Biomes Project

The UAE is bordered by the Arabian Desert and is therefore found in a dominant arid desert biome.

Location

The desert biome covers up about 1/5 of the Earth's surface. Desert biomes are generally located at low latitudes and can be found in North America, South America, Africa and Southern Asia.

Climate

The arid desert biome has a subtropical climate. The climate is mainly hot and dry with little precipitation. Temperatures remain high all year round. Average temperatures in the summer reach upto 40 °C. The rainfall amount is generally around 100mm a year, and the driest areas can receive between as little as 30 and 40mm of annual rain.

Animals

Mamals: Cape hares, sand cats, striped hyenas, red foxes, caracals, two species of gazelle and Arabian wolves, camels and oryxes.

Invertebrates: Scorpions, spiders, ants, bees, wasps, moths and beetles.

Reptiles: Snakes, lizards and geckos.

Birds: Vultures, buzzards and falcons.

These animals have adapted to live in an arid, nearly water-free environment. Most of these animals avoid the extreme temperatures by staying out of it during the day, and then coming out at night when it is cooler. Since water is so scarce, most of these animals get their water from the food they eat: succulent plants, seeds, or the blood and body tissues of their prey.

Vegetation

Due to a lack of water, vegetation in the desert is scarce. Plants are almost all ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. These plants are able to survive despite extreme temperatures and lack of water due to their leaves being packed full of nutrients.

Soil

Wind has blown away fine dust and particles in this desert biome, leaving coarse-textured sand. Weaponry used by the United States during the Gulf War poses a huge risk to the stability of the soil. The movement of US tanks over the desert damaged the top protective layer of the desert soil. Also in 1991, the US and NATO dropped nearly 300 tons of depleted uranium on Iraqi targets. The splinters resulting from the explosion contaminated the surrounding soil.

Human Impacts

The status of this biome is critically endangered due to a number of oil spills. 

 

Impact of Climate Change

The UAE is a low lying coastal country with an arid climate and which already faces high temperatures. At the same time, the UAE plays a central role in the world’s energy economy as a supplier of fossil fuels. This is an issue as the UAE must find ways to cut emissions while still providing the world with the energy it needs.

Atmosphere - Since the UAE burns a lot of fossil fuels there is a huge build up of greenhouse gases in its atmosphere. The greenhouse gases then trap the heat from exiting the atmosphere causing it to be hotter. This could be the reason for the UAE's hot, arid climate.

Hydrosphere - Higher temperatures on the Earth cause sea water to expand, raising the sea level year after year. This is a huge issue as the UAE is a low lying coastal country. Cities near the coast will have to adapt to rising sea levels.

Biosphere - Climate change has a significant impact on plant, human and animal life. Climate change is causing plants and animals to shift their habitats to northern and mountainous areas. Many plants, the alpine flora for example, are endangered and are predicted to become extinct. Fruit cultivation and forestry are also seriously affected. Climate change results in food shortages for animals, causing the great diversity of wildlife in the UAE to decrease year by year. Climate change also has a small impact on human life as the number of diseases are increased as a direct result from the heat. 

Waste Management

1) Dubai disposes of waste through landfills. 

2) Dubai is running out of room to dump it's garbage. One of Dubai's 2 landfill sites is full will soon be closed. The other one will reach its capacity in less than 7 years, and they are yet to decide where to allocate a new landfill site. The biggest challenge they face is changing people's attitude and mentality towards it. People have to understand that a city cannot rely solely on landfills to manage its waste. Every Dubai resident sends 2.8 kg of waste to landfills every day, and many people don't think about where their garbage goes after it leaves their homes. As long as somebody collects it, they don't care.

3) There are a few ways in which Dubai could improve their waste management strategies. First, they could put more effort into implementing recycling. They should hand out recycling bins to every household and just in general have more recycling bins lying around. Another thing they could also do is start an environment campaign. This campaign could help raise awareness of waste management, encourage the people to recycle and care more about the issue. 

Climate and Climate Controls

1) The different climate controls that impact the UAE are: arid, desert, and hot arid. 

2) The UAE's has a dominant climate of arid. It has a dry, hot climate with very high temperatures and humidity.

3) 

Cyclone Gonu

Description:

Cyclone Gonu was the strongest tropical cyclone to ever hit the Arabian Peninsula. It developed from a persistent area of convection in the eastern Arabian Sea on June 1, 2007, and dissipated on June 7, 2007. The cyclone dropped heavy rainfall which reaching upto 610mm, and winds reached upto 270km/h. This caused flooding and heavy damage. The cyclone was considered to be the UAE's worst natural disaster as it measured a category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Impacts:

Cyclone Gonu had several impacts on the UAE. Strong winds knocked out power and telephone lines across the eastern region of the country, leaving thousands isolated. Fierce waves pushed large amounts of water to coastal areas in Fujairah forcing roads to be closed and traffic diverted. The waves along the coastline destroyed about a dozen fishing boats. The cyclone caused 28 deaths and resulted in $216 million in damage.