The thorny devil, a lizard that lives in the Australian Outback, has a system of tiny grooves and channels on its body that lead to its mouth. If desert communities use groundwater faster than it is replenished, water shortages can occur. More than 30 percent of the grasslands of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia are faced with desertification.People often overuse natural resources to survive and profit in the short term, while neglecting long-term sustainability. Agricultural production is devastated, and the economy of a region suffers. Human Interactions Over the past years the Sahara desert has changed as a result of human interactions. A final way that humans ca have a positive impact on the desert biome is by gaining knowledge about the biome. The Gobi is also in the rain shadow of the Himalaya mountains to the south.Polar DesertsParts of the Arctic and the Antarctic are classified as deserts. It could be the climate was pushing people to herd cattle, or the overgrazing practices accelerated denudation [of foliage], Tierney says. There are few plants, little water and extreme swings in daily temperatures. As the air rises, it cools and drops its moisture as heavy tropical rains. Humans may have transformed the Sahara from lush paradise to barren desert He suggests this may have triggered the end of the humid period more abruptly than can be explained by the orbital changes. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. How do we isolate the climatically driven changes from the role of humans? The Sahara Desert crept 100 kilometers (39 miles) south between 1950 and 1975. All rights reserved. . So what made the difference in the Sahara? A soaking rain can change a desert into a wonderland of flowers almost overnight. Wright thinks this is exactly what happened. Desertification has been described as "the greatest environmental challenge of our time" and climate change is making it worse. Global climate change due to human activities and pollution causes the expansion southward of the Sahara Desert into the Sahel. Human activities such as firewood gathering and the grazing of animals are also converting semiarid regions into deserts, a process known as desertification. Dromedary camels, native to the Arabian and Sahara deserts, can lose up to 30 percent of their body weight without harm. In Russia, much of the irrigated land located where the Volga River runs into the Caspian Sea may last only until the middle of the 21st century before the buildup of salts makes it virtually unusable. National Geographic Environment: Desert Landscapes. New York was built on wetland habitat, and Atlanta was built in a wooded area.
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