Tundra

1. Tundra • The largest biome • Characterized by low rainfall and low temperatures (Temp -26c to 12c • Shallow soil • Permafrost • Frozen ground 3 feet or more below the surface. • In winter all the ground if frozen • Short season 2 month and slow growing • Precipitation=less than 25 cm but most of the time the water is frozen and there Is little evaporation

2. Primary producers • Slow growing and low to the ground. • Going north or up = • Shrubs = lowest/south • Grasses • lichens = highest/north

3. Animals • Large animals where there volume is greater than surface area • Moose • Polar bears • Caribou/reindeer • Smaller animals • Artic fox

4. Threats • Disruption • Road construction • Global warming • Decreases in habitat • Sea rising • Increasing CO2 contribution

5. Taiga Biome Characteristics

6. Characteristics • Low diversity • Only 20 major species • Formed from low coniferous cone bearing trees (evergreen) • Pines, Furs and Spruces • Cold climates and high altitudes -10C to14C • Precipitation= 35-75 cm • Acidic thin soil • minimal under story. • Cold harsh winters with little to no usable water

7. Animals • Moose, Voles, Foxes, Deer, Migratory Birds (visiting for the summer), Carnivorous Birds.

8. Facts Contain some of the largest wilderness areas world wide. • Once, during the ice ages formed a continuous band of forest from Europe to Canada (there was a land bridge from Russia to Alaska.

9. Threats • Insects • Pine Beatles kill the pines • Spruce bud worm • Fires • These forests burn every 90 years. -Limiting forests to no taller than 30 feet

10. Temperate Deciduous Forests • Pronounced seasons • Broad leaf plants which lose their leaves. • Warmer winters than taiga Temp =6C to 28C • And wetter precipitation=75-125 cm • Most major cities in the world are in this biome. • Large amounts of fallen leaf matter make thick nutrient rich soil. • Winters are short and trees may become dormant for several months.

11. Organisms • Less diverse than tropical forests but more diverse than taiga • Deciduous trees and dense underbrush • Oak, Maple, Ash, Burch, Hemlock, • Smaller mammals' • Deer, rabbits, squirrels, black bear, migratory birds.

12. Threats • Population growth • Urban Sprawl • Logging…… • Introduced species/invasive

13. Tropical forests • The highest amounts of diversity: of the 300 thousand plant species world wide 200 thousand may be found in tropical forests. • 1/5 of the worlds species are contained in tropical rainforests • Consistent warm temperatures all year. • Temp =20C to34 c and rain fall=200-400cm • Soil is thin and sandy. • All the nutrients are in the trees. • Many plants Have a beneficial relationship with nitrobacter forming mycorrhizae

14. Biota • Vegetation forms stratified layers called canopies. • Plants live on the trees=epiphytes • The tallest are broad leaf bearing trees which do not lose there leaves. • Animals include kopibarra, sloths

15. Desert Biome • Largest range of temperature 7C and 38C • Dry less than 25 cm of rain. • Soil sandy and poor • Plants have adapted to storing water. • Waxy Leaves • Animals burrow/ nocturnal / large surface areas. • It takes a long time for species to grow.

16. Deserts • 2 types • Tropical deserts • Sahara • Temperate deserts • The great American desert • Both have the largest temperature changes of any biome. • Low diversity

17. Chaparrel • Temperature change is seasonal-mild • 30f to 100f • Sunny • High diversity • Rain=10-17 in • Highly flammable in the summer. Burns 25 years • High population density.