North American Biomes Made by Lauren Shepard

What is a Biome? Biomes are the world’s major communities where insects, animals, plants, and people live in a certain type of climate. The biomes we will be covering in this lesson are: Desert Deciduous Forest Arctic tundra Tropical Rainforest Grasslands Taiga

The Desert Biome Characteristics: Hot and dry Desert covers about 1/5 of the Earth’s land surface For the plants to survive they adapt: Store water for long periods of time Stand the hot weather

The Desert Biome: Climate Hottest biome on earth Can be over 100 degrees during the day and below 32 degrees at night There is very little rain in the desert but when it does rain, it pours After a storm, it may not rain again for weeks or months

The Desert Biome: Plants Plants in the desert may have to go without water for over a year! Here some examples of desert plant life: Chainfruit Cholla Creosote Bush Jumping Cholla Saguaro cactus

The Desert Biome: Animals Some animals that live in the Desert include: Bobcat Cactus Wren Coyote Javelina Thorny Devil

The Deciduous Forest Biome Characteristics: 5 different zones Tree Stratum: trees between 60 and 100 feet high Small tree and sapling: young and short trees Shrub zone Herb zone Ground zone

The Deciduous Forest Biome: Climate Has four distinct seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Almost all deciduous forests are located by an ocean The ocean and the wind are two main reasons that the temperate and climate change so much during the year

The Deciduous Forest Biome: Plants Some examples of deciduous forest plants are: American beech Guelder Rose Pecan White Birch

The Deciduous Forest Biome: Animals There are a lot of animals that live in the deciduous forest biome but some examples are: American Bald Eagle Duckbill Platypus Eastern Chipmunk Least Weasel White-tailed Deer

The Arctic Tundra Biome Characteristics of the Arctic Tundra: Treeless Very cold The ground is permanently frozen There is barely any plant life, but there are animals

The Arctic Tundra Biome: Climate Unusually cold and dry climate The Tundra is cold through all months of the year The short summer lasts only 6 to 10 weeks and does not get any warmer than 45-50 degrees

The Arctic Tundra Biome: Plants There are few plants that can grow in the arctic tundra, but some that can include: Arctic Moss Bearberry Pasque Flower Tufted Saxifrage

The Arctic Tundra Biome: Animals Animals that live in this biome include: Arctic Fox Caribou Musk Ox Polar Bear

The Tropical Rainforest Biome Characteristics: Forest of tall trees The rainforest now covers less than 6% of Earth’s land Layers Emergent: trees are 100- 240 feet tall! These trees grow above everything else Upper canopy The trees are 60-130 feet tall Most of the animals live in this layer Understory or Lower canopy Trees are about 60 feet tall The Forest Floor Completely shaded and very few plants

The Tropical Rainforest Biome: Climate In the rainforest the climate is: Very humid because of the heavy rainfall Very hot and wet

The Tropical Rainforest Biome: Plants Tropical rainforests produce 40% of Earth’s oxygen, some of the plants that live in this biome include: Bengal Bamboo Coconut tree Kapok Tree Mangrove Forests

The Tropical Rainforest Biome: Animals Half of the world’s plants and animals species live in the rainforest! Here are some of the many animals: Bengal Tiger Chimpanzee Toco Toucan Sumatran Rhinoceros

The Grassland Biome Characteristics Large rolling fields of grasses, flowers, and herbs Drought and fire percent large forests from growing Grass survives the fire because they grow from the bottom instead of the top

The Grassland Biome: Climate There are many different types of grasslands around the world. But the climate in the United States is: The temperature is moist and humid The summers are warm and humid but the winters are not too cold There is constant Wind

The Grassland Biome: Plants Some plants that thrive in this biome are: Ironweed Common teasel Dogbane Queen Ann’s Lace

The Grassland Biome: Animals Animals that are commonly found in the grassland are: Red milkweed beetle Bison Przewalski’s horse

The Taiga Biome Characteristics: Coldness and food shortages make things very difficult The largest biome in the world Known as the boreal forest

The Taiga Biome: Climate The climate in the Taiga is: The winter is freezing cold The temperature range goes from -65 degrees Fahrenheit all the way to 70 degrees Average rainfall is between 12-33 inches

The Taiga Biome: Plants Plants that are able to survive in the taiga include: Balsam Fir Jack pine White fir White Spruce

The Taiga Biome: Animals Most animals in the taiga hibernate in winter or fly south but some stay which is very difficult! Here are some examples of animals that live in the taiga: Bobcat Long-Eared Owl River Otter Wolverine

References http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/ http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/15-science/62-biomes.html