All About Deserts
Human Interactions
Harms To The Desert
- Global warming is increasing drought frequency, which dries up water holes.
- High temperatures may produce increase the number of wildfires, which alters desert landscapes by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and then replaces them with fast-growing grasses.
- Grazing animals can destroy many desert plants and animals.
- Potassium cyanide used in gold mining can poison desert wildlife.
- Off-road vehicles can cause irreparable damage to desert habitats. (If used irresponsibly)
- Oil and gas production may disrupt sensitive habitat.
- Nuclear waste may be dumped in deserts, which have also been used as nuclear testing grounds.
Solutions To The Desert
- Plant sand-fixing bushes and trees.
- Find new ways to rotate crops to protect fragile soil.
- More efficient existing water resources and better control to improve arid lands.
- Plant leguminous plants, which extract nitrogen from the air and fix it in the ground, to restore soil fertility.
- Use off-road vehicles only on designated trails and roadways.
- Dig artificial grooves in the ground to retain rainfall and trap windblown seeds.