Human Influence

Human influence can have a big effect on the desert. Not all of the effects are negative though. There are both negative and positive influences humans have on the desert.

Negative Affects

Irrigation used for agriculture, may in the long term, lead to salt levels in the soil that become too high to support plants.

Grazing animals can destroy many desert plants and animals.

Potassium cyanide used in gold mining may poison wildlife.

Off-road vehicles, when used irresponsibly, can cause irreparable damage to desert habitats.

Oil and gas production may disrupt sensitive habitat.

Nuclear waste may be dumped in deserts, which have also been used as nuclear testing grounds.

Deserts are also being destroyed by development. As populations in desert cities rise, so does the demand for water. Many desert streams, and ground water sources, once used by animals, have been drained for industries, agriculture, and people.

Positive Affects

Military exercises can cause extensive damage to plants and soil, but because military bases are not generally open to the public, they also protect many thousands of acres from other kinds of disturbances. Humans can do many things that will help the desert. If you conserve water where you live, there will be more water for the dry deserts. People can also volunteer in a desert by pulling out nonnative desert plants.

Solutions:

More efficiently use existing water resources and better control salinization to improve arid lands.
Find new ways to rotate crops to protect the fragile soil.
Plant sand-fixing bushes and trees.
Plant leguminous plants, which extract nitrogen from the air and fix it in the ground, to restore soil fertility.
Use off-road vehicles only on designated trails and roadways
Dig artificial grooves in the ground to retain rainfall and trap windblown seeds.

Biodiversity:

Biodiversity is the variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem. It is the biodiversity on Earth that allows for animals, plants and humans to share the planet. If one species is destroyed, several, maybe even hundreds more, may follow.
Biodiversity is important because certain organisms have economic value (such as rainforest plants being made into medicine), they also have value to the ecosystem (think of their spot on a food web), Organisms provide energy and nutrients for the animals that they are fed upon.