Biomes

What are biomes?
Biomes are large geographic regions in many locations with similar kinds of communities and climates. Climates are one of the most important factors that determine the kind of organisms in a biome.Certain plants need more precipitation than others and some need less in order to survive.There are two water biomes called freshwater and saltwater. There are also six land biomes called tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, tropical rain forest, grassland, and dessert.
The locations of these different biomes across the face of Earth are shown in different colors in the map* above. The Arctic tundra is light tan (ice is white). Mid-Latitude deciduous forests are greenish-yellow and yellowish-green. Deserts are mostly gray. Tropical rainforests are green. Tropical savannahs are light green and dark yellow. Areas of taiga are dark green and gray-green. *1

Forest Biomes
Represent the largest and most ecologically complex systems. They contain a wide assortment of trees, plants, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, insects and micro-organisms which vary depending on the zone's climates. Sadly, boreal and rainforest biomes are being cut down at an alarming rate, with hundreds of species of plants and animals disappearing from the planet on a daily basis.Forests represent a third of the earth's land, and are found in the four corners of the globe. The major attribute of the forest biome is its trees. While they are different from animals in many ways, they share one common characteristic: they breathe. While humans and animals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Deforestation represents a great threat to the future of the earth's atmosphere, and the only way this can be avoided is by careful management of this resource. Once a tree is cut down, another should take its place, but there is still too large a number of trees being cut down as opposed to the number of trees being planted.

Dessert Biome:
Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year. Although most deserts, such as the Sahara of North Africa and the deserts of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Australia, occur at low latitudes, another kind of desert, cold deserts, occur in the basin and range area of Utah and Nevada and in parts of western Asia. Most deserts have a considerable amount of specialized vegetation, as well as specialized vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Soils often have abundant nutrients because they need only water to become very productive and have little or no organic matter. Disturbances are common in the form of occasional fires or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that cause flooding.There are relatively few large mammals in deserts because most are not capable of storing sufficient water and withstanding the heat. Deserts often provide little shelter from the sun for large animals. The dominant animals of warm deserts are nonmammalian vertebrates, such as reptiles. Mammals are usually small, like the kangaroo mice of North American deserts.

Taiga Biome
The taiga biome is found in the northern hemisphere close to the polar region. This cold biome (see climograph) stretches across the northern portions of North America, Europe, and Asia. Large population centers, such as Moscow and Toronto, can be found in the southern portion of this biome, but the northern portion is relatively unpopulated.
Within this biome, there is a wide range of temperatures between winter and summer seasons. Winters are long and cold, and the summers are short and cool. Precipitation is moderately high throughout the year with snow occurring during the winter months.Most of the taiga in North America was once covered with glaciers that have receded, leaving gouges and depressions in the topography. Since there is moderately high precipitation, these gouges and depressions are frequently filled with water, creating bogs and lakes. The soil found in the taiga is low in nutrients and high in acid. It also is rocky and covered with undecayed leaf litter. Patches of permafrost can also be found in areas of the taiga.

Marine Biome
The marine regions are divided between coral reefs, estuaries, and oceans. Oceans represent the largest and most diverse of the ecosystems; salt water evaporates and turns to rain which falls on the land regions, while most of the oxygen in our atmosphere is generated by algae. Algae is also responsible for the absorption of large amounts of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. In the warm shallow waters which line the continents and surrounding islands lie barriers called coral reefs. Coral is a living organism consisting of animal and algae tissues. Corals feed like plants through the process of photosynthesis, and like animals, they also use their tentacles to catch micro-organisms. The coral reef is also host to other species such as starfish, octopi, and other mollusks.Out in the open ocean is what is called the pelagic zone, which is host to many species of fish and marine mammals, plankton ,and some floating seaweed. the area underneath the pelagic zone is called the benthic zone, or deep-sea, and is host to silt, sand, and slowly decomposing organisms. This area is very cold due to its depth, which is untouched by the light of the sun. There are few plants at this level, and the animals include mostly bottom feeding organisms such as starfish, anemones, sponges, amongst others, as well as various micro-organisms.The deepest part of the ocean is called the abyssal zone. it is host to many species of invertebrates and fish including such oddities as the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish once thought extinct and found in the depths of the Indian Ocean, and other fish that glow in the dark via a process called photoluminescence. The abyssal zone is very cold, and highly pressurized.



What is a blog?

A blog is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts. *2



Conclusions:

-A biome is a large geographical area of distinctive plant and animal groups, which are adapted to that particular environment. The climate and geography of a region determines what type of biome can exist in that region.

-Major biomes include deserts, forests, grasslands, tundra, and several types of aquatic environments. Each biome consists of many ecosystems whose communities have adapted to the small differences in climate and the environment inside the biome.

-The two main water biomes are freshwater and saltwater biome.

- A blog is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format.



How are biomes related to human action and ecological impact?

Biomes are related to humans because humans live in biomes. Depending in what biome the human lives, the way he is going to act and surivive. For example, if the human lives in the dessert he will learn to eat and to relate with the animals that live there. There is an ecological impact with biomes because because of them, there are changes in weather, making different types of adaptations in animals.

Bibliography

*1www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/biomes.html - 23k - www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm - 13k - www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php -13k
*2www.problogger.net/archives/2005/02/05/what-is-a-blog/ - 221k