1. Tundra and Ice.
 Found around the Arctic Circle,
north of the tree line. Northern
Russia and Siberia. Smaller areas
occur in the Southern Hemisphere
on sub-Antarctic islands.
 Smaller areas occur in the Southern
Hemisphere on sub Antarctic islands.
Alpine tundra occurs above the tree line
on high mountains, including those of
the tropics.
 It is the most continuous of biomes
and the easiest to define. Winter
temperatures are minus 57 degrees
centigrade or lower. There is always a
permanent layer of frozen soil
underneath- the permafrost.
Tundra
 Many birds migrate there from the
south in summer, feeding on the
large insect populations in the
tundra during the season.
Carnivores are Arctic fox, wolves,
hawks, and owls.
2. Taiga
 Taiga (Northern Coniferous Forests)
Form an almost unbroken belt across
Northern North America and Eurasia-
and is one of the most extensive
biomes.
 Its northern margin, being the Arctic
tree-line, but its southern limit is
less definite. Taiga is also found on
high mountains in lower latitudes,
such as the southern Rockies.
 The soil is mostly frozen to a depth
of about 2 meters. Thick snow cover
can keep soil temperature as high as
-7 degrees centigrade
 Trees are almost evergreen conifers,
able to photosynthesize all years and to
resist drought with their needle-shaped
waxy leaves.
 The most important large herbivores
are deer, more species live here than
in any other biomes. Rodents are
plentiful and can burrow under snow
and survive harsh winters.
•Carnivores include wolves, lynxes,
wolverines, weasels, mink, and sable.
Omnivorous bears are also found.
 Birds are either adapted to feeding
in taiga, such as crossbill, or as a
summer migrants feeding on the
vast seasonal swarms of insects.
3. Temperate Forests:
• There are four basic types of
temperate forests:
• 1. Mixed forests of conifers and
broad-leaved deciduous trees
• 2. Mixed forests of conifers and
broad-leaved evergreens
• 3. Broad-leaved forests almost
entirely of deciduous trees and
• 4. the broad-leaved forest consisting
almost entirely of evergreens. This
occurs much of Florida, and also
those of northeast of Mexico and Japan.
 All these regions have very high
rainfall, and the dripping forest have
been termed “temperate
rainforest”.
 The fauna includes bears, wild boar,
badgers, squirrels, woodchucks, many
insectivores and rodents. Predators
include wolves and wild cats, red foxes
and owls. Large herbivores are the deer.
The biome is extremely rich in bird
species, especially woodpeckers,
titmice, warblers, and finches.
4. Tropical Forest
 This occurs between the Tropic of
Cancer and Capricorn in areas where
temperatures and light intensity are
always high and rainfall is greater than
200 cm a year( and at least 12 cm in the
driest month). Because of these, there
is great variety of trees. In some parts
of the Brazilian rain forest, there are as
many as 300 species of trees in 2 sq. m.
 The canopy is extremely dense, the light
intensity below may be as low as 1% of
that above, and thus only a few
extremely shade-tolerant plants can
survive there.
 The crown of trees is covered with
epiphytes- plants that use the trees only
for support and are not parasites.
 Lianas-vines rooted in the ground but
with leaves and
flowers in the canopy are also
characteristic.
5. Temperate grassland
 This occurs in region where rainfall is
intermediate between those of desert
and of temperate forest, and where
there is a fairly long dry season.
Temperate grassland as many local
names- the prairies of North America,
the steppes of Eurasia, the pampas of
South America, and the veld of South
Africa.
 But the dominant plants in all of them
are the grasses, the most widespread
and successful group of land plants.
 The dominant animals are large grazing
mammals, vast herds of bison and
prong-horn, antelope, wild horse and
wild ass.
6. Tropical grassland or savannah
 is a term applied to any tropical
vegetation ranging from pure grassland
to woodland with much grasses. It
covers a wild belt on either side of the
Equator between the Tropics of Cancer
and Capricorn.
 The climate is very warm, and there is
always very warm, and there is a long
dry season, and thus the plants often
have drought resisting features. The
grass is much longer than that of the
temperate grassland.
 The dominant animals are large grazing
mammals, the savannah having the
greatest variety, and burrowing rodents
are also found. Large carnivores such as
lions and hyenas prey on the grasses.
7. Chaparral
 This occurs where there are mild wet
winters and pronounced summer
droughts (known as Mediterranean
climate). And in areas with less rain
than grassland.
 The vegetation is sclerophyllous
(hard leaf scrub of low growing
woody plants, mainly evergreen,
with hard thick waxy leaves-
adaptations to drought.
 It occurs mainly in the countries fringing
the Mediterranean basis, but also in
northwest Mexico and California.
 There are ground squirrels, deer, elk,
mountain lions and wolves are the
predators.
8. Dessert
 These are areas experiencing extreme
drought. A good definition is those
areas where rainfall is less than 25 cm
per year, or if higher, is mostly lost
immediately by evaporation. Deserts
can be divided into:
1. Hot deserts (such as the Sahara)
with very high temperatures, often over
50 degrees C., and low night
temperatures below 20 degrees C and
 2. Cold deserts (such as the Gobi Desert
of Mongolia with very severe winters
and long periods of cold winters.
Isolating Mechanisms
 Interbreeding is the process which
holds
individuals together in populations, and
populations together in races and
species.
The process leads to gene exchange.
 Populations and population systems are
reproductive communities tied together
by bonds of genealogical relationship
 Mating is not random, however,
between individuals belonging to
different species.
 Barriers to interbreeding and to gene
exchange exist within and between the
larger population systems. These
barriers are referred to as isolating
mechanisms.

The Components of Isolation
The three main factors that bring about
isolation are:
1. spatial distance
2. the nature of environment and
3. the reproductive characteristics of the
organisms
1. Spatial isolation – Gene exchange between
population systems is reduced or prevented by
the distance between them.
a. The populations live in different territories-
allopatric geographical isolation.
2.Environmental isolation- Gene exchange
between the sympatric but ecologically
differentiated is limited by the availability
suitable for the growth and subsistence of their
hybrid progeny, that is by environmental
selection against the hybrids and hybrid
derivatives.
b. The populations live in different habitats in
the same region being neighborly sympatric-
ecological isolation.
3. Gene exchange is restricted or blocked by
genotypically controlled differences in the
reproductive habits and fertility relationships of
the individual organisms belonging to different
population systems- reproductive isolation.
A. The barrier to gene exchange lies outside the
bodies of the organisms and is effective prior to
fertilization. The interbreeding
between individual members of different
population systems is blocked by their
external phenotypic characteristics, by the
structural, physiological or behavioral
differences between them ---external
reproductive isolation.
not well coadapted structurally; therefore
interspecific pollination or copulation is
unsuccessful-mechanical isolation
B. The barrier to gene exchange
operates inside the bodies of the
organisms after the gametes come
together. The block results from the
unsuccessful interaction between the
gametophytes, gametes, chromosomes,
or genes of the different population
systems – internal reproductive
isolation.
a. In animals and plants with internal
fertilization, cross insemination or
pollination takes place between
members of different population
systems, but fails to lead to the production of
hybrid progeny—incompatibility
The hybrid is formed but is more or less
inviable- hybrid inviability.
• i. The F1 hybrid grows to maturity but either
its sex organs or its gametes are abortive and
non-functional –hybrid sterility.
• j. The hybrid produces F2 or backcross
progeny which, however, consist partly or
entirely of inviable or sterile individuals-
hybrid breakdown.

a. The male and female reproductive organs,

the flower parts or genitalia, of individual
members of different population systems are
not well coadapted structurally; therefore
interspecific pollination or copulation is
unsuccessful-mechanical isolation
b. The male and female reproductive organs,
the flower parts or genitalia, of individual
members of different population systems are