Desert Survival
What makes a hot desert so harsh, how plants and animals are adapted to survive there, and the opportunities and challenges of developing desert areas.
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Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
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Life in the harshest places
A hot desert is one of the toughest places to live: scorching by day, cold by night, and with almost no rain. Yet plants and animals have clever adaptations that let them survive, and people find both opportunities and challenges in these areas. This module looks at what a hot desert is like, how life copes, and how people use the land.
Desert words to know
Learn these before you sort the features.
Opportunity against challenge
Deserts offer chances but make them hard to take.
Name it, then say how it helps
In the exam, name a feature or adaptation and then say exactly how it helps survival: spines cut water loss, roots spread to catch rare rain, animals hunt at night to avoid the heat. When you write about development, weigh an opportunity against a challenge rather than listing only one side.
Match the plant adaptation
- a thick stem
- spines instead of leaves
- wide, spreading roots
- a waxy skin
- stores water for the dry times
- cuts down water lost to the air
- catches rain from a large area
- seals in moisture
Match the animal adaptation
- being active at night
- very large ears
- getting water from food
- digging a burrow
- avoids the fierce daytime heat
- lets extra body heat escape
- copes with almost no drinking water
- stays cool below the hot surface
Why hunt at night?
Why are many desert animals active at night rather than during the day?
- To avoid the extreme heat of the day and save water.
- Because they cannot see in daylight at all.
- Because plants only grow at night.
- Simply because they prefer the dark.
Desert challenges
Select the TWO genuine challenges of developing a hot desert.
- A shortage of water for people and crops
- Being remote and hard to reach
- Having plenty of sunshine for solar power
- Having minerals that can be mined
Work out the range
On one day a hot desert reached 40 degrees in the afternoon and fell to 5 degrees at night. Subtract the night value from the day value to find the temperature range. What is the answer?
Order the survival logic
Put the reasoning about a desert adaptation in order, earliest first.
- Water is very scarce
- A cactus has spines, not leaves
- Less water is lost to the air
- The plant survives the drought
Complete the summary
A hot desert is scorching by day and cold by _____, with very little rain. A cactus stores water in its thick _____ and uses spines to cut water loss. Deserts offer opportunities such as mining and solar _____, but a major challenge is the shortage of _____.
Spot the opportunities
Tap the TWO development opportunities a hot desert can offer.
- strong sun for solar power
- valuable minerals to mine
- dangerous daytime heat
- being far from any city
Judge the desert
Read each detail and choose the best label.
- A plant has a thick stem that swells with stored water. What is this an example of?
- A company builds a large solar farm in the desert to make electricity. What is this?
- A town struggles because water must be piped in from far away. What is this?
Explain desert survival
Explain how plants and animals are adapted to survive in a hot desert, and give one opportunity and one challenge of developing a desert area.
- Describe two physical features of a hot desert
- Explain one plant and one animal adaptation and how each helps
- Give one development opportunity and one challenge