Water in Abundance, Water in Scarcity

This is an essay comparing and contrasting the desert and aquatic biomes. Enjoy!
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The desert and aquatic biomes are two of the most well known, and well researched biomes on Earth. We have the typical facts, like the desert doesn't have much water, but the aquatic regions do. Also, there's not much life in the desert biome -- it's too hot, but the aquatic biome, however, has some of the most population diversity in the world. These are just common, everyday knowledge...but below the surface, these two biomes may offer a few surprises.

The desert biome makes up 1/5 of the world's surface. This is much smaller than the aquatic biome, which takes up 3/4 of the Earth's surface. The most common type of desert is the hot and dry desert. Unlike its name states, it's not always scorching. In reality, it can sometimes dip down below -18 C in the winter months. However, in the summer, the daytime temperature can reach 49 C. In contrast, the aquatic biome's temperatures don't vary quite so dramatically. For ponds and lakes, the temperature usually only ranges from 0 C to 22 C. The ocean's temperatures vary a little more, but usually they don't go colder than 3 C.

The plant and animal life in the aquatic regions of the world is colorful, diverse, and fascinating. On the edge of the ocean, one can find crabs, clams, mussels, and jelly fish as the main animals, and coral, seaweed, and algae are really the only plants you'll find. (The waves keep other plants from establishing their roots.) Further out, many species of fish, whales, dolphins, sharks, and other animals can be found in abundance. Seaweed becomes the largest plant species out in the deeper parts of the ocean. The desert, however, is not abundant in life. Rather, only cacti, scrub, and low ground-hugging plants can be found here. Animal life is scarce too -- only a few species of reptiles and birds can fare very well out in the hot sun.

While they are very different, both biomes are important for human life. Cacti provides a source of food for the natives that are in and around the desert, and fishing the oceans is a major industry world wide. Be it hot and dry, or cool and wet, the world is full of diverse landscapes.
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Hope you liked it. Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. :-)

--RPCStudent1414