Adaptions of animals to desertecosystem

	Factors of natural enviroment				Mammals
	Birds				Invertebrates

Factors of natural enviroment

Mammals

Measure against watershortage

Beasts of prey (carnivore: jackal, desertfox) take enough water with the prey into their body. Planteaters (herbivore: sandmouse) takes enough water into the body from the foodplants. With that a lot of salt goes into the animal's body. Because of the excretion of a concentrated urine the salt surplus is regulated. Nut-eating releases in the metabolism water from the pats (metabolic water). In extrem situations the dryrest or the drysleep begins. Bigger mammals store fat è metabolic water camel-hump, hump-cattle, fattails from sheep).

Regulation of the camels' bodytemperature

The camels' bodytemperature can go up to 40°C during the day and at night cools down again. They can set down the bloodtemperature in the brain (with a help of the "miraclenet") contrary to the bodytemperature. A heat exchange between arteries of the brain and the venous blood from the nasal mucous membrane takes place in the miraclenet. While panting water evaporates on the nasal mucous membrane. For that necessary evaporation heat is withdrawn from the venous blood. The arteries of the brain go throug a net of cooled veins and are also cooled. So it is possible for the camels to keep the temperature of the blood in the brain about 3°C lower than the bodytemperature.

Birds

Bodytemperature

Birds don't have any sweat glands. Because of that they breathe with up to 40 breaths per minute through their windsacksystem. Water at the walls of the breathingorgans and the evaporation heat is withdrawn from blood. Another method is by spreading wings and feathers, so the birds get a bigger bodysurface and the bodyheat can be carried better. This method is especially effective with wind. Vultures go up to 1000 m at noon, so that they can escape from the heat. They loose little energy, because they take advantage of the thermionics.

Waterintake

At dawn and at dusk many birds fly to water-sources, which are far away (up to 50 km). Bigger birds take in enough water through their prey.

Invertebrates

Blackbug

The covering wings are grown to the body and form an air padding, which is used as an isolator. But that makes the Bug unalge to fly. During the hot period, the blackbugs buries itself in the sand. He also has long legs, which take it off the ground and save it from high groundtemperature. Bristels on the legs prevent caving in the sand. Some genus have an extremely streamlined body ("Sandswimmer") and are able to dive quickly into the sand. Blackbugs become between 2 und 5 years old.

Desertgrasshoppers

At an annual precipitation of more than 500 mm the plants develop so strongly that the grasshoppers also multiply strongly. If an annuals precipitation of less than 500 mm follows in the year of the second generation, then there is a foodlack for the grasshoppers and they shed their skin to a red-orange colour (Wanderform). It comes to a migration of the swarm and the animals fly in a big altitude and draw with the wind. Wandergrasshoppers cause economic damage, because a swarm of 2 billion animals needs 3000 t of food a day.

Scorpions

Scorpions have a very thick cuticula as an evaporation protection. The animals are active at night and during the day they bury themselves up to 1 m deep into the sand. The desertspecies are very large which make the proportion better between volume and surface better. Scorpions can survive one year without water and food. The poison from some scorpions can be dangerous for humans. The Poison from scorpions causes necrose (dying tissue). Stings from dangerous scorpions can often only be treatet with amputation of the affected part of the body. <Trace of a scorpion>

Desertsnails

They have a extremly thick, conite calcium cas as isolation, which reflects up to 95% of the heatrays. The snails are able to sustain bodytemperatury of more than 50°C for months. The majority of snails, who live on the ground, has a spherical case, to minimize the heatintake. In the dryness a snail survives up to 3 years.

back to the top