Terrestrial Biomes Parque Nacional in Peru, Madagascar

Lowland Forests, Eastern Java Monsoon

Broad types of biological communities or Forests
characteristic environments that occur in
o Drought-tolerant
different conditions of temperature and - Brown and dormant in the dry season
precipitation - Green during rainy months
Ex. community of animals, plants ➢ Tropical grasslands and savannas
▪ Nine Major terrestrial biomes
➢ Tropical Moist Forests
o Savanna
- Grassland with sparse tree cover
- Found in areas that are hot and wet all year
- Vegetation type that grows under hot,
- Soil tends to be thin acidic and nutrient-poor yet
seasonally dry climatic conditions
large number of species are present
- Characterized by an open tree canopy (i.e.
- “rainforest”
scattered trees) above continuous tall grass
o Cloud Forests understory
- Found high in the mountains where fog and mist
keep vegetation wet all the time
o Found in areas where rainfall is too little
- Susceptible to fires during dry seasons
- Also called a water forest, primas forest, or
- Savanna and grassland plants are adapted to
tropical montane cloud forest.
survive drought, heat, and fires
- Tropical, subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist
✓ Examples: Serengeti Plains of Tanzania, the
forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or
vast acacia of East Africa, Savannas of
seasonal low-level cloud level
Venezuela, and the Australian Savanna.
- Rare to be found since it is only found in tropical
➢ Deserts
areas with tall mountains
• Occur where precipitation is uncommon and
✓ Example: Cerro de la Neblina
slight (<30 cm of rain per year
(Brazil/Venezuela)
- Hot or cold but always dry
o Tropical rainforests - Desert plants and animals are highly adapted to
- Found where rainfall is abundant and
survive long droughts and extreme heat or cold
temperature are warm to hot all year
- Example of animals: desert fox, addax antelope,
✓ Example: The world’s most famous rainforests
scorpions, camel, lizard, rock hopper penguin,
are: The Amazon Rainforest in South America,
meercats, geckos, toads, spiders, etc
Africa’s Congo Rainforest, Australia’s Daintree
- Example of plants: Cactus, Brittlebush, Desert
Rainforest, Rainforests in Sumatra and Borneo
Ironwood Plant.
➢ Tropical Seasonal Forests
➢ Temperate Grasslands
o AKA dry tropical forests - Occur where there is enough rain to support
- Found in areas with distinct wet and dry seasons abundant grass but not forests
but hot all year - Organic-rich soils
- Moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, - Forbs
tropical mixed or monsoon forests ✓ Diverse mix of grasses and flowering
✓ Example: southern and southwestern herbaceous plants; wildflowers.
Amazonia, including Cocha Cashu in Manu

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 ✓ Examples: clovers, sunflowers, daylilies, ✓ Northern America Boreal Forests, which
milkweed spans the northern part of the continent
✓ Pampas in Argentina, Pains and praries in from Alaska to Newfoundland
Central North America, Puszta in Hungary, ➢ Tundra
Downs in New Zealand, Steppes in Russia, - Occur where temperatures are below freezing
and Veldts in South Africa most of the year; high mountaintops
➢ Temperate Shrublands - Relatively low diversity
• Highly desired for human habitation - Two types
• Occur under Mediterranean conditions o Arctic – high latitudes (ex: High Arctic Tundra of
- Hot season coincides with dry season producing Northern Greenland or Kalaallit Nunaat)
hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters o Alpine – mountaintops (ex: Norther American
- Drought-adapted shrubs, trees and grass Cordillera, Norther Appalachian Mountains in
- Countries who have 4 seasons weather North America, the Alps and Pyrenees of Europe,
➢ Temperate Forests the Himalaya and Karakoram of Asia, the Andes
• Occur under a wide range of precipitation of South America, the Eastern Rift Mountains of
• Grouped according to tree type Africa, and the Southern Island of New Zealand
o
- Broad-leaf forests
- Occur where rainfall is plentiful
- Lose their leaves in winter but can regrow
quickly because of moist, moderate climates
- Example of trees are: oak, birch, beech, aspen,
elm, and maple
o
- Grow in a wide range of temperature and
moisture conditions
- Often occur where moisture is limited
✓ Cold climates
✓ Drought
✓ Sandy soils
➢ Boreal Forests
• Northern hemisphere
• Northern forests that lie between about 50
and 60 north
• Pines, hemlocks, spruce, cedar, and fir
• Taiga
- Extreme, ragged edge of the boreal forest,
where it gradually gives away to open tundra

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 Marine environments
- Biological communities in oceans and seas
- Poorly understood but probably as diverse and
complex as terrestrial biomes
- Depend on photosynthetic algae or
phytoplankton
➢ Coral Reefs
- Occur where there is little runoff from shore
- Shallow, clear warm water supports
- Photosynthesis
- Reefs – colonies of minute, colonial animals (coral
polyps) that live symbiotically with photosynthetic
algae
➢ Sea-grass beds
- AKA Eel-grass beds
- Occupy shallow, warm, sandy coastlines
- Support rich communities of grazers (snails and
turtles)
➢ Mangroves
- Diverse group of salt-tolerant tees that grow
along warm, calm marine coasts
- Help stabilized shorelines, blunt the force of
storms, and build land by trapping sediment and
organic material
- Support both marine species (crabs and fish)
and terrestrial species (birds and bats)
✓ World’s largest mangrove is the Sundarbans
Mangrove
➢ Estuaries
- Bays where rivers empty into the sea, mixing
fresh water with salt water
- High biological productivity
- Enriched by nutrients washing from the land
✓ Examples: San Francisco Bay, Rio de la Plata,
Thames Estuary, Western Scheldt, Columbia
River Estuary, Humber, and the largest
estuary in the world which is the Lawrence
River which connects the Great Lakes to
the Atlantic Ocean
➢ Tide pools
- Violent, wave-blasted shorelines
- Depressions in a rocky shoreline that are flooded
at high tide but retain some water at low tide
- Support fascinating life-forms
❖ Freshwater Environments
- Relied upon by most terrestrial communities to
some extent
- Not as diverse as marine environments
- Lakes, wetlands, streams and rivers
➢ Lakes
• Surface
- Plankton and protists
- Insects such as water striders and mosquitoes
• Benthos
- Snails, burrowing worms, fish and other
anaerobic organisms
✓ Caspian Sea in Russia, Superior in Canada,
Victoria in Uganda/Kenya/Tanzania
✓ Lake Baikal in Russia which is the deepest
and largest freshwater lake in the world
➢ Wetlands
- Shallow ecosystems in which the land surface is
saturated or submerged at least part of the
year
- Support rich biodiversity and are essential for
both breeding and migrating birds
- Described by their vegetation:
o Swamps – AKA forested wetlands, with
trees
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o Marshes – without trees
o Bogs – water-saturated ground
composed of peat (undecayed
vegetation)
o Fens – similar to bogs except that they
are mainly fed by mineral-rich
groundwater instead of rain
➢ Streams and Rivers
• Streams
- Similar to lakes except materials, including plants,
animals and water, are continually moved
downstream by flowing currents
\
• Rivers
- Continuum of constantly changing
environmental conditions and community
inhabitants from the headwaters to the mouth
of a drainage or watershed
- Streams that merge
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