Forests are one of the seven main biomes.
Biologists have organized all life on Earth into four levels of complexity and interaction. In this scheme, species of organisms live in “communities” where they compete for food and habitat. At the next level, communities interact in an “ecosystem.” The ecosystem includes the climate and geology of the area, as well as plants and animals. For example, a specific forest qualifies as an ecosystem. So together, the ecosystems that share key terrain features create a biome. A biome is linked by temperature, precipitation, soil type, vegetation, latitude, and altitude. At the most macroscopic level our Earth’s biosphere reigns, containing all the life we know exists in the universe.
Grasslands are also known as savannas.
Biomes are scattered across the Earth’s surface. That is, part of the Florida Everglades has more in common with India, in terms of ecosystems, than with Georgia, right next door. Treating the world as a system of biomes allows biologists to study climate, geology, endangered species, agriculture, and many related topics. Biomes formed at different stages of Earth’s evolution, depending on the presence of organic matter, water, plate tectonics, and where, in terms of latitude, the land is located. Since the Earth is tilted on its axis and revolves around the Sun, latitude can tell us how much light reaches the surface.
Biomes formed at different stages of Earth’s evolution, depending on the presence of elements such as plate tectonics.
The seven main biomes are divided into six terrestrial (land) and one aquatic (water) biomes. The aquatic biome can be classified into marine and freshwater biomes. Freshwater lakes, rivers, streams, and underground aquifers sometimes belong to the surrounding terrestrial biome. Terrestrial biomes include tundra, rainforest, grasslands (also called prairies or steppes), taiga (boreal or coniferous forest), desert, and temperate (deciduous) forest. Some biologists define more than seven major biomes, including chaparral, mountain, island, or tropical dry forest. Other biomes are subdivided, such as deep ocean, open ocean, and shallow marine biome or hot and cold deserts.