Literacy International: Deserts - What Is a Desert, Where They Are, and Desert Plants

Jul 17, 2026

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Literacy International: Deserts introduces deserts as very dry land with under 50 centimeters of rain each year, contrasting them with forests and plains. It explains why desert temperatures swing from hot days to cold nights due to low humidity and how rain may evaporate before reaching the ground. The text identifies major deserts worldwide across multiple continents, then describes how desert plants survive using adaptations such as deep roots, small or waxy leaves, dormancy, and cacti that store water.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

What Is a Desert?

Desert vs. Forests

Desert Weather and Water Loss

Desert Types and Sand

Where Are the Deserts of the World?

Major Deserts by Region

Plants of the Desert

Plant Adaptations

Cacti and Water Storage

Literacy International: Deserts Copyright © 2010 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Environment Literacy International: Deserts Part of a Geography series including Forests Deserts Mountains Rivers Copyright © 2010 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Copyright © 2010, Literacy International [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. WHAT IS A DESERT? There are many different kinds of land on the earth. Two of these are deserts and forests. A desert is a very dry area. It has less than 50 centimeters of rain in a year. Deserts can be hard places to live in-not like forests or plains. Abraham, Jesus and Mohammed started three great religions of our world. They lived in deserts. Not as many plants can grow in a desert as in other places, because there is not enough water to keep them alive. Most deserts are hot. The temperature may go from very hot at midday to very cold at night. The reason the temperature changes so much is that there isn't enough moisture, or humidity (wetness) to block the rays of the sun. Even when there is rain, the rain may evaporate before it reaches the ground. That is, it may turn from liquid to vapor, like air. Or it may dry up soon after it hits the ground. The sun shines on the earth and takes away any moisture that is there. So the ground gets dry, hot and hard. There isn't enough moisture to cool it. Some deserts are cooler. But they are still dry. When they think of deserts, many people think of sand. But not all deserts have sand. Some have gravel, rocky hills, or long low dry places where rivers used tobe. WHERE ARE THE DESERTS OF THE WORLD? The biggest desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in north Africa. It covers three and a half million square miles. The Arabian Desert in Saudi Arabia, the western Australian Desert, and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China, are also very large. Pictured Above: The Sahara Desert The Kalihari Desert is in South Africa and Botswana, the Namib Desert is in Namibia, and the Mojave Desert is in California in the United States. South America has two important deserts: the Patagonian on its southeast coast and the Atacama on the west coast. The Atacama is very long and narrow. It runs through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, and is one of the driest places in the world. Most deserts are near the Equator, but there are also deserts in northeast India and in parts of Europe. Even a polar region can have a desert. There is a desert in Antarctica and another in Greenland, but they are covered with snow. Under the snow, the land far down is dry. We find deserts on all seven continents. About one-fifth of the land on the earth is desert. PLANTS OF THE DESERT Only a few plants can grow in a desert. To grow there, a plant must be able to get along with very little water. Some deserts have very few plants, and they are far apart. Or there may be no plants at all. So a desert can look like a big empty place. A large part of Arabia is called "The Empty Quarter. " Some desert plants can take in water from the rain and use it later. Some have very small leaves so that they don't need much water. Some have deep roots to reach water far under the ground. Or their roots may spread far out on top of the ground to find water. Some desert plants have thick or wax-coated leaves to keep water inside them. Some drop their leaves in the driest time so they will not lose much water. Other plants have silvery or shiny leaves that reflect the energy of the sun. That means the light and heat from the

FAQs

What makes an area a desert?

A desert is a very dry area with less than 50 centimeters of rain in a year. Some deserts also have harsh living conditions compared with forests or plains.

Why do deserts have such big temperature changes between day and night?

The temperature can shift from very hot at midday to very cold at night because there isn’t enough moisture or humidity to block the sun’s rays and cool the ground.

How do desert plants survive with very little water?

Desert plants may have small leaves, deep or widely spread roots, thick or wax-coated leaves to retain water, reflective leaves to reduce drying, and some can become dormant during the hottest part of the year.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Aria