Biomes of the world

Biomes
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on
the Earth, such as communities of plants,animals, and soil organisms and are often
referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of
abiotic and biotic factors spread over a large area creating a typical ecosystem over that
area. Such major ecosystems are termed as biomes. Biomes are defined by factors
such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such
as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland), and climate
The term biome means the main groups of plants and animals living in areas of certain
climate patterns. It includes the way in which animals, vegetation and soil interact
together. The plants and animals of that area have adapted to that environment.

Biomes are the major regional groupings of plants and animals discernible at a global
scale. Their distribution patterns are strongly correlated with regional climate patterns
and identified according to the climax vegetation type. However, a biome is composed
not only of the climax vegetation, but also of associated successional communities,
persistent subclimax communities, fauna, and soils.

What plants can grow in an area is determined by the temperatures, the amount of
rainfall and season in which it falls, how long the seasons are, how high above sea level
the area is. Animals need food and shelter. They may eat plants, or eat animals that eat
plants. The climate also helps determine which animals live in a particular place.

Some ecologists have identified about 11 different biomes in the world. However,
generally speaking, 7 are agreed upon. The reason for the disagreement is that there is
a zone between biomes where one blends into the other, and some ecologists think
these zones are also separate biomes.

However, the seven generally accepted biomes are:

Water (freshwater or ocean)

rainforest (tropical or temperate)
tundra
desert
taiga (coniferous forests)
deciduous forests
grassland

Biomes are different according to the continent on which they occur. For example,
grasslands have different names such as prairie (Nth America), pampa (Sth America),
veldt or savanna (Africa), steppe (Asia). The exact plants may vary according to the
continent, but they are the same kind of plant for that biome.
The animals that live in each biome are also different according to which country it is,
but they will have similarities because of the habitat, food and climate.

Water biome:
About three quarters of the earth's surface is covered with water. The water biome is
divided into fresh water (water with little or no salt in it, in ponds, rivers, streams)
and marine, or salt water (ocean).The animals and plants of the freshwater biome are
different in each country.

Fresh water Ponds and Lakes:

A pond is a shallow hole where water collects. Plants generally grow around the edges
of the pond, and often right across the whole pond. The temperature of the water is
similar at the surface and at the bottom of the pond. The bottom is generally covered
with mud.

A pond is usually too small to have waves. In places where winters are very cold, the
whole pond can freeze solid. Some ponds are seasonal.
A lake is bigger than a pond, sometimes thousands of square meters. Plants only grow
along the shoreline because the water is too deep away from the edges. Some lakes
are so big that there are waves.

In summer, the temperature of the water in a lake is not the same: the top part of the
water gets more of the sun's heat and is warm (about 19-25ºC), the middle layer is
cooler because it gets less of the sunlight (about 8-19ºC), and the bottom layer, which
does not get any sunlight, is quite cold (about 4-8ºC).

Rivers and Streams:

Rivers and streams are moving strips of water. The water flows in a channel. The
bottom of the channel is called the bed and the sides of the channel are called banks.
Rivers are large and flow into the ocean. Rivers and streams make up about 3% of the
earth's total fresh water.

Rivers and streams drain the earth of excess water. Water falls from the sky as rain,
hail, snow or sleet. Once it reaches the ground, some of the water is absorbed by trees
and other plants and the rest filters down into the ground.

A watershed is an area of land where rain water, streams and small rivers all drain into
one large area of water such as a large river, lake or the ocean. Because ground water
also drains from a watershed, all kinds of pollution can find its way to the ocean from
many kilometres away. The biggest rivers have the biggest watersheds. Therefore,
biomes with lots of consistent rain have more rivers and streams. Deserts have little rain
and few rivers. Desert rain is short but very intense, so dry rivers and lakes suddenly
become full for a short period of time.

Some animals that live in a freshwater

biome
The animals that live in a freshwater biome are different in every continent.

Crocodiles or alligators: are found in hot areas in some countries, such

as Africa, Australia and parts of the USA. Crocodiles generally stay in more salty water
near river mouths, while alligators are more common in wetlands and rivers.
Frogs and turtles are generally found in rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands, different
species (kinds) in each country. Different fish and the larvae of many insects also live in
freshwater.

In Africa, hippopotamus live in freshwater habitats. The common or river hippopotamus

lives in water holes and rivers in the grasslands, and the pygmy hippopotamus lives in
water in the rainforest.

In parts of eastern Australia, platypus are found in rivers and streams.

