deserts. i do know it doesn't rain a lot and when it does every living thing soaks it up. i also know there are sand storms which cause the rocks to be chiseled away and they turn into sand.

I'm not sure of all the plants and animals that live in the desert. The only ones i can think of are foxes, kangaroos, snakes, camels, and scorpions. As for plants i only know of like two, cactus and trees. i really hope this project will help my understanding of deserts. i want to know why it doesn't rain a lot, why it snows sometimes, why there so hot if there all over the world. I have plenty of questions i just hope they get answered.

[Miranda Lynn Stanton]

All of the deserts on earth cover 1/3 of the land. The desert in Australia will rise above 124 degrees. The Sahara desert is the largest. At night this desert can drop 30 degrees. Death Valley is the hottest desert.
What makes a desert a desert is the lack of water. Animals will eat the flowers off the cactus's to get water. When there is a fog that comes through or a rain storm(not very often) they will store that water in there pleats to survive. There will be flash flood that will only happen once or twice a year. This will only last one day.
In the deserts there are sand storms. The sand will only come a few feet off the ground but the dust will be very high off the ground. Animals will have parts on them to keep the sand and dust out of there eyes.
In the desert animals will have to travel far for food and water.

[Laci Shoemaker]

In the Sororan Desert, I think that there will be a lot of different things living there not only from animals, but from plants as well. When I was researching the website that I found stated that there were over 2,000 plant species. When I first thought about deserts I thought about just sand and dunes, but while I was looking up things I found out that there are A LOT of vegetation in the Sonoran Desert.

While researching about the animals that live in the desert I found out that there were more than I thought, but it still isn't as much as maybe some other deserts have.

I'm really not quite sure of what Bajada means but I think in comparison to a wash zone it means that maybe it's more moisturized than a wash zone, because a wash zone is more hot or dry.

I think that this habitat differs from the forest we did last week because the animals have adapted to living on not a lot of food, while the animals in the forest have an abundance of food, they have water and the animals in the desert have to learn to survive on little water, the temperature is way different.

[Coleman Wade Babcock]

As far as wild life diversity goes in the desert i dont think that there will be much. The only thing that i can think of is reptiles and bugs, and plants. I can imagine a lot of cacti and little ferns. The big Arizona cactus i imagine would be the most prevalent. I cant remember the name of it.

Bajadas (i think) are deserts near mountains, typically in valleys that dont get rain because the mountains dont let the clouds get through. I think that reptiles would be closer to the top of the food chain in the desert. Like a lizard would eat the fly that eats the plant.

[Laci Shoemaker]

What I learned about deserts while watching the movie were the following:
The Gobi Desert is the biggest & harshest desert in the world.
-It has snow, and the temperature can drop to -40 degrees in the winter and for two months the snow never melts.
-Snow is the only source of water in the Gobi, camels eat it.
-The reason for the Gobi desert is because of the Himalayas, they take up all the moisture so the ground can't get any.
The Sahara is the largest desert, it's as large as the United States.
-There are cute little foxes that live in the Sahara, they have huge ears to radiate the heat, and they feast on toads, scorpions, etc.
Australia is the earths most aired country.
-Every hour the temperature rises 7 degrees.
-If you have no water, you're more than likely going to die within hours.
-The temperature soars above 125 degrees during the day.
The Ottacama (sp?) in Chile is the driest on earth.
-The camels that actually look like llamas in this desert eat the cacti flowers.
-Cacti suck the moisture out of the ground for water.
The Sonoran Desert in the United States:
-Has Saguaro cacti, they're the biggest, and they're built to take on storms.
-They store up to 5 tons of water.
-Woodpeckers live in them.
-A few times in the summer, mostly at night, the flowers on these cacti bloom.
-Bats migrate from Mexico and eat these flowers.
-This desert is impassable.
Lizards are desert specialists.
Desert elephants:
-Smaller than normal elephants.
-Stronger feet.
-They walk up to 50 miles per day looking for food & water.
-Unlike normal elephants, they can go up to 5 days without water.
Desert Lions:
-Their prides are smaller, but their range is bigger.
-Like the elephants they must travel far to find food.
Flash floods:
-They happen two times a year.
-They come from the storms on the mountains, that are up to 100 miles away.
Death Valley:
-The hottest place on Earth.
-The desert locusts are the quickest to respond to the desert bloom.
A single swarm of grasshoppers can be 3 miles wide and can take hours to pass.
-They eat their own body weight.
-They travel with the wind to save energy.
-They devour everything edible in their path.

[Coleman Wade Babcock]

After watching todays video i was really surprised at how much diversity the desert really has. I never would have guessed how many different types of reptiles and bugs there were. I also forgot about the mamals in the forest too. I should have guessed about the foxes and camels. i just forgot about them but with that they would actually be at the top of the food chain, instead of the reptiles.