Biomes
Learn about the 8 major Biomes
Desert
Three of the major biomes
Tropical Forest
Tropical rainforests are warm, wet forests with many tall trees. In most tropical rainforests, it rains every day. Tropical rainforests grow in a narrow zone near the equator. They are found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and South and Central America. The largest rainforest in the world is the Amazon rainforest in South America. Tropical rainforests are home to a huge number of different plants and animals.
Ocean
Scientists believe that life on Earth began in the ocean, approximately 4 billion years ago. And in fact, it was only about 500 million years ago that life emerged from the ocean onto the land. That means that ocean life has existed 8 times longer. So no matter how unimaginably long it was since the first creatures crawled out on land... to the age of the dinosaurs... to our time, all of that is but a small slice of the pie compared to the vast span of time in which the oceans have nurtured life. And even today, although living things now exist on nearly every part of the Earth's surface, in so many different forms, the ocean continues to be critically important to life on Earth. To begin with the ocean covers 70% of the Earth's surface and is still the home of the majority of Earth's living creatures.
deciduous forest
Deciduous forests can be found in the eastern half of North America, and the middle of Europe. There are many deciduous forests in Asia. Some of the major areas that they are in are southwest Russia, Japan, and eastern China. South America has two big areas of deciduous forests in southern Chile and Middle East coast of Paraguay. There are deciduous forests located in New Zealand, and southeastern Australia also. The average annual temperature in a deciduous forest is 50° F. The average rainfall is 30 to 60 inches a year. In deciduous forests there are five different zones. The first zone is the Tree Stratum zone. The Tree Stratum zone contains such trees as oak, beech, maple, chestnut hickory, elm, basswood, linden, walnut, and sweet gum trees. This zone has height ranges between 60 feet and 100 feet.
Grassland
Grassland biomes are large, rolling terrains of grasses, flowers and herbs. Latitude, soil and local climates for the most part determine what kinds of plants grow in a particular grassland. A grassland is a region where the average annual precipitation is great enough to support grasses, and in some areas a few trees. The precipitation is so eratic that drought and fire prevent large forests from growing. Grasses can survive fires because they grow from the bottom instead of the top. Their stems can grow again after being burned off. The soil of most grasslands is also too thin and dry for trees to survive.
Freshwater
Tundra
Tiaga
A biome is the type of habitat in certain places, like mountain tops, deserts, and tropical forests, and is determined by the climate of the place. The taiga is the biome of the needleleaf forest. Living in the taiga is cold and lonely. Coldness and food shortages make things very difficult, mostly in the winter. Some of the animals in the taiga hibernate in the winter, some fly south if they can, while some just cooperate with the environment, which is very difficult. (Dillon Bartkus)
Taiga is the Russian word for forest and is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America.