Rainforest Biome:
Rainforests are thick, warm and wet forests. They are forests that get at least 250 cm a
year of rain, often more. There are two kinds of rainforest: tropical and temperate. Both
kinds are endangered.
Tropical rainforests are millions of years old, and temperate rainforests are about
10,000 years old.

Tropical rainforests are located close to the equator, in 85 different

countries, and most are in Central and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. The
largest tropical rainforest in the world is the South American Amazon rainforest, much of
which lies in Brazil. The world's largest river, the Amazon, flows through the rainforest.
Only about 40% of forests in the tropics are rainforests. Only places with high rainfall
throughout the year that are warm and frost free with little variation in temperature are
rainforests.

Temperate rainforests are found near coastal areas and there are fewer of them than
tropical rainforests. Temperate rainforests are found along the Pacific coast of Canada
and the USA, and in New Zealand, Tasmania, Chile, Ireland, Scotland and Norway.

Tundra Biome
• The tundra is near the North Pole.
• Trees do not grow there.
• Winters are very cold.
• Summers last for a very short time.
• Under the soil the earth is frozen and never melts.

About 1/5 of the Earth is tundra. Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. The word
comes from a Finnish word and means 'treeless plain'. There is arctic tundra and alpine
tundra.

The winter is long and very cold, with a short summer.

Arctic tundra:
is in the northern hemisphere, around the north pole, stretching south to the taiga. The
summer growing season lasts about 50 to 60 days. Winter temperatures average -34° C
, but the summer temperatures average 3-12° C, which is warm enough for plants and
animals to reproduce and grow.

Rainfall varies around the Arctic, but on average yearly rain and snow is 15 cm to 25
cm.

Plants in the tundra are low-growing, and include:

1.Low shrubs, sedges, mosses, liverworts, and grasses;

2.400 varieties of flowers;
3.Lichens

Plants group together to withstand the strong winds and cold temperatures. They are
protected by the winter snows. They have adapted so that photosynthesis (getting food
from sunlight) can occur in the low light and cold temperatures.

Animals found in the Arctic include:

1.Herbivorous (plant eating) mammals such as lemmings, voles, caribou, arctic hares
and squirrels
2.Carnivorous (meat eating) mammals such as arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears
3.Migratory birds such as ravens, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns and snow
birds
4.Insects such as mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, blackflies and arctic bumble
bees

Animals in the tundra have adapted to survive the long

cold winters. They have an extra layer of fat to keep them
warm, and in winter their fur is longer and thicker. Many
hibernate during the winter when food is hard to find.
Others migrate to warmer places to avoid the tundra winter. This means that animal
populations in the tundra fluctuate with the seasons. Animals breed and raise their
young in the short summer. There are few reptiles and amphibians in the tundra
because of the cold .

Alpine tundra is found on mountain tops all over the world, at the high altitudes
where trees cannot grow. The growing season is approximately 180 days. Night
temperatures are below freezing. The soil in the alpine tundra is well drained so bogs
and ponds do not form. The plants are similar to those in the arctic tundra and include
tussock grasses, dwarf trees and small-leafed shrubs.

Animals living in the alpine tundra include:

Mammals such as pikas, marmots, mountain goats, elk
Insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies

Desert Biome:
A desert is a place that gets just a bit of rain every year.
Some deserts get almost no rain at all.
A desert can be very hot in daytime and cold at night.
Some deserts are cold all the time.

A desert is a dry area where less than 50 cm of rain falls each year.About one fifth
of the Earth's surface is desert.

Deserts can be hot or cold. The Australian desert is one example of a hot desert, and
the Gobi desert in Mongolia is an example of a cold desert. Antarctica is the world's
largest desert.

Although rain doesn't fall very often in deserts, sometimes not for years, there can be
sudden, heavy rains that cause flooding.

The location of the desert and of mountain ranges help determine what type of desert it
is. Coastal deserts are located on west coasts of continents. Some deserts, like the
Gobi desert, are affected by high mountain ranges that produce arainshadow
effect, which means the mountains prevent moisture from reaching an area. The

Himalaya Mountains prevent rainfall from reaching the Gobi desert.

.

Because they are dry, deserts have wide variations in temperature each day. In the
daytime when there is little moisture in the air to block the sun's rays, it becomes very
hot. When the sun goes down, the heat absorbed by the ground during the day quickly
evaporates into the air and the temperature becomes very cold.

This variation of temperatures is one of the things that makes survival in the desert very
difficult.

