Biomes

1. Biomes Sara Persson

2. Land Biomes There are six different land biomes: Grassland, Tropical rainforest, Desert, Deciduous forest, Tundra, and Taiga.

3. Grasslands • Grasslands normally contain grassy plains, and plenty of herbs. • Depending on the elevation, soil, and climate deciphers what type of plants grow. • These terrains are typically called prairies. • The soil is too thin and dry to support the growing of trees, as well as many droughts and fires. (This is according to short-grass prairies. Long-grass prairies are more humid and wet.)

4. Grasslands (Continued) • There are many, many different types of species, birds, and plants in grasslands. • Some common plants would be Buffalo Grass, Sunflowers, Crazy weed, Coneflowers, Clover, and Golden rods. • A lot of animals that live in this biome are Bobcats, Coyotes, Wild Turkeys, Gray Wolfs, Canadian Geese, and Bison.

5. Tropical Rainforest • Tropical rainforests are usually warm year-long. • 50-260 inches of rain falls yearly. • Tropical rainforests are very wet and humid. The humidity is anywhere from 77-88%. • The temperature never goes above the mid 90s, and never below the 60s. • Rainforests only cover roughly 6% of the world’s surface. It’s important to keep these rainforests, for they produce 40% of our oxygen.

6. Tropical Rainforest (Continued) • There are tons of different plants in tropical rainforests. Great majority of which are trees. • ¼ of the medicines we’ve created come from the plants in tropical rainforests. • These rainforests also have plenty of different types of vines. • Some of the animals contained in tropical rainforests are chimpanzees, fruit doves, vampire bats, proboscis monkies, slender loris, and king cobras.

7. Desert • Deserts cover about a fifth of Earth’s surface. • During the winter, deserts usually have little to no rainfall. • Vegetation is very rare in deserts. Plants are normally dry shrubs or low trees. • Some examples of plants in deserts are prickly pears, brittle bush, mesquite trees, and saguaro cacti. • Some of the animals that live in the desert are coyotes, bobcats, desert tortoises, javelinas, pygmy owls, and rattlesnakes.

8. Deciduous Forest • These forests are located in the eastern US, and the middle of Europe. • The average temperature for a deciduous forest is around 50 degrees. • These forests receive 30-60 inches of rain annually. • The word "Deciduous" means "falling off or out at a certain season". • The soils here are very fertile. Many of these forests (Almost all of them in the US) were torn down for agriculture.

9. Deciduous Forest (Continued) • Some common animals found in deciduous forests are deer, gray squirrels, mice raccoons, salamanders, snakes, robins, frogs, and lots of insects. • Some examples of the plants found would be carpet moss, lady fern, white oak, white birch, pecan trees, and hickory trees.

10. Tundra • Tundra comes from the Finnish word "tunturia", which means a barren land. • The ground is permanently frozen from 10 inches to 3 feet down in the ground. This prevents any trees from growing. • The bare and (possibly) rocky grounds can only support mossy types of plants. • The average annual temperature would be -18 degrees. • Winters have very cold temperatures at roughly the mid negative 90s. • The summers are fair, being anywhere from 30-60 degrees.

11. Tundra (Continued) • There aren’t many types of plants in the tundra. The plants that are there are mosses, grasses, shrubs, and lichens. • Surprisingly, there are animals in the tundra. Some of them would be hares, rodents, wolves, foxes, bears, and deer. • Given that the tundra is a very fragile environment, this makes it very difficult for survival of the animals and plants that live there.

12. Taiga • Taiga is one of the largest biomes in the world. • It is made up of forest, and is very cold for 6 months each year. • The winters are extremely cold, ranging from -65 to 30 degrees. • There is lots of snow in the taiga, and there aren’t many animals there. There are, however, millions of insects habited during the summer.

13. Taiga (Continued) • As mentioned before, the taiga does not have many organisms living in it. • There are, however, plants such as lichens and mosses, as well as pine trees, white spruce, and Douglas fur. • The animals inhabited in the taiga are normally predators, like the lynx, wolves, bobcats, along with others. • Deer, elk, and moose can also be found. • There are also many insect-eating birds that come into the taiga during mating season. They leave when the season is over.

14. Aquatic Biomes There are two different aquatic biomes: Freshwater, and marine.

15. Freshwater • Freshwater biomes consist of lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, and Wetlands. • The freshwater biome takes up about a fifth of the Earth’s surface. • Some of the plant life would be algae, cattails, brine spike, tamarack, myrtle, and false ivy. • A few of the animals that live in freshwater are leeches, catfish, muskrats, otters, and minks.

16. Saltwater • Saltwater is also one of the largest biomes in the world, taking up ¾ of our Earth’s surface. • The climate does not change much. • The water is warmer as you get closer to the equator, and colder as you go away from it. • A few examples of the plants that live in the marines are kelp, barnacles, and sea anemones. • There are hundreds of different types of fish in saltwater. Some of the animals in the marines are starfish, whales, dolphins, sharks, crabs, jelly fish, fresh AND saltwater fish, eel, and walruses. Usually the smaller ones are herbivores, and the larger ones carnivores.