Importance of Deserts

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

In the desolate expanses of these peculiar landscapes we can find much more than dust and sand. A whole reservoir of fantastic wonders are hidden between the hurtful rays of the sun and the burning of the slippery sands, letting us glimpse that some of the most extraordinary mirages could be a reality as authentic as it is invaluable, which govern, even from the most remote places, the dynamics of the balance of life throughout the planet and of the world economic system itself that sustains human beings and their whims.

Evolution and Adaptation in deserts

The extreme environmental conditions in the deserts have served for many species as a strong stimulus towards their adaptation, in this sense, they are so The evolutionary strategies that the persevering beings that inhabit the deserts have had to develop are wide and curious, maintaining a considerable biodiversity where balance reigns between plants, animals and microorganisms that share the scarce vital resources, making them enough for everyone.

Among the main characteristics that can be found in the plants of the arid zones of the planet are detailed: 1. Low number of leaves and reduced size of the same, compared to the vegetation of other areas of the planet. 2. Low-rise development, while in the forests we can find a great variety of species up to 40m high. 3. The cellular respiration in desert plants it is carried out exclusively at night, so that the stomata remain completely closed during the day, preventing excessive loss of moisture. 4. Development of internal tissues specialized in storing water, a fact that also benefits many other desert dwellers throughout our planet.

On the other hand, the animals that we can find in the deserts, although it seems strange, are also very diverse, with mammals whose skin and coat are adapted to stay protected from the inclement of the sun's rays, while minimizing dehydration, finding even those that, like plants, have developed their own internal water reservoir, such as the humps of camels

Another great diversity of beings not so easily visible, which have found their own paradise among such aridity, is made up of a very important number of reptiles and a similar amount of arthropods, of which great care must be taken, since they are all experts in camouflage, even staying hidden under the sand, always alert to defend themselves from any predator that wants to take it as lunch, or who might bump into it by mistake, without any type of contemplation, since the poisonous animals of the deserts have the well-deserved reputation of being among the most poisonous and aggressive of the world.

As for the microorganisms existing in deserts, most of them are classified as extremophiles, since they have adapted precisely to extreme conditions, complying with processes whose importance in the chemical dynamics of deserts ends up favoring the balance of cycles for all the rest of the planet.

Precious Desert Reserves

Now, if we ask any sultan about the importance of the desert, without a doubt he will tell us about the wonderful riches that are hidden among the sands. From precious stones such as Malachite, Garnet and Opal, to the deep and extensive deposits of gas and oil, the minerals that make up the sands of the deserts, find among the extreme changes of these environments, the possibility of combining with each other, to give as The result is an incredible variety of results that humans have known how to take advantage of, either because of the economic value they attribute to it or good for the technology that he has managed to develop with them.

In this sense, deserts provide such an economic contribution to humanity that technically it could be said which for more than a century have been the source of human development, thanks to the oil extracted from the desert subsoil.

recovering carbon

A vital function in deserts is the capacity that their sandy soils have to capture the carbon dioxide, thereby reincorporating carbon as a base element of the organic composition to the Rest of the life cycle, thus generating great contributions in cleaning the atmosphere, especially after the increase in carbon dioxide that has occurred generated, product of human activity, becoming a new evidence of the immense capacity that the planet has to overcome the changes and in a lesson so that we learn not to abuse that great luck and take care of the immense home that allows us exist.

References

Cerdá, A., & Lavee, H. (1995). Runoff and erosion in the soils of the Judean desert. Geographicalia, (32), 17-36.

Marquet, P. A., & Jaksic Andrade, F. (1998). The ecosystems of the Atacama desert and adjacent Andean area in northern Chile. Chilean Journal of Natural History, No. 71, p. 593-617. Chili.

Salinas, L., Arana, C., & Pulido, V. (2007). Diversity, abundance and conservation of birds in an agroecosystem of the Ica desert, Peru. Peruvian Journal of Biology, 13(3), 155-168. Peru.

Villa, C. (1996). Biology. 8th Edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill.