Biomes

S7L4.d. Ask questions to gather and synthesize

information from multiple sources to differentiate

between Earth’s major terrestrial biomes (i.e., tropical

rain forest, savanna, temperate forest, desert,

grassland, taiga, and tundra) and aquatic

ecosystems (i.e., freshwater, estuaries, and marine).

Biome – a large region characterized by a specific

type of climate and certain types of plant and animal

communities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIy0ZlyPPDg

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Temperate Deciduous Forest

●Rainfall: 75 to 125 cm

●Temp. : Summer: 28 degrees

C and Winter: 6 degrees C

●Climate: Summers are warm

and Winters are cold

●Plants: Shrubs , wildflowers

Maple .

Oak,Birch,Magnolia,Beech

●Animals: bears, rabbits, deer,

cardinals, and turtles

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Temperate Deciduous Forest

●Interesting Facts: Has 4 distinct

seasons. We live in this biome and

the name comes from the Greek

word “to fall off”.

●Woody shrubs can catch light that

filters through the trees.

●Deciduous trees shed their leaves

to save water during the winter or

during the dry season.

●Ferns and mosses are scattered

across the forest floor.

●Flowering plants often bloom in

early spring, before the trees grow

new leaves.

Coniferous forest / Taiga

Rainfall 35-75 cm

Temperature

(Summer) 14 degrees C

(Winter) -10 degrees C

Climate Warm summer and Cold winters

Plants- Fir, Birch ,oak, pine, spruce

Animals-Porcupine, Elk, Moose, Finches,

Chickadees, Jays

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Coniferous/Taiga Forest

●Interesting Facts: The trees are called

conifers, and the leaves are shaped like

needles.

●The conifers produce seeds in cones

● The leaves have a thick waxy coating

●The waxy coating helps in three ways:

the trees keep their leaves all year round,

protects leaves from the cold, it helps

conifers leaves from drying out.

●Trees that stay green all year and do not

lose all of their leaves are called

evergreen trees.

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Tropical Rain Forest

●Rainfall: Up to 400cm a year

●Temp. :Daytime: 34 C

●Nighttime: 20 C

●Climate: Warm and humid year

round

●Plants: trees, vines, bromeliads,

epiphytes, orchids

●Animals: butterflies, beetles,

spiders, ticks, snakes, frogs, birds,

jaguar, sloth.

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Tropical Rain Forest

●Interesting Facts: Has more biological diversity

than any other biome,

●trees form a continuous canopy, that may even

extend 60m above the ground,

● no light reaches the ground

●Most of the nutrients found in the tropical rain are

in the plants.

●The soil is actually very thin and poor in nutrients

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Tropical Rain Forest

●There are 3 layers in the

Tropical rain forest

● Canopy

Understory and

Forest floor

● Most animals live in the canopy

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Savanna

●Rainfall: 150 cm a year

●Temp. :Dryseason: 34 C

wetseason: 16 C

●Climate: Short wet Warm summers

and Cool winters

●Plants: Acacia trees, Elephant

grass, Bermuda grass, Whistling

thorn

●Animals: zebra, elephants, giraffe,

lion, wildebeest, , rhino, hippo,

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Savanna

●Interesting Facts: Savanna

means grassland with clumps

of trees and seasonal rains

●Few to little trees

●Fires, droughts, and grazing

prevent the growth of trees or

shrubs

●There are scattered clumps

of trees

●The grass turns yellow and

catches fire

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Desert

●Rainfall: 25cm yearly

●Temp. : summer: 38 C

winter: 7 C

●Climate: hot and dry

●Plants: cacti, tumble weed,

wildflowers, Mexican poppy

●Animals: jack rabbits, rats, ,

lizards, snakes, coyotes,

scorpions

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Some plants have shallow, widespread roots that grow

just under the surface. These roots let plants take up

water after the storm.

Other desert plants, such as cacti, have fleshy stems and

leaves. These fleshy structures store water. The leaves of

desert plants also have a waxy coating.

Desert

●

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Desert

●Interesting Facts: Huge ears help jack rabbits get rid of body

heat.

●Kangaroo rats never need to drink, they recycle water from

the foods that they eat.

●Spadefoot toads bury themselves in the ground and are

dormant during the dry season.

●Most animals are active at night because of cooler

temperatures.

●Plants grow far apart so that they don't have to compete with

each other for water.

