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Biomes
Page B64-B71
What is a biome?
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A biome is one of the six major
ecosystems that Earth is divided into
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Tiaga
Deciduous Forest
Tropical Rain Forest
Desert
Tundra
Grassland
Taiga
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Created from ancient glaciers thawing out
and moving south
Mostly conifer (a gymnosperm with cones
and needles) forests with lakes and ponds
11% of the Earth’s land
Alaska, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland,
and Russia
Taiga (Cont.)
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Climate: very cold winters, cool summers
Precipitation: about 50 cm a year
Soil: acidic, mineral poor, decayed needles
on the surface
Plants: mostly spruce, fir, oaks, and
evergreens
Animals: rodents, snowshoe hares, lynx,
sables, ermine, caribou, bears, wolves,
birds (in summer)
Deciduous Forest
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Forest Biome that lose their leaves each
fall
Deciduous: decay
Dead leaves fall to the ground help
make soil rich and fertile
US east of the Mississippi and most of
western Europe
Deciduous Forest (Cont.)
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Climate: relatively mild summers and cold
winters
Precipitation: 76-127 cm of rain a year
Soil: rich topsoil over clay
Plants: Hardwoods (oaks, beeches,
hickories, and maples)
Animals: wolves, deer, birds, amphibians,
reptiles, insects
Tropical Rain Forest
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Along the Equator
Hot and humid with much rainfall
Wide variety of animal life
NO TRF in North America or Europe
Central America, South America, India,
Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and
many Pacific Islands have TRF each with
it’s own kinds of plants and animals
TRF (Cont.)
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Climate: hot all year
Precipitation: 200-460 cm a year
Soil: nutrient poor
Plants: greatest diversity of any biome;
orchids, ferns and a variety of trees
Animals: more species of insects, reptiles,
and amphibians than any place else
Desert
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Sandy and rocky with little precipitation
and plant life
Few animals or plants live in the desert
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Those that do are very hardy and have
adaptations for life in the desert
China Gobi desert
South America Atacama desert
Desert (Cont.)
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Climate: generally very hot days and cool nights
Precipitation: less than 4 cm per year
Soil: poor in animal and plant decay products
but often rich in minerals
Plants: none to cacti, yuccas, bunch grasses,
shrubs, and a few trees
Animals: rodents, snakes, lizards, tortoises,
insects, and small birds
African Desert Animals: camels, gazelles,
antelopes, small foxes, snakes, lizards, and
gerbils
Tundra
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Cold of the far north
10-25 cm of precipitation each year
Long, icy, and cold winters
Short and cool summers
Permafrost ground/soil that is
permanently frozen
Tundra (Cont.)
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Climate: very cold, harsh and long winters; short
and cool summers
Precipitation: 10-25 cm a year
Soil: nutrient-poor, permafrost
Plants: grasses, wildflowers, mosses, small
shrubs
Animals: Musk oxen, migrating caribou, artic
foxes, weasels, snowshoe hares, owls, hawks,
rodent, and possibly polar bears
Grassland
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Grass is the main form of plant life
Temperate: mild weather
United States and Ukraine grasslands are
covered with crops (wheat, corn, and
oats)
Savannas are grasslands that stay warm
year round
They get about 86-152 cm of rain a year
The middle third of Africa is a savanna
Grasslands (Cont.)
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Soil: rich topsoil
Climate: cool in the winter and hot in the
summer
Plants: mostly grasses and short shrubs;
some trees near water sources
Animals:
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America prairie dogs, foxes, snakes, insects,
birds
Africa elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes