What are they?
Can you name any?
Which type are we in?
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 sub climax
communities, fauna, and soils.
After studying the picture,
in which biome are we found?
Can you name them all?
We are going to talk about 8…
Different types
of Biomes
Tropical Forest
Savanna
Desert
Chaparral
Grassland
Temperate deciduous forest
Coniferous forest
Tundra
Tropical Forest
Region of tall trees and year round warmth
An average of 50 to 260 inches of rain falls yearly
Animals include the chimpanzee and Bengal tiger
Plants that can be found here are bougainvillea and coconut trees
Savanna
A savanna is a rolling grassland scattered with shrubs
and isolated trees, which can be found between a
tropical rainforest and desert biome.
The diversity of animals is very great here, with several
plants and animals that don't exist anywhere else on
earth.
Plants include lots of grasses
Animals would include zebras, lions, and elephants
Desert
Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's land surface. Most
Hot and Dry Deserts are near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic
of Capricorn. Cold Deserts are near the Arctic part of the world.
Plants would include barrel cactus and brittle bush.
Animals would include the armadillo lizard and the coyote.
The Coniferous Forest is a forest of Conifers (too much to handle, isn't it?). A
Conifer is a tree that produces its seeds in cones.
Plants would include many softwood trees such as fir, pine, spruce, and
hemlock.
Most animals are herbivores, however some carnivores and
omnivores are thrown in. Animals in Coniferous Forests include the
red fox, moose, snowshoe hare, great horned owl, and the crossbill.
The largest Coniferous forest exists in a ring in Alaska,
Canada, northern Europe, and northern Asia, in a ring in the Northern
Hemisphere. This forest is called the "Taiga".
Coniferous Forests are the largest land Biome of the World.
Chaparrals are forests of trees, however, they are more a cross between a grassland
and a forest. The area is also known as the Scrub Biome This biome is
characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters.
Average Temperature in Summer: 71.7°F
Average Temperature in Winter: 46°F
Average Annual Rainfall: 15-40 in.
PLANTS
Mainly trees and shrubs. The trees are usually oak. The shrubs are tall and thick,
with a waxy layer to conserve water.
ANIMALS
Animals in this area have evolved to survive in the dry summer, wet winter,
environment. Animals include the aardvark, chipmunk, coyote, and lynx.
FUN FACTS
The word chaparral comes from the Spanish word "chaparro", which means scrub
oak.
The grasslands consist of several species of grass with some flowering plants
mixed in. No trees grow because of the many fires that occur. The grasslands are a
habitat for small, seed eating animals and large herbivores.
Average Annual Rainfall- 10-29.5 in.
Average Temperatures in the Summer- 86°F
Average Temperatures in the Winter- 32°F
PLANTS
Mostly large grasses (wow, grasses in the grasslands) and some flowering
plants. With the grasses that grow in the grassland, we make cereal.
ANIMALS
Animals such as the bison, wolf, prairie dog, and the mule dog are now common in
the U.S. grasslands. There is only a small variety of animal life.
FUN FACTS
The road runner can attain speeds of up to 17 mph on foot.
A favorite game of the road runner is taunting a rattle snake just before eating it.
Grassland surrounds all of the deserts in Asia
Temperate Deciduous Forest
The Latin word "Deciduous" means "to fall off" There for, a temperate deciduous forest
is a forest that is not hot nor cold and has leaves that fall off in Autumn. These trees
lose their leaves in order to conserve water. A Temperate Deciduous Forest contains
numerous species of trees and hundreds of species of animals.
PLANTS
These forests consist of several layers of vegetation. These plants include shrubs,
moss, ferns, and lichens because they do not need much sunlight. The trees in the
forest are hardwoods such as oak, hickory, maple, beech, birch, and sweet gum.
ANIMALS
Animals in these forests are so high in quantity that the my website server would crash
before I listed all of them. There is a very diverse population, all adapted to survive the
season changes. Examples of animals include cardinals, deer, black rat snake,
opossum, mice, squirrel, ect.
FUN FACTS
The largest tree in the world is found right here in the United States. You can find it in
California. This giant sequoia tree is 275 feet tall and 95 feet around.
This biome, found far north and at the tops of mountains, is extremely cold; not even trees can grow
there. A special characteristic of the tundra is known as permafrost. Permafrost is the soil beneath the
top, thawed layer. The permafrost is frozen year round. Because of the permafrost, the top layer of soil is
always soggy, and lakes and ponds are always seen. Because the soil that is not frozen is only a few inches
deep, only plants with shallow roots can live their.
Average Temperature in Summer- 53.6°F
Average Temperature in Winter- -14°F
Average Annual Rainfall- 12-20 in.
PLANTS
Like I said before, the soil is not deep enough to hold deeply rooted plants. Grasses, woody shrubs,
sedges, and small bushes are common.
ANIMALS
Small animals, like the lemmings, hares, and shrews are very common. Also present are larger mammals
such as the caribou, wolf, Arctic Fox, polar bear, and musk oxen.
Several birds also live in this area, like the Gyrfalcon, Ruddy Turnstone, Snowy Owl, and Tundra
Swan. Other migratory birds can be seen in the summer.
FUN FACTS
The Arctic/ Antarctic is known as the second most deadly environment in the world.
References:
www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/intro.html
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm
http://rrms-biomes.tripod.com/id3.html