World Biomes

The lesson “Food Chains”, comes from a natural science course. Natural sciences, such as biology, deal with nature and the physical world. To get ready for the lesson on food chains, you need to understand certain terms.




One of these terms is biome.


What are biomes?

A biome is a large ecosystem where plants, animals, insects, and people live in a similar climate. There are land biomes and aquatic biomes.

Major Biomes of the World

There are six major land biomes in the world: tundra, coniferous forest, deciduous forest, grassland, desert, and rainforest.

Would you like to know what the weather is like in different biomes around the world?

How about the types of plants and animals that live in these biomes?

Here you will find all sorts of information about the world’s biomes:

Tundra

The tundra is a cold, vast, treeless area of low, swampy plains in the far north around the Arctic Ocean. It includes the northern lands of Europe (Lapland and Scandinavia), Asia (Siberia), and North America (Alaska and Canada), as well as most of the Greenland. Another type of tundra is the alpine tundra, which is a biome that exists at the top of high mountains. This is the earth’s coldest biome. The earth of the Arctic tundra has a permanently frozen subsoil, called permafrost, which makes it impossible for trees grow. In summer, a thin layer of topsoil thaws and creates many pools, lakes, and marshes, a haven for mosquitoes, midges, and blackflies. More than 100 species of migrant birds are attracted by the insect food. Other animals that live in this biome include polar bears, Arctic foxes, caribou, and grey wolves. Plants that you might find include small shrubs and cushion plants. It is also famous for the beauty of its flowers during early autumn.

Coniferous Forest

The coniferous forest biome is south of the Arctic tundra. It stretches from Alaska straight across North America to the Atlantic Ocean and across Eurasia. It supplies the bulk of the world’s commercial softwood timber, which is used to make paper. These forests consist mainly of cone-bearing trees such as spruce, hemlock and fir, which are well suited to the cold climate. Some animals that thrive in this biome are the ermine, the moose, the red fox, the snowshoe rabbit, and birds such as the crossbill and the great horned owl.

Deciduous Forest

This biome is in the mild temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Major regions are found in eastern North America, Europe, and eastern Asia. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in fall. The natural decaying of the fallen leaves enriches the soil and supports all kinds of plant and animal life. The deciduous forest is a lively place, where oak, beech, ash, and maple trees are typical and wildflowers, berries, and many types of insect and animal life abound. In the U.S., the deciduous forest is a home for deer, American gray squirrels, wood mice, rabbits, raccoons, woodpeckers, cardinals, and finches, to name a few.

Desert

A desert is an area where little or no life exists because of a lack of water. Scientists estimate that about one-fifth of the earth’s land surface is desert. Deserts can be found on every continent except Europe. There are two different kinds: hot and dry (such as the Arabian and Sahara deserts) and cold and dry (such as Antarctica and the Gobi desert). Most of the plants you’ll see in the desert are species of cactus. You might come across yucca, aloe, octillo plants, or the tall saguaro cacti. A few animals- mainly reptiles, like snakes and lizards, and amphibians, like frogs and toads-are well adapted to the hot desert.

Grasslands

Grasslands are places with hot , dry climates that are perfect for growing food. They are known throughout the world by different names. In the U.S. they are called prairies and extend from the Midwest to the Rocky Mountains. Hot, tropical grasslands called savannas are found in South America and Africa. In Eurasia, grasslands are called steppes. It receives so little rain that very few trees can grow. The U.S. prairies are used to graze cattle and to raise cereal crops. There is little variety of animal life. Today , some of the most common grassland animals include the prairie dog and the mule deer in North America, the giraffe and the zebra in Africa, and the lion in Africa and Asia.

Rainforests

Tropical rainforests are found in Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, and on many of the Pacific islands. They are often found along the equator. Almost half of the world’s tropical rainforests are in the South American country Brazil. Tropical rainforests receive at least 70 inches of rain each year and have more species of plants and animals than any other biome. Many of the plants used in medicine can only be found in tropical rainforests. The combination of heat and moisture makes this biome the perfect environment for more than 15 million plants and animals. A rainforest grows in three levels. The canopy, or tallest level, has trees between 100 and 200 feet tall. They block most of the sunlight from the levels below. The second level, or understory, contains a mix of small trees, vines, and palms as well as shrubs and ferns. The third and lowest level is the forest floor, where herbs, mosses, and fungi grow. Rainforests are an endangered biome. People have cut the trees, an d sold the wood for firewood, building materials, and paper. Parts of the rainforest have been burned to make space for grazing and farming. Every minute, approximately 30 acres of rainforest are destroyed. Some of the animals of the tropical rainforests are the anteater, jaguar, brocket deer, lemur, orangutan, marmoset, macaw, parrot, sloth, and toucan. Among the many plant species are bamboo, banana trees, rubber trees and cassava.

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