Biomes The Worlds Major Terrestrial Ecosystems What are

Biomes The World’s Major Terrestrial Ecosystems

What are biomes? • Biomes are the different regions of our planet that have different climates, plants and animals.

Terrestrial biomes • Desert • Tundra • Taiga/Coniferous Forest • Rainforest • Savanna/Grassland • Temperate Deciduous Forest Freshwater Marine Desert Forest Grassland Tundra

1. Desert Ecosystems § Location: Depending on type of desert, you will find them on all continents.

Desert • Climate: usually very hot and dry • Temperature: Hot during the day and cold during the night.

• Soil: Sandy, dry and loose; contains minerals like calcite.

Desert Abiotic factors § <10 in/yr of rain § Little to no topsoil due to high winds. § Minerals not deep in soil. While there are many types of deserts, they all share one characteristic: They are the driest places on Earth!

Barrel Cactus Desert Plant Adaptations: § § Ocotollio Spines Succulents Thick, waxy cuticle Shallow, broad roots Joshua Tree

desert vegetation Fishhook cactus peyote

Bob Cat Desert Animal Adaptations: Armadillo Lizard § § § Get water from food Thick outer coat Burrow during day Large ears Smaller animals = less surface area http: //www. blueplanetbiomes. org/desert_animal_page. htm Javelina

coyote Kangaroo mice Thorny devil Spare foot toads Rattle snake gilamonster iguana jackrabbit

4 major types of desert Hot and dry desert Cold desert Semiarid desert Coastal desert

Cold desert • • • Characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high overall rainfall throughout the winter and occasionally over the summer. Have a short, moist and moderately warm summers with fairly long, cold winters. Usually occur in Antarctic, Greenland Nearctic realm.

Hot and dry desert • The seasons are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the summer. The winters usually bring little rainfall. • The 4 major North American deserts of this type are the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin.

Semiarid desert • Summers are moderately long and dry and like hot deserts • Winters normally bring low concentration of rainfall • Summer temperatures usually average between 69 -80 F. It normally does not go above 100 0 F and evening temperatures are cool at around 50 0 F. • Major deserts of this type include the sage brush of Utah, Montana and Great Basin

Coastal desert • • • The cool winter’s coastal deserts are followed by moderately long, warm summers. The average summer temperature ranges from 55 -75 0 F; winter temperatures are 41 0 F or below. The maximum annual temperatures are about 95 0 F and the minimum is about 24 0 F. These deserts occur in moderately cool to warm areas like the Atacama Desert in Chile.

http: //www. blueplanetbiomes. org/world_biomes. htm Threats to the Desert Residential development Off road recreational activities destroy habitat for plants and animals. Some plants are removed by collectors, endangering the population. Sonoran Desert Dry Desert

2. Tundra “treeless plain” Location: Found north of the Arctic Circle http: //www. runet. edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG 235/biomes/tundra. html

Tundra- coldest biome • • Climate: Cold and limited sunlight Temperature: Average temperature is 23 F or 5 0 C.

Tundra • Soil: Ground covered with little snow. Below the surface soil is permanently frozen (permafrost). Decomposition is very slow because of the extreme cold.

Tundra Abiotic Factors § <25 in/year of precipitation § Short growing season http: //www. cotf. edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/taiga. html

Reindeer lichen Tundra Plant Adaptations §Growing close to the ground §Having shallow roots to absorb the limited water resources. §Trees grow less than 1 m high! cottongrass

Perennials Woody shrubs Heaths Examples of Tundra Plants http: //www. runet. edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG 235/biomes/tundra. html

snowy owl Arctic fox Small ears Insulation, thick coat Tundra Animal Adaptations Many visitors, migration Few predators Grizzly Bear Little Competition

Types of tundra Arctic Tundra Alpine Tundra

The Arctic Tundra • Located between the North Pole and Coniferous Forest or Taiga region. It is extremely cold temperatures and land that remains frozen year-round. • A layer of permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost exists consisting mostly of gravel and finer material. • The growing season ranges from 50 -60 days. • Location: North America- Northern Alaska, Canada, Greenland Northern Europe- Scandinavia Northern Asia- Siberia

Alpine Tundra • Located on mountains throughout the world at high altitude where trees cannot grow. • The growing season is approximately 180 days. • • very windy. typically covered in snow for most of the year. • Location: North America- Alaska, Canada, U. S. A. and Mexico Northern Europe- Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden Asia- Southern Asia( Mt. Himalayan ) and Japan (Mt. Fuji) Africa- Mt. Kilimanjava South America- Andes Mountains

Threats to the Tundra One of the most fragile biomes on the planet Tufted Saxifrage Oil drilling is proposed in Alaska and other areas! Polar Bear The tundra is slow to recover from damage.

3. Taiga Northern Coniferous Forest Boreal Forest Location: Found only in Northern Hemisphere below the Tundra §Northern parts of Alaska, Canada, Asia and Europe.

Taiga/Coniferous Forest “ coming from the cones” • Climate: Very long and cold winter lasting to about half a year; precipitation is in the form of snow about 60 cm. • Temperature: Below -5 0 F in winter and about 59 0 F in summer.

Taiga Soil: • not fertile. It takes very long for needlelike leaves to decompose and decomposition is very slow in cold weather. • A layer of snow covers the ground during much of the year. Soil beneath the snow is grayish on top and brown below and lacks minerals needed by plants to grow.

Taiga Abiotic factors § Winters are long and cold § Averages 100 in/yr precipitation—mostly snow § Soil poor in nutrients and very acidic § Growing season is very short

Taiga Plant adaptations § § Fireweed Coniferous (needle-bearing) trees are abundant Roots long to anchor trees Needles long, thin and waxy Low sunlight and poor soil keeps plants from growing on forest floor http: //www. inchinapinch. com/hab_pgs/terres/coniferous/plants. htm Balsam Fir

Moose Animal Adaptations of the Taiga § Adapt for cold winters § Burrow, hibernate, warm coat, insulation, etc. http: //www. inchinapinch. com/hab_pgs/terres/coniferous/animals. htm Great Grey Owl

deer hares mosquito bear porcupine squirrel

Threats to the Taiga Mining operations can irreparably damage this fragile ecosystem Road construction Clear cutting accelerates soil erosion, degrades wildlife habitat and leads to the loss of diversity.