[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-90481-en":3,"doc-seo-90481-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},90481,2336464648322,"Aria","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2200025388227c56fec?_k=1778556882303663488",4,"Exam","Literacy International: Deserts - What Is a Desert, Where They Are, and Desert Plants","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.","Literacy International: Deserts  \nCopyright © 2010 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net)  \nEnglish Environment  \nLiteracy International: Deserts  \nPart of a Geography series including  \nForests  \nDeserts  \nMountains  \nRivers  \nCopyright © 2010 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net)  \nEnglish  \nCopyright © 2010, Literacy International  \n[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)  \nYou 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.  \nWHAT IS A DESERT?  \nThere are many different kinds of land on the earth. Two of these are deserts and forests.  \nA desert is a very dry area. It has less than 50  \ncentimeters 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.  \nNot as many plants can grow in a desert as in other places, because there is not enough water to keep them alive.  \nMost 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.  \nEven 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.  \nSome deserts are cooler. But they are still dry.  \nWhen 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.  \nWHERE ARE THE DESERTS OF THE WORLD?  \nThe 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.  \nPictured Above: The Sahara Desert  \nThe 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.  \nSouth 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.  \nMost 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.  \nWe find deserts on all seven continents. About one-fifth of the land on the earth is desert.  \nPLANTS OF THE DESERT  \nOnly 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. \"  \nSome 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.  \nSome 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.  \nThat means the light and heat from the","cbCaiabUzD5aykLi","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiabUzD5aykLi","pdf",335640,1,20,"English","en",105,"# What Is a Desert?\n## Desert vs. Forests\n## Desert Weather and Water Loss\n## Desert Types and Sand\n# Where Are the Deserts of the World?\n## Major Deserts by Region\n# Plants of the Desert\n## Plant Adaptations\n## Cacti and Water Storage","[{\"question\":\"What makes an area a desert?\",\"answer\":\"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.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do deserts have such big temperature changes between day and night?\",\"answer\":\"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.\"},{\"question\":\"How do desert plants survive with very little water?\",\"answer\":\"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.\"}]",1784293978,50,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"literacy-international-deserts-what-is-a-desert-where-they-are-and-desert-plants","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literacy-international-deserts-what-is-a-desert-where-they-are-and-desert-plants/90481/",{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-23","2026-07-17",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What makes an area a desert?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"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.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Why do deserts have such big temperature changes between day and night?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"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.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"How do desert plants survive with very little water?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"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.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,100,103,108,112,117,122,126,129,133],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":28,"slug":111},6,"Technology","technology",{"id":113,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":125},9,"Religion & Spirituality","religion-spirituality",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":128},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":132},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]