ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the characteristics of desert ecosystems and the special adaptations of desert plants and animals. It also discusses the physiological and cultural adjustments of human populations to the problem of dry heat. The chapter focuses on the exploitation of surface resources by the hunter-gatherer Kung populations of the Kalahari desert. It examines the exploitation of the Nile River over time by farming populations. Arid lands have a great potential productivity for human populations if water were in more abundant supply. When water can be secured and managed, the desert can have high biomass productivity and can support substantial human populations. Human populations appear to have neither genetic nor developmental adaptations for living in dry heat areas. They depend instead on acclimatory and behavioral adjustments that facilitate their occupation of these regions. The most important exploitable resource in a desert is surface water. It is also the one that requires the least technological sophistication to exploit.
