Biomes

A biome is a large, distinctive complex of plant communities created and maintained by

climate.
How many biomes are there?
A study published in 1999 concluded that there are 150 different "ecoregions" in North
America alone. But I shall cast my lot with the "lumpers" rather than the "splitters" and
lump these into 8 biomes:
Tundra
Taiga
Temperate Deciduous Forest
Scrub Forest (Chaparral)
Grassland
Desert
Tropical Rain Forest
Temperate Rain Forest
Tundra
At extreme latitudes, the trees of the taiga become stunted by the harshness of the
subarctic climate. Finally, they disappear leaving a
land of bogs and lakes.
The climate is so cold in winter that even the
long days of summer are unable to thaw
the permafrost beneath the surface layers of
soil.
Sphagnum moss, a wide variety of lichens,
and some grasses and fast-
growing annuals dominate the landscape
during the short growing season.
Caribou feed on this growth as do vast
numbers of insects.
Swarms of migrating birds, especially
waterfowl, invade the tundra in the summer to raise their young, feeding them on
a large variety of aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates.
As the brief arctic summer draws to a close, the birds fly south, and
all but a few of the permanent residents, in one way or another, prepare
themselves to spend the winter in a dormant state.

Taiga
The taiga is named after the biome in
Russia.
It is a land dominated by conifers, especially spruces and firs.
It is dotted with lakes, bogs, and marshes.
It is populated by an even more limited variety of plants and animals than is the
temperate deciduous forest.
In North America, the moose is such a typical member that it has led to the name:
"spruce-moose" biome.
Before the long, snowy winter sets in, many of the mammals hibernate, and many
of the birds migrate south.
Although the long days of summer permit plants to grow luxuriantly, net
productivity is low.

Temperate Deciduous Forest
This biome occupies the eastern half of the United States and a large portion of Europe. It
is characterized by:
hardwood trees (e.g., beech, maple, oak, hickory)
which
are deciduous; that is, shed their leaves in the
autumn.
The number of different species is far more limited
than in the jungle.
Large stands dominated by a single species are
common.
Deer, raccoons, and salamanders are characteristic
inhabitants.
During the growing season, this biome can be quite
productive in both natural and
agricultural ecosystems.

Chaparral
The annual rainfall in the chaparral biome may reach 2030
inches (6476 cm), but in contrast to the grasslands, almost
all of this falls in winter. Summers are very dry and all the
plants trees, shrubs, and grasses are more or less
dormant then.
The chaparral is found in California. (The photo shows the
chaparral-clad foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California.)
Similar biomes (with other names, such as scrub forest), are
found around much of the Mediterranean Sea and along the
southern coast of Australia.
The trees in the chaparral are mostly oaks, both deciduous and evergreen. Scrub oaks and
shrubs like manzanita and the California lilac (not a relative of the eastern lilac) form
dense, evergreen thickets. All of these plants are adapted to drought by such mechanisms
as waxy, waterproof coatings on their leaves.
The chaparral has many plants brought to it from similar biomes elsewhere. Vineyards,
olives, and figs flourish just as they do in their native Mediterranean biome. So, too, do
eucalyptus trees transplanted from the equivalent biome in Australia.

Grasslands
Grasslands are also known
as prairie or plains. The annual
precipitation in the grasslands averages
20 inches (~51 cm) per year. A large
proportion of this falls as rain early in
the growing season. This promotes a
vigorous growth of perennial grasses
and herbs, but except along river
valleys is barely adequate for the
growth of forests.
The photo shows grassland in the Badlands National Monument in South Dakota.
Fire is probably the factor that tips the balance from forest to grasslands. Fires set by
lightning and by humans regularly swept the plains in earlier times. Thanks to their
underground stems and buds, perennial grasses and herbs are not harmed by fires that
destroy most shrubs and trees.
The abundance of grass for food, coupled with the lack of shelter from predators,
produces similar animal populations in grasslands throughout the world. The dominant
vertebrates are swiftly-moving, herbivorous ungulates. In North America, bison and
antelope were conspicuous members of the grassland fauna before the coming of white
settlers.

Desert
Annual rainfall in the desert is less than 10
inches (25 cm) and, in some years, may be
zero. Because of the extreme dryness of
the desert, its colonization is limited to
plants such as cacti, sagebrush, and mesquite that have a number of adaptations
that conserve water over long periods;
fast-growing annuals whose seeds can germinate, develop to maturity, flower, and
produce a new crop of seeds all within a few weeks following a rare, soaking rain.
Many of the animals in the desert (mammals, lizards and snakes, insects, and even some
birds) are adapted for burrowing to escape the scorching heat of the desert sun. Many of
them limit their forays for food to the night.
The net productivity of the desert is low. High productivity can sometimes be achieved
with irrigation, but these gains are often only temporary. The high rates of evaporation
cause minerals to accumulate near the surface and soon their concentration may reach
levels toxic to plants

Tropical Rain Forest
In the Western Hemisphere, the tropical
rain forest reaches its fullest development
in the jungles of Central and South
America.
The trees are very tall and of a
great variety of species.
One rarely finds two trees of the
same species growing close to one
another.
The vegetation is so dense that
little light reaches the forest floor.
Most of the plants are evergreen,
not deciduous.
The branches of the trees are
festooned with vines and epiphytes
(see the photo taken in the Luquillo
National Forest of Puerto Rico).
The lushness of the tropical rain forest
suggests a high net productivity, but this is
illusory. Many of the frequent attempts to
use the tropical rain forest for
conventional crops have been
disappointing. Two problems:
The high rainfall leaches soil minerals below the reach of plant roots.
The warmth and moisture cause rapid decay so little humus is added to the soil.








Temperate Rain Forest
Annual precipitation over 140 cm (55 in)
Mean annual temperature is between 4 and 12 C (39 and 54 F).
However, required annual precipitation depends on factors such as distribution of rainfall
over the year, temperatures over the year and fog presence, and definitions in other
countries differ considerably. For example, Australian definitions are ecological-structural
rather than climatic:
Closed canopy of trees excludes at least 70% of the
sky;
Forest is composed mainly of tree species which do
not require fire for regeneration, but with seedlings
able to regenerate under shade and in natural
openings.
The latter would, for example, exclude a part of the
temperate rain forests of western North America, as Coast Douglas-fir, one of its dominant
tree species, requires stand-destroying disturbance to initiate a new cohort of seedlings.
The North American definition would in turn exclude a part of temperate rain forests in
other countries.