A biome is a way to describe a large group of similar ecosystems. Biomes have similar weather, rainfall, animals, and plants.
Biomes are classified as Terrestrial Biomes and Aquatic Biomes.
These are the biomes found on land. There are six primary terrestrial biomes:
These are cold-climate forests found in the northern latitudes. They are the world’s largest terrestrial ecosystem and account for about 29% of the Earth’s forests. The largest taiga ecosystems are found in Canada and Russia. Taigas are known for their sub-arctic climate with extremely cold winters and mild summers. Soil is poor in nutrients and acidic in nature. They primarily consist of coniferous trees, such as pines, although there are some other deciduous trees, such as spruce and elm that have adapted to live in these areas that receive little direct sunlight for much of the year. Taigas are home to large herbivores, such as moose, elk, and bison, as well as omnivores, such as bears.
The tundra ecosystems of the world are found primarily north of the Arctic Circle. They consist of short vegetation and essentially no trees. The soil is frozen and covered with permafrost for a large portion of the year. The region is characterized by long and harsh winters for more than six months with a mean annual temperature below 0°C. Caribou, polar bears, and musk ox are some of the notable species who call the tundra home. The common species of trees of these forests are Spruce, fir and pine trees.
Temperate forests occur in the regions which have moderate climatic conditions with annual rainfall 75-150 cm, temperature ranges between 10 to 20°C and winter last for 4-6 months. In these regions, the soil is brown and rich in nutrients. They have deciduous trees that shed their leaves in autumn and new foliage grows in spring. They occur mostly in northwest, central and eastern Europe, eastern North America, north China, Korea, Japan, far eastern Russia, and Australia. Commonly found trees in this ecosystem are oak, birch heath, chestnuts, pitch pine, Cyprus, etc. Common carnivores in temperate forests are wild cats, wolves, foxes, tawny owl, and sparrow hawk. Black bear, raccoons, and skunks are the omnivorous animals of these forests.
These are also known as evergreen forests, and accommodate thousands of species of animals and plants. These are usually densely packed big and tall trees. This prevents the growth of smaller plants. The temperature and sunlight are very high with the temperature being the same throughout the year. Rainfall is greater than 200 cm per year. Soil is rich in humus. Such types of forests are found in Brazil of South America, and Central and West Africa. The area is always warm and muggy. There are four layers of tropical rainforest, from the highest to the lowest are:
Grasslands are areas dominated by grasses. They occupy about 20% of the land on the earth surface. Grasslands occur in both in tropical and temperate regions where rainfall is not enough to support the growth of trees. Grasslands are found in areas having well defined hot and dry, warm and rainy seasons. Grasslands are known by various names in different parts of the world. For example,
Tropical grasslands are commonly called Savannas
Deserts are areas of land that are arid, or dry, and get less than 10 inches of rain per year. These areas can be covered by sand, rock, snow, and even ice. Additionally, they do not have a lot of plant life covering the land. Deserts' ecosystems cover approximately 25% - 30% of the land on Earth. Deserts can be divided into two main types: hot and cold.
Aquatic Biomes are the biomes found in water. These can again be of two types:
The freshwater biome is defined as having a low salt content versus the marine biome which is saltwater like the ocean. The study of the freshwater ecosystem is known as limnology.
Wetlands are areas where standing water covers the soil or an area where the ground is very wet. Wetlands include bogs, swamps, and marshes. They are often located near large bodies of water like lakes and rivers and can be found throughout the world. Wetlands can play an important role in nature. When located near rivers, wetlands can help to prevent flooding. They also help to purify and filter water. They are the home to many species of plants and animals.
Marshes are wetlands without trees.
Swamps are wetlands that grow trees and have seasonal flooding.
Coral Reefs are one of the major marine biomes. They are actually live organisms. These organisms are tiny little animals called polyps. Polyps live on the outside of the reef. As polyps die, they become hard and new polyps grow on top of them causing the reef to grow. Although it is a relatively small biome, around 25% of the known marine species live in coral reefs.
