Geography Arid Environment Definitions

Arid

(of land or a climate) having little or no rain; too dry or barren to support vegetation.

Succulents

A plants that is succulent in order to retain increased amounts of water

Semi-Arid

Characterized by relatively low annual rainfall of 25 to 50 centimeters (10 to 20 inches) and having scrubby vegetation with short, coarse grasses; not completely arid.

Cryptobiotic soil crust

Cryptobiotic crusts are formed on soils by microbial organisms. These living crusts are dominated by cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae), fungi, lichens, and mosses.

Continentality

How the climate is affected by how inward(or far away from the cost) a location is

Indigenous people

People who are part of a society that is founded on the belief of history rather than modern day

Halophytes

Plants that are adapted to grow in saline (full of salt) conditions

Xerophytes

Plants which can survive with very little water.

Salinisation

SALINISATION is the accumulation of soluble salts of sodium, magnesium and calcium in soil to the extent that soil fertility is severely reduced. SALINITY is the degree to which water contains dissolved salts.

Low Productivity

Where a plant uses little of the energy that is gains usefully as respiration

Desertification

the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.

Net Primary Productivity

the rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy; it is equal to the difference between the rate at which the plants in an ecosystem produce useful chemical energy (GPP) and the rate at which they use some of that energy during respiration.

Sub tropical high pressure

The subtropical ridge, also known as horse latitudes, is a significant belt of high pressure situated around the latitudes of 30°N in the Northern Hemisphere and 30°S in the Southern Hemisphere.