This video segment from NOVA: A Desert Place describes the physical characteristics and organisms that define the desert biome.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"As global warming persists, it’s becoming clear that even the smallest forms of life need protection, including in the cold deserts of Antarctica. But scientists know very little about the microbes that make their home in Antarctic soil, leaving the picture of biodiversity and ecological change in this region incomplete. Now, researchers from Australia are filling in the blanks. They’ve conducted the first-ever microbial biodiversity report for two Antarctic regions: the extremely dry Vestfold Hills and the Windmill Islands. Bacterial communities in both areas were dominated by microbes of the metabolically and physiologically diverse phylum Actinobacteria, but the Vestfold Hills showed a higher prevalence of members of the Bacteriodetes phylum, likely due to the saltier soils found in this region. Overall, the observed diversity of community members suggests that microbes have found a way to share their environment equitably..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Global wind patterns are dictated by the movement of the Earth on its axis and are significant factors in determining the climate for regions of the planet. Students learn how the Coriolis effect and Hadley convection cells determine the location of deserts on Earth. They manipulate inflated plastic globes to discover how the Coriolis effect drives wind clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Then they incorporate latitudinal differences onto this modeling exercise to understand why deserts form at 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Once students understand the importance of global winds, they discuss hydropower in the desert. They compare and contrast two case studies: China’s Three Gorges Dam, and Chile’s proposed plant in the Atacama Desert that would creatively use solar power to move seawater up to the top of a mountain so that it can flow back down and generate power. Students note the economic, environmental, cultural and social impacts, issues and benefits of both power plants. Then they reflect, write, debate and discuss their ideas and opinions using evidence from the case studies and their own research.