Plant Ecology in a Changing World
  • Topics
    • Topic Overview
    • Biomes and Climates in a Changing World >
      • Adaptation, biodiversity, and environment
      • Climate constrains plant distributions
      • Biome and climate relationships
      • Deserts
      • Grassland, savanna, and shrub biomes
      • Forest biomes
      • Alpine and tundra biomes
    • Plant adaptation >
      • Plant microclimate 1
      • Plant microclimate 2
      • Leaf energy budgets
      • Water movement through the soil-plant continuum
      • Principles of photosynthesis
      • Photosynthesis responses to light and temperature
      • Environmental stresses limit resource capture and use
      • Nutrients in the environment
      • Adaptation to environmental stress
    • Resource Allocation Changes with Environment >
      • Architecture and canopy processes
      • Plant phenology and resource allocation enhance performance
      • Leaf economic spectrum
      • Life history and reproduction
      • Defense against herbivory
      • Plant competition
    • Plant Responses to a Changing World >
      • Global changes occurring today
      • Invasive species
      • Atmospheric CO2 impacts plant
      • C3/C4 photosynthesis and climate
      • Climate change and the global carbon cycle
      • Climate warming and its impacts
    • Engineering Plant Communities >
      • Remember Utah's past and envision our future
      • Restoration ecology
      • Managed ecosystems
      • Utah urban ecology
      • Urban ecological futures
  • Assignments
    • Assignment Overview
    • Discussion
    • Problem sets
    • Ecology & Global Changes
    • Plant ecology policy
    • Defense of policy
    • Exam #1
    • Exam #2
  • Campus
    • Campus Overview
    • Grasses
    • Green infrastructure >
      • GI Overview
      • Stormwater >
        • GI 1
        • GI 2
        • GI 3
        • GI 4
        • GI 10
      • Green roof
      • Pollinator >
        • Pollinator species
    • Trees of the Wasatch
    • Shrubs of the Wasatch
    • Invasives
  • Biomes
    • Biome Overview
    • Climate diagrams
    • Vegetation sight-seeing trip
    • Biome images
  • Models
  • Lab
Topic 4 - Desert and steppe biomes

Essential elements from Topic 4
1.     Desert biomes are characterized by climate diagrams in which there is an evapotranspiration deficit most months of the year.

2.     Desert biomes can be classified as either coastal (moderate annual temperature fluctuations) and interior (large annual temperature fluctuations).

3.     There can be high inter-annual variations in total precipitation, leading to annuals as a dominant life form.

4.     Photosynthetic pathway types and life forms exhibit distinct patterns in deserts, particularly in regions with bimodal precipitation.

5.     The deserts of northern western Utah are dominated by winter precipitation (often as snow from frontal storms).

6.     The deserts of southeastern Utah experience both winter (frontal storms) and summer (monsoonal storms) precipitation.

7.     There are many unusual adaptations of plants to desert environments, including unusual life forms, succulence, highly reflective surfaces, and leaf movements.

Terms to know from today's topic

Click here to download PDF of all slides associated with Topic 4
Click here to view YOUTUBE of Topic 4
Jim Ehleringer, University of Utah