B(4-4) What are biomes?

Vocabulary• Biome

• When you go to an area with different plants animals and climate, you are probably passing from one biome to another.• A biome is a region of the world defined by its climate and by the types of plants and animals that live there.

Biomes

• The most important factor is climate-yearly patterns of temperature and precipitation.• The plants and animals in each biome are adapted to its climate.

What determines the location of biomes?

1. A biome’s climate is affected by its latitude.

• The climate near the equator is warm and wet.

• Closer to the poles, climates are colder and drier. Forests change from deciduous to evergreen, and the numbers of plant and animal species decrease.

• At the highest latitudes, no trees can grow. The climate is so harsh that very few species can live there.

What affects the biome’s climate?

1. Altitude also helps determine a biome’s climate.

• Temperature drops as altitude increases.

• At lower altitudes, were temperature are warmer, green meadows can be found.

What determines the location of biomes?

Rainforests form in areas with enough with enough rainfall and warmth. ex. tropical rain forest, Temperate deciduous forests and taiga.

Forest Biomes

• Large areas of Earth’s forests have been cut down to make room for farms and expanding towns.

• About 45% of prescription drugs contain ingredients that originally came from rain forest plants.

• Besides many rain forest species have not been studied yet.

Forest Biomes

• Deserts are dry, less than 25 cm of rain each year.

• They are not always hot, some get cold at night. Some have daytime freezing temperature in winter.

• Desert plants and animals adapt to survive in desert climate.

Desert Biome

• The tundra is a treeless region next to the polar ice caps and high on some mountains.

• Its climate is bitterly cold in winter, and gets very little precipitation. Snow covers the ground most of the year.

• Caribou and other animals migrate, while others stay such as arctic fox, wolf and ox.

Tundra Biome

• Grasslands are biomes in which the main plants are grasses.

• They are in the middle of several continents.

• They don’t receive enough precipitation for trees to grow.

• There are 2 types:• temperate grasslands,

have hot summers and very cold winters.

• Tropical grasslands (savannas) are warm all year.

Grassland Biome

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