Invertebrate animals are an incredibly diverse group of anim

Invertebrate animals are an incredibly diverse group of animals comprising multiple phyla. You are exploring the recently discovered planet Majerle-10c and find there is a vast desert. The desert gets only 12 cm of rain a year, but there is life in the form of plants and what appear to be invertebrates. What anatomical, physiological, and behavioral characteristics might these animals possess in order to survive in this environment? In other words, build your own invertebrate. (Here is your chance to play God.)

Solution

Desert environment:

•Temperature ranges are typically extreme, which contribute to the desert formation. Temperatures during night are very cold.

•Desert soils are arid with no organic content

•The plant and animal species are relatively less due to the water scarcity. Most of the surviving species are draught and salt tolerant.

•The largest desert is the Antarctic desert, it is about 5, 500, 000 miles square. The hottest desert is Atacama Desert.

Adaptations of desert animals:

•Desert animals had several adaptations to combat the water scarcity. Some of the animals such as camels can store water and survive for several days without water and food (physiological adaptations). The large ears of jack rabbits helps the heat to escape through the veins and cool the body. Camel\'s hump (fat storage structure of camel) and storage of water in the red blood cells is one of the anatomical adaptation that we observe in desert animals.

•Many desert animals are nocturnal (behavioural adaptations). The low temperature during the night helps to avoid quick dehydration. For example, some of the desert snakes.

•Some animals such as tortoise and mice spend most of the time underground.

•Desert birds crisscross the skies most of their time in search of food.

•Desert animals are more vulnerable to changes in the habitat and invasive predator species due to their special adaptations.