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Bioinspired Water Harvesting, Purification, and Oil-Water Separation pp 11–46Cite as

Overview of Arid Desert Conditions, Water Sources, and Desert Plants and Animals

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Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Science ((SSMATERIALS,volume 299))

Abstract

Deserts have fascinated humans for centuries. They have been focus of even fictional books (Herbert 1965). A desert is a barren landscape where little precipitation occurs (Meigs 1953; Walker 1992; Costa 1995; Mares 1999; Harris 2003; Allaby 2006; Laity 2008; Greenberger 2009). A desert is referred to as an area of land that receives no more than 250 mm of precipitation per year. The amount of evaporation in a desert often greatly exceeds the annual rainfall, which results in a moisture deficit over the course of a year. All deserts are arid or dry. There is little water available for any living nature to survive. Consequently, living conditions are hostile for living nature including plant and animal life.

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    Bharat Bhushan

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Bhushan, B. (2020). Overview of Arid Desert Conditions, Water Sources, and Desert Plants and Animals. In: Bioinspired Water Harvesting, Purification, and Oil-Water Separation. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 299. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42132-8_2

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