Desert

One of the main characteristics of deserts is the extremely low rainfall when compared with other biomes, in fact, it is one of the parameters that define them. In the Atacama Desert, for example, the precipitation doesn't normally exceed 1mm per year. Temperatures, however, are very variable in deserts, within the same desert and between different deserts. Daily temperature oscillations in deserts can be extreme, going from above 40ºC during the day to -10ºC at night. Additionally, different deserts in different locations can have completely different regimes of temperatures. We can classify deserts into hot and cold deserts, depending on the temperature regimes.

The existing fauna and flora in deserts are, of course, related to this regime of temperature and precipitations. Since the climate is very extreme, the diversity of species in the desert is very low, and the both vegetation and animals that predominate are of small size.