Biomes
Biomes One of the Earth’s large ecosystems, with its climate, soil, plants, and animals.
Climate Zone A region that has the same patterns of temperature, rainfall, and sunlight
Tropical Rain Forest Location: Near Equator Climate: Hot, Humid, Lots of Rainfall Soil: Poor Soil Plants: Wide variety of plants Animals: Reptiles, amphibians, mammals, etc. Important Characteristics: Most complicated food web
Little sunlight and water penetrates the thick canopy (tons of trees)
Deciduous Forest Location: Every continent except Africa and Antarctica Climate: Hot summers, cold winters Soil: Rich soil Plants: Many kinds of trees that lose leaves every fall Animals: All types Important Characteristics: “We live here” Deciduous means “decay”
Grasslands Location: All continents except Antarctica Climate: Rainfall irregular, cool winters, hot summers Soil: Rich Soil Plants: Grass, Small Shrubs, Farmlands Animals: Small animals, large herds Important Characteristics: Important for world agriculture
“Bread basket of the world” Most crops are grown there (wheat and oats)
Desert Location: Midlatitudes Climate: Little precipitation, very hot\ Soil: Sandy and rocky Plants: very little plants, cacti Animals: Reptiles, small mammals Important Characteristics: Plants grow deep roots to find scarce water
Sahara Desert
Taiga Location: Northern Hemisphere (Europe, Asia, North America) Climate: Cool Soil: Mineral Poor Soil Plants: Forest with numerous conifers (evergreens) Animals: Birds, wolves, bears Important Characteristics: Covers 11% of Earth’s land
Tundra Location: Far North Climate: Cold all year long Soil: Spongy Topsoil- permafrost (permanently frozen) Plants: Treeless, small plants that have short growing seasons Animals: Caribou, polar bears, etc Important Characteristic: No sunlight during the winter
Three types of water ecosystems Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish Water (Estuaries)
Intertidal Zone Area near the edge of the ocean where organisms must be able to live on land and water
Animals Crabs, clams, sea stars
Zone has most organisms More sunlight Producers Consumers Shelter
After the intertidal zone with calm waters Near-shore Zone After the intertidal zone with calm waters
The deepest, biggest part of the ocean Open-Ocean Zone The deepest, biggest part of the ocean
Phytoplankton Microscopic Algae
Zooplankton Tiny herbivores
Lakes, streams, rivers, ponds Animals: Frogs, turtles Freshwater Lakes, streams, rivers, ponds Animals: Frogs, turtles
They cannot live in salt water Characteristics They cannot live in salt water
An ecosystem with a mixture of fresh and salt water Estuary An ecosystem with a mixture of fresh and salt water
They cannot live in shallow waters Why not? They cannot live in shallow waters
Harmed by human activity Close to the mouths of the rivers, where ships and boats travel Close to ocean where people live and vacation