Biomes of the World

1. Biomes of the World Classified based on temperature, precipitation and adapted plants and animals for the region.

2. Shrubs and sedges- extreme winters with very short growing season. Needle-leaf evergreens for short growing season and tough winters Grasslands due to too little moisture for woody plants Arid shrub/thorn scrub of the hot and dry desert Deciduous- seasonal leaves due to colder winters Broadleaf evergreen- lots of sunlight and moisture Tundra Coniferous Forest Grasslands Desert Deciduous Forest Tropical Rainforest

4. Temperature and Precipitation

5. Latitude and Altitude

6. How Humans USE the biomes

7. Tropical Rainforest • Warm and wet -250cm of rain per year to about 450 cm/year.  The average annual temperature is above 20° C (never a frost) • tropics, a band around the equator from 23.5° N (the Tropic of Cancer) to 23.5° S (the Tropic of Capricorn) • Highest biodiversity; over 7900 in one forest and especially 90% of all primates live here. • The warmth leads to a lot of evaporation, and as warm, moist air rises, it cools, the water condenses, and the water falls back to the earth as rain.  • Threats-animal poaching, sustenance farming, human population growth, Industrialized agriculture, logging and other minerals and resources being removed for human use.

8. Tropical Rainforest • Tropical forest is broken up into FIVE distinct forest layers. • The buttresses from the large emergent trees support the height of these enormous trees. • Poor soil due to chemical weathering from moisture and from so much vegetation removing the nutrients from the soil. • Found along equatorial zones. Buttress roots

9. Savanna • The term savanna or campos or llano was originally used to describe the treeless areas of south America. • The climate of the savanna is consistently warm and has two distinct seasons; wet and dry seasons. • Covered with less woody trees, with the exception of the Acacia Tree, and has more grasses and shrubs due to less rainfall. • Subject to recurrent fires, the dominant vegetation is fire adapted. Acacia trees

10. Savanna • The largest Savanna in the world is in Africa and surrounds the rainforest. • Savanna animals are mostly herbivore, grazing packs of animals (60 different types) along with the herd predators such as lions, crocodiles, wild dogs and cheetahs. • Threats: Global climate change (warmer and less rain), agriculture, mining and poaching.

11. Grasslands • Dry climate 25-80cm of precipitation a year. • Also, grasslands tend to be in temperate  to subtropical areas, often with cold winters and hot summers.  • Found between deserts and forests. • In the northern hemisphere the main grasslands are the prairies of the mid-western United States and Canada; in Eurasia the maker grasslands are the steppes of Russia and the grasslands of the mid-east extending from Turkey to India. Grasslands are also found in South America.  • A wide range of herbivores once roamed these regions, mostly ungulates (hooved animals).

12. Grasslands • There are three main types of dominant plant species; tall-grass, mixed-grass and short-grass prairie • Australia has four types of grasslands based on amount of precipitation. • 42% of the Earth used to be grasslands, now less than 12% remains due to conversion to croplands. • Threats: There are two major threats to grasslands - conversion to agriculture (or urban areas) and global warming and its attendant changes in precipitation.  Also, mining, animal poaching and development Corporate Farming Cattle industry

13. Desert • These arid regions occupy 25-35% of earth’s landmass. • Temperate deserts have very hot summers and winter nights can be extremely cold. Temperate deserts lie in the rain shadows (Climate PP). • Cool deserts have warm summer and cold winters. • Hot deserts are equatorial with extreme heat year round throughout the day but can have extremely cold evenings due to lack of cloud cover. • Polar Desert- Antarctica and the Arctic are extremely cold deserts with very little annual precipitation. • Sahara is the world’s largest and covers approximately 9 million km2 of N. Africa. • Australia is classified as 40% desert.

14. Desert • Precipitation is low, less than 12 cm per year • The average annual temperature is less than 10° C. • subtropical deserts- latitudes of 30° North or South latitude (equator) • Temperate deserts- "grassland" from "desert".  • Locations from southern California, North/central Africa, Central Asia and central Australia • Threats-one of the biggest threats to deserts is development (Now that we have learned how to divert water; Ex: Las Vegas) and animal poaching.  Subtropical deserts Technically the poles are classified as deserts because they receive under 12 cm of snow yearly Temperate deserts

15. Mediterranean Shrub lands or Chaparral • Most lie between 30 and 40° latitude. • The climate is hot, drought-like summers and cool, moist winters. • The are five regions of Mediterranean ecosystems including the semiarid of W. US (Such as Southern California), Mediterranean Sea, Central Chile, cape of S. Africa and SW Australia. • The Chaparral is the shrub community in N. America. • About 65% of the precipitation falls during the winter months. • Animal life ranges from mule deer, coyotes, many birds, as well as kangaroos and wallabies.

16. Mediterranean Shrublands • Vegetation includes broadleaf evergreen shrubs and dwarf trees known as sclerophllous (small leaves and hairy stems). • Largest regions surrounds the Mediterranean Sea. • The Mediterranean shrublands lack an understory and ground litter and are therefore very flammable. • Fires are part of the cycles of the shrubs, after the fires regrowth matures and prepares for the next fire. • Threats- Over development due to its extremely sunny and pleasant climate and forest fires.

17. Temperate Deciduous Forests • In N. America, the deciduous forest consists of several types ofbroad o flat-leaf trees such as; Oaks, Maples, Cherry Trees, Dogwoods, Birches as well as a wide variety of ferns, flower plants and shrubs. • The N. American deciduous forest extends from New York to Tennessee and even northern Louisiana and Mississippi. • There are also Asiatic broadleaf forests in eastern China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea; as well as in New Zealand, Tasmania, southern Australia.

18. Temperate Deciduous Forest • Very hot summers to very cold winters. • The average annual  temperature ranges up to about 20° C down to freezing.  • Precipitation ranges from around 50 cm yr in the colder regions to over 200 cm/yr.  (lake-effect snows in the winter-until the lake freezes).  • Broad-leaf vegetation; large and flat leaves with a shrub layers and ground layer of herbs, ferns, and mosses. • Animals include small herbivores, deer, bear, rabbits, mice, salamanders and several types of birds as well as predators such as mountain lions, foxes, bears and venomous snakes. • Threats- Acid Rain, logging, human population and development, global warming also the soils are rich and easily converted to agriculture

19. Taiga or Boreal Forest • Climate in the taiga is cold, with average annual temperatures from about +5°  to -5°  C • 20 cm of precipitation per year to over 200 cm • Growing season is short, usually less than 3 months. • Broad bands across North America and Eurasia (Russia/Siberia) • Coniferous trees • Threats-animal poaching, exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves, development and logging is always a threat however, most serious threat is Global Warming which is causing death to the trees and is changing the forest to a Tundra.

20. Tundra • In the tundra, conditions are cold, with an annual average temperature less than 5° C, and precipitation (mostly in the form of snow) less than 100mm per year (see figure at right).  • The summer is brief, with temperatures above freezing lasting for only a few weeks at most.  • The ecology of the tundra is controlled by the cold climate and the northern latitude.  The former means that a unique soil structure, permafrost, forms and dominates the biology.  • Lichens and mosses,willows, sedges and grasses • Other Threats-airborne pollutants, oil and gas development , global warming