Kircher Library Geography

A collection of videos and photographs of the flora, fauna of deserts throughout the world including Australia

Promotional video that shows the global problem of desertification in various areas around the world, and the local solutions that the DESIRE project tries to develop to allevaite these problems. Duration 7.33 mins

Encyclopaedic entry about how amphibians and reptiles adapt to the desert.

Encyclopaedic entry about how plants adapt to the desert.

How and why mammals and birds adapt to desert conditions.

Covers the major ways plants and animals adapt to the water and temperature stresses they experience around Tucson, AZ.

Example of the climate of the Mojave Desert with average temperatures and weather forecasts.

Follow the links on the right for the effects of climate on deserts, flora and fauna and people

Introduction to how desert survival works, including tips on surviving in the desert and short videos.

Education kit accompanying the National Museum of Australia's exhibition Extremes: Survival in the Great Deserts of the Southern Hemisphere. Downloade the PDFs What is a Desert and People and the Desert.

Photographic explanations of desertification including understanding, prevention and human interaction

Comprehensive National Geographic encyclopaedic entry on deserts including photographs

Article detailing the problem of desertification in China, its causes, effects and efforts at prevention.

The Alice Springs Desert Park resource for children. Includes sections on Australian desert facts,plants, animals and Aboriginal survival plus interactive activities.

One person's account of their journey into the Kalahari Desert following the Bushmen of the Kalahari

A comprehensive resource about the North American deserts and Southwest Destinations including facts, videos, current news, blogs and a newsletter. Covers the people, flora and fauna, ecosystems, landscape, climate and geology of American deserts as well as the Sahara, Gobi and Great Sandy Desert.

National Geographic photographs of ecological threats to deserts worldwide

The Mojave desert makes an ideal case study for researching long-term effects of disturbances to desert ecosystems. Land managers are now faced with the daunting task of dealing with competing demands on the land, including impacts from all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, military activities, and grazing livestock.

Humans may be destabilising desert ecosystems across the world, according to a new study.The findings are published in the Journal of Arid Environments and assess how man-made disturbances affect the role of mammals in the ecosystem.

Newspaper article describing a study that has found that the deserts of the world are threatened by a combination of human exploitation and climate change that could, within decades, wipe out many unique habitats and rare species.