What is a biome?

What defines it?

Essential Question- What defines a biome?

BiomesRegions of our planet distinguished by their climate

and vegetation

Types of Biomes:• Aquatic• Desert• Forests• Grasslands• Tundra

Biomes are the various regions of our planet which can be distinguished by their climate, fauna and flora.

The tundra biome encircles the North Pole. Below a thin layer of tundra soil is its permafrost, a permanently frozen layer of ground.

Tundra

During the brief summers, the top section of the soil may thaw just long enough to allow plants and microorganisms to grow and reproduce. Mosses and lichens are common vegetation.

Tundra animals

Clockwise from above:• baby harp seal,• penguins of Antarctica,• musk oxen

Alpine tundra Rocky Mountain high

The alpine tundra, which is a biome that exists at the tops of high mountains, above the tree line.

The growing season is about 180 days, and nighttime temperatures are usually below freezing.

Mountain animals

The yellow-pine chipmunk and the torrent salamander are unique to the Olympia Range on the west coast.

The Bighorn sheep (right and below) is the Nevada state animal.

Forests Represent the largest and

most diverse Trees – take in carbon

dioxide and produce oxygen

Boreal, Taiga, and Temperate Deciduous

TaigaA biome is characterized by its coniferous forests. In Canada, the term boreal forest is used to refer to the southern part of this biome; the term taiga is used to describe the more barren northern areas south of the Arctic tree-line.

boreal forest winter

Temperate Deciduous Forest

Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests are a temperate and humid biome. Typically, they occur in warm and rainy climates, sometime with a distinct dry season.

Deciduous trees lose their leaves every fall, but before they do, early frosts produce magnificent colorbursts.

Vast deciduous forest once covered nearly the entire eastern seaboard of North America. This view is from the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Bald eagle

raccoon

White-tailed deer

Deciduous forest animals

Grasslandssavanna – tall; prairie – medium and tall; steppe - short

Grasslands Grass is dominant Prairie-mostly grass, few

trees Steppe-dry Savanna-hot and dry

PrairieMuch of the Great Plains principally supports medium grasses, with few trees, and a generally temperate or moderate climate.

Herds of bison once covered the Great Plains.

Steppe grassland Steppe is defined as a

plain without trees

Savanna

Grassland dotted with trees; occurs in several types of biomes. In savannas, grasses form the predominant vegetation type, usually mixed with herbs and shrubs, with trees scattered individually or in small clumps.

Savanna

Savanna

Africa’s Serengeti

DesertAnimals/plants adaptarid, semi-arid, coastal, and cold deserts

mesa

Sand dunes

This image shows world’s deserts in yellow. Notice there are none in Europe. Windows Original

deserts

deserts

The Sonoran Desert is an arid region covering 120,000 sq. mi. in Arizona, California, most of Baja California and the western half of the state of Sonora, Mexico.

Desert

Desert animals

Clockwise from right: Western Pipistrelle, prairie rattlesnake, collared lizard

Green areas locate the world’s most lush rain forests.

Tropical rainforests

Tropical rain forests are mainly the product of climatic interactions, particularly temperature and rainfall. In general, tropical rain forests occur where a mean monthly temperature of between 20 and 28 degrees C is combined with an annual rainfall of between 1.5 and 10 metres, evenly distributed throughout the year.

rain forest

Tropical Rain Forest animals

While covering less than 6 percent of Earth's surface, rain forests are home to more than 50 percent of the world's plant and animal species.

Toucan

Mandrill

Tree Frog

Boa Constrictor

AquaticWater covers about three quarters of our planet.  From oceans to rivulets, aquatic biomes are host to a wide variety of life-forms, and minerals, from the most common algae to the most mysterious deep-sea creature.

Wetlands

Wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface.

Swamp forestpoorly drained riverine forested communities which are semi-permanently flooded

Estuary - The part of the wide lower course of

a river where its freshwater current is met by the brackish tides

Salt Marsh Hummocks, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Oregon Photograph by Mark Eberle, August 2000

Estuaries and coastal waters are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing ecological, economic, cultural, and aesthetic benefits and services.

Salt marsh - a type of wetland subject to

occasional or regular flooding by tides

Wetlands animals

Clockwise from left: Pelican, Blue Heron, Alligator

Beach

Ocean -

The Sargasso Sea in the western Atlantic Ocean seaweed growing in it and floating on the surface. The water is very blue, warm, salty and clear with slow-moving currents but surrounded by much faster currents like the Gulf Stream.

one of the great bodies of water that covers 70% of the earth’s surface

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