Tipos De Tasas De Interes

Tundra

Deciduous Forest

Savanna

Taiga

Chaparral

Rainforest

Grasslands

Desert

Alpine

Desert-scrub

Index

Biomes 6

Tropical Rain Forest 8

Temperate Deciduous Forest 9

Taiga 9

Tundra 10

Biomes established by altitude 11

Biomes established by rainfall 12

Desert 12

Chaparral 12

Conclusions 13

Chaparral 12

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14

Apendix………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………15

Introduction

The Earth has many different environments, varying in temperature, moisture, light, and many other factors. Each of these habitats has distinct life forms living in it, forming complex communities of interdependent organisms. A complex community of plants and animals in a region and a climate is called a biome.

This community and it´s variations are more explained in this work.

Objectives

1. Identify the concept of Biomes.

2. Identify some types of Biomes

3. Determine the importance of the Biome´s study.

Biomes

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.

All living things are closely related to their environment. Any change in one part of an environment, like an increase or decrease of a species of animal or plant, causes a ripple effect of change in through other parts of the environment.

The earth includes a huge variety of living things, from complex plants and animals to very simple, one-celled organisms. But large or small, simple or complex, no organism lives alone. Each depends in some way on other living and nonliving things in its surroundings.

To understand a world biome, you need to know:

• What the climate of the region is like.

• Where each biome is found and and what its geography is like.

• The special adaptations of the vegetation.

• The types of animals found in the biome and their physical and behavioral adaptations to their environment.

Ecological Relationships of Biomes

The survival and well being of a biome and its organisms depends on ecological relationships throughout the world. Even changes in distant parts of the world and its atmosphere affect our environment and us. The eruption of a volcano in Mexico, or Southeast Asia can bring the temperature of the whole world down a few degrees for several years.

A study published in 1999 concluded that there are 150 different "ecoregions" in North America alone. But I shall cast my lot with the "lumpers" rather than the "splitters" and lump these into 8 biomes:

• tundra

• taiga

• temperate deciduous forest

• scrub forest (called chaparral in California)

• grassland

• desert

• tropical rain forest

• temperate rain forest

A number of climatic factors interact in the creation and maintenance of a biome. Where precipitation is moderately abundant — 40 inches (about 1 m) or more per year — and distributed fairly evenly throughout the year, the major determinant is temperature. It is not simply a matter of average temperature, but includes such limiting factors as:

• whether it ever freezes;

• length of the growing season

If there is ample rainfall, we find 4 characteristic biomes as we proceed from the tropics (high temperatures) to the extreme latitudes (low temperatures). In order, they are:

• tropical rain forest or jungle

• temperate deciduous forest

• taiga

• tundra

Tropical Rain Forest

In the Western Hemisphere, the tropical rain forest reaches its fullest development in the jungles of Central and South America.

• The trees are very tall and of a great variety of species.

• One rarely finds two trees of the same species growing close to one another.

• The vegetation is so dense that little light reaches the forest floor.

• Most of the plants are evergreen, not deciduous.

• The branches of the trees are festooned with vines and epiphytes (see the photo taken in the Luquillo National Forest of Puerto Rico).

The lushness of the tropical rain forest suggests a high net productivity, but this is illusory. Many of the frequent attempts to use the tropical rain forest for conventional crops have been disappointing. Two problems:

• The high rainfall leaches soil minerals below the reach of plant roots.

• The warmth and moisture cause rapid decay so little humus is added to the soil.

The tropical rain forest exceeds all the other biomes in the diversity of its animals as well as plants. Most of the animals — mammals and reptiles, as well as birds and insects — live in the trees.

The closest thing to a tropical rain forest in the continental United States are the little wooded "islands" found scattered through the Everglades in the southern tip of Florida. Their existence depends on the fact that it never freezes, and they often escape the fires that periodically sweep the Everglades.

Temperate Deciduous Forest

This biome occupies the eastern half of the United States and a large portion of Europe. It is characterized by:

• hardwood trees (e.g., beech, maple, oak, hickory) which

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