Climate

- The Mojave National preserve has a climate that varies extremely, between hot and cold temperatures, extreme winds, clear skies, and low precipitation. - Temperature ranges from 8 F in January up to 119 F in September. -Also winds in late winter and early spring range from 25 mph up to 75 mph

Climate
-The Mojave National Preserve has low humidity that is on average at 40 % at night it sometimes reaches 50% + -Also on average the Mojave Desert only has on average 5 inches of rainfall per year.

Climate
-Death Valley another place here in California that resembles the desert scrub biome has extreme temperatures as well where they can be as high as 120 F + or as low as 15 F which is the actual lowest recorded temperature. -Death valley only receives an annual average of 2 inches of rainfall per year. -Has occasional winds in spring time -Very dry winds -Dry because of rainshadow effect -Hot because of cooling cycle

Plant Life
-In the Mojave Desert there is a lot of species variation spread throughout the desert. -The plant life consists of: -Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia jaegeriana) can live up to 150 years and live in high elevations -Creosote (Larrea tridentata) the most abundant plant in the desert -Cholla (Cactocea) is part of the cacti family as well and uses CAM photosynthesis. -Some pines also live here but on the higher elevations of the desert.

Plant Life
-In Death Valley there is the same types of plant life as the Mojave Desert Preserve. Other plant life includes: -Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata) -Panamint Live-Forever (Dudleya saxosa ssp. Saxosa) -Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) -Inkweed (Suaeda moquinii) -Pickleweed (Allenrolfea occidentalis) -Dead Man s Fingers (Calandrinia ambigua) -Pricklypear Cacti -Pincushion Cacti -Hedgehog Cacti -Barrel Cacti

Environmental Impact done by Humans

-Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert seems to be a good idea at first glance. -Desert is seen as lifeless -Solar Power Plants require 4 times the amount of water than natural gas and 2 the amount of nuclear and coal power plants -Desert already only gets 5 inches of precipitation per year -Many habitats are taken up by the large scale of these power plants leaving desert tortoises, small lizards and frogs without a home and slowly becoming endangered.

Environmental Issues
-In Death Valley, off road vehicle use was a major cause of environmental destruction. -Surprise Canyon in Death valley is one of the most affected by off road vehicles. -Surprise Canyon home to many endangered species of birds and lizards that can only be found there. -Off road vehicle users chop down trees and plants and placed rocks in the stream in order to cross it. -When some of these vehicles climbed waterfalls, they would flip over causing oil spills and pollution to the streams. -All of these are issues that have been tried to be addressed in order to ban off road vehicle use due to habitat encroachment.