The Land Biomes of Earth

A biome is a regional group of distinctive plant and animal communities that are adapted to the region’s soils, climate, latitude, elevation, and terrain.

Biomes are often given local names. For example, a temperate grassland biome is known commonly as a steppe in central Asia, savanna or veld in southern Africa, prairie in North America, pampas in South America, and outback in Australia. Sometimes an entire biome may be targeted for protection, especially under an individual nation’s Biodiversity Action Plan.

Climate is a big factor that determines the distribution of biomes. Important climate factors are:

• Latitude: arctic, boreal, temperate, subtropical, tropical.
• Humidity: humid, semi-humid, semi-arid, and arid.
• Rainfall: rain may be distributed evenly throughout the year, or by seasonal variations.
• Dry summer / wet winter: most regions of the earth receive most of their rainfall during the summer months; Mediterranean climate regions receive their rainfall during the winter months.
• Elevation: higher elevation is similar to higher latitude. Mountainous regions often exhibit complex patterns of climate and rainfall resulting in a diversity of biomes.

Bodiversity is the variation of species within a biome. Biodiversity tends to be higher in biomes with higher plant productivity, moisture availability, and temperature. Moist tropical forests like the Amazon have the highest biodiversity on Earth.