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Tundra

●Rainfall: 30 to 50cm

●Temp. : summer: 12 C

winter: -26 C

●Climate: cold and dry

●Plants: grasses, small

shrubs, fire weed, Lichen ,

arctic moss

●Animals: polar bear,

mountain goats, sheep, birds,

arctic foxes, gray wolves,

snow geese, insects,

caribou,musk oxen

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Tundra●: No trees since it is a very cold temp. and little rainfall

it’s a treeless biome

●2 types of tundra: polar and alpine

●Polar tundra found near the poles and alpine tundra

found at the top of mountains

●Alpine tundra is found above an elevation called the

tree line, trees do not and can not grow on the

mountain

●In the polar tundra the layer of soil beneath the

surface soil stays frozen all the time and is called

permafrost. That's why small rooted plants such as

grasses and small shrubs are common

●During the short, cool summer, only the surface soil

thaws

●The layer of thawed soil is too shallow for deep rooted

plants to live

●A nickname for the tundra is the cold desert

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Marine

Temperature, rain fall, and climate depend

on location.

●Plankton are tiny organisms that float near

the surface of the water. Many plankton are

producers. They use photosynthesis to make

their own food. Plankton form the base of the

ocean's food chain.

●The Intertidal zone is where the ocean

meets the land. It is sometimes exposed to

air part of the day. Waves crash on the rocks

and sand.

●The animals living there have adaptations to

survive exposure to the air and to keep from

being washed away.

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Marine;

Neritic zone

●Animals: whales, sharks, dolphins, jelly fish, sea

turtles, and fish

●Plants: kelp, sea grass, sea weed, plankton, and

algae

●Water becomes deeper further from the shore.

The ocean floor starts to slope downward.

●Water is warm and receives lots of sunlight

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Marine;

Oceanic zone

●The seafloor drops sharply. Contains deep water

of the ocean.

●Plankton can be found near the water surface.

●Animals such as fish, whales and sharks are

found in this zone. Some animals in this zone live

very deep in the water. These animals often get

food from materials that sink down from the ocean

surface.

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Marine;

Benthic zone

●This is the ocean floor, it gets no sunlight, and it is

very cold.

●The animals are fish, worms and crabs

●Organisms get food by eating materials that sink

down from above. Organisms such as bacteria get

energy from chemicals that escape from thermal

vents on the ocean floor. Thermal vents form at

cracks in the Earths crust.

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Estuaries

●Estuary means an area where freshwater

from streams and rivers spill into the ocean.

● In estuaries the fresh water from rivers

and the salt water from the ocean are

always mixing. Therefore the amount of salt

in the water is always changing.

●Plants and animals that live in estuaries

must be able to survive the changing

concentrations of salt. The fresh water that

spills into an estuary is rich in nutrients.

Because estuaries are so nutrient rich they

support plankton which in turn, provide

food for many animals.

●The Sargasso Sea is found in the middle

of the Atlantic Ocean. This ecosystem

contains rafts of algae called Sargassums.

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Fresh water Ecosystem

●Streams and Rivers

●An important abiotic factor in freshwater ecosystems is

how quickly water moves.

●Organisms that live in fast-moving water have

adaptations to keep from being washed away.

●Some producers, such as algae and moss, are attached

to rocks.

●An example is Tadpoles use suction disks to hold

themselves to the rocks.

●Consumers such as insects, live under rocks. The

animals are fish, clams, frogs, and snails.

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Pond and Lake

●The area of water closest to the edge of a lake or pond

is called the littoral zone.

●Algae, water lilies, snails, insects, clams, worms, frogs,

salamanders, turtles, fish and snakes are just a few

animals and plants in this ecosystem

●A open water zone is the area of a lake or pond that

extends from the littoral zone, across the top of the water.

Many photosynthetic plankton live in this area.

●Beneath the open water zone is the deep water zone

where no sunlight reaches

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Wetland Ecosystem

●An area of land that is sometimes under water or whose soil

contains a great deal of moisture is called a wetland.

●Wetlands play an important role in flood control. During heavy

rains or spring snow melting, wetlands soak up large amounts of

water. The water in wetlands also move deeper into the ground.

So, wetlands help replenish underground water supplies.

●Marshes are treeless wetland ecosystem where plants such as

grasses, grow. Plants and animals are grasses, reeds, bulrushes,

wild rice, muskrats, turtles, frogs and birds.

●Swamps are a wetland ecosystems in which trees and vines grow.

Some plants and animals are willows, oaks, bald cypresses,

orchids, water lilies, fish, snakes and birds.