Taiga Biome:
Taiga, also called boreal forests, is the largest land biome.These forests are found in a
broad belt across Europe, Asia and North America : about two thirds are in Siberia, and
the rest are in Scandinavia, Alaska and Canada.

In this biome, summers are short and mild and the winters are long, cold and dry.

Plants are mostly evergreen conifers with leaves like needles, such as pine, fir and
spruce. Leaves like this minimise water loss and do not get weighed down with snow.
The snow slides off the needles. The forest canopy lets in a restricted amount of
sunlight, and this limits the understorey growth. The ground is covered with a thick layer
of needles and dead twigs, matted together by fungus

Rainfall, or precipitation, mostly falls as snow, usually 40-100 cm each year. Soil is thin
and lacking in nutrients.

Animals found in taiga include woodpeckers, hawks, moose, bear, weasel, lynx, fox,
wolf, deer, hares, chipmunks, shrews, and bats.Mammals living in the boreal forests
have all adapted in various ways to survive the long cold winters. Generally they have
heavy fur coats and many hibernate through the winter.

Temperate Deciduous Forests Biome:

1.Deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn.

2. The leaves change colour before they fall.

3. The fallen leaves are good for the soil.

4. In spring, new leaves grow and the forest is green again.

5. The leaves are wide to catch more sunshine.

'Deciduous' means to shed - deciduous trees shed their leaves once a year.

Deciduous Forest: Plants

Trees of this biome include hardwoods such as maple, oak, hickory, and beech. There
are often some evergreens, such as hemlock, spruce, and fir growing amongst them.

A deciduous forest generally has 3,4 or even 5 layers of plants:

Top layer, or canopy: tall deciduous trees.
Although the canopy is quite thick, it does allow sunlight to reach the forest floor, which
encourages the other layers to grow.
The 2nd layer: saplings and shorter kinds of trees
The 3rd layer, or understorey: shrubs.
The 4th layer: forest herbs, such as wildflowers and berries. In spring, before
the leaves develop on the deciduous trees, these herbs bloom and grow quickly while
they are getting a lot of sunlight.
The 5th layer: mosses and lichens that grow on tree trunks.
Deciduous Forest: Animals

A wide variety of mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles can be found in the deciduous
forest biome. Mammals that can be found include bears, raccoons, squirrels, skunks,
wood mice, and deer. Animals like bobcats, elk, bison, mountain lions, timberwolves,
and coyotes used to be found in the deciduous forests, but have been hunted down by
humans and almost wiped out.

Melting snow in spring and rain during summer provide water for streams and ponds.
Many water birds, insects, and fishes are found in this biome, along with amphibians
such as frogs and salamanders, and reptiles such as lizards and small snakes.

Animal Adaptations
The animals have developed different ways of surviving in this biome. Many of them
migrate to warmer places to escape the cold winter months, while others hibernate
(sleep) through the winter when food is scarce.
Grasslands Biome
1.Grasses is the main kind of plant in grasslands.
2. There are not many trees in grasslands.
3. Some grassland is hot all year round.
4. Some grassland areas have hot summers and very cold winters.
5. Grasslands have different names in different places.

Grasslands are big open areas that get between 25 and 75 cm of rain per year. This is
less rain than a forest gets and more than a desert gets.

Grasslands are found on every continent except Antarctica. About one quarter of the
Earth's land is in the grasslands biome. Grasslands have different names in different
countries, such as pampas (South America), prairies (North America), savannahs
(Africa), or steppes (Asia).

The main plants of a grassland are of course grasses, with a few low shrubs and
occasional trees. In grasslands, trees are more commonly found near rivers and
streams. There are many wildflowers that grow in grasslands.

There are 3 types of grassland:

Tall grasslands have very tall grass, up to 152 cm tall, and up to 80cm of rain
a year.
Mixed grasslands have grasses that grow around 60-90 cm high and about
40-60 cm of rain each year.
Short grasslands have short grasses and receive very little rainfall each year,
less than 15 cm.

Grasslands around the world are becoming extinct as people make farms and towns.
Grasslands plants and animals are becoming endangered.

Tropical grasslands are those closest to the equator. They are hot all year
long.

Temperate grasslands are those further from the equator, with hot
summers and harsh winters.They once stretched across much of North and South
America, and they were common in Europe and Asia.

Mongolian grassland

References:

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomes.htm

http://www.radford.edu/swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/intro.html

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomegrass.htm

http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/tbdf/tbdf.html

www.runet.edu /biomes/taiga/taiga.html their survival.

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biometundra.htm

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomewater.htm

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomes.htm

http://www.radford.edu/swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/intro.html