Biomes Flashcards
- General type of communities with similar climate conditions, growth patterns, and vegetation types.
Biomes
- Characteristics of biological communities vary with temperature, precipitation, and latitude.
- Hot, humid regions generally have greater biological productivity than cold or dry regions.
Terrestrial Biomes
occurs as vegetation type change rapidly from warm and dry to cold and wet as you go up a mountain.
Vertical zonation
Kinds of Moist Tropical Forests:
- Cloud Forests
- Tropical rainforests
– occur where rainfall is abundant – more than 200 cm (80 in) per year –
and temperatures are warm to hot year-round.
Tropical rainforests
– are found high in the mountains where fog and mist keep vegetation wet all the time.
Cloud Forests
- Drought-tolerant forests that look brown and dormant in the dry season but burst into vivid
green during rainy months. - Often called Dry Tropical Forests because they are dry much of the year; however, there must
be some periodic rain to support tree growth.
Tropical Seasonal Forests
- also known as prairies or steppes; receive between 25 and 75 cm of rain per year.
Grasslands
- extensive grasslands w/ occasional or patches of trees; typically tropical w/ 50-150 cm of rain per year.
Savannas
- Occur where precipitation is rare and unpredictable, usually with less than 30 cm of rain per
year. - Their vegetation is sparse, but it can be surprisingly diverse, and most desert plants and animals
are highly adapted to survive long droughts and extreme heat, and many can survive extreme
cold.
Desert
As in tropical latitudes, it occur where there is enough rain to support abundant grass but not enough for forests.
temperate grasslands
Most grassland is a complex, diverse mix of grasses and flowering herbaceous plants, generally
known as .
forbs
- Evergreen shrubs with small, leathery, sclerophyllous (hard, waxy) leaves form dense thickets.
- Scrub oaks, drought-resistant pines, or other small trees often cluster in sheltered valleys.
Temperate Shrublands
In California, this landscape is called _______, Spanish for “thicket”.
chaparral
Types of Biomes: (17 answers)
- Terrestrial Biomes
- Tropical Moist Forests
- Tropical Seasonal Forests
- Tropical Savannas and Grasslands
- Desert
- Temperate Grasslands
- Temperate Shrublands
- Temperate Forests
- Boreal Forest
- Tundra
- Coastal Zones
- Freshwater Lakes
- Wetlands
- Swamps
- Marshes
- Bogs
- Fens
- Broadleaf forests occur throughout the world where rainfall is plentiful.
- In mid latitudes, these forests are deciduous and lose their leaves in winter.
Deciduous Forests
- Grow in a wide range of temperature and moisture conditions.
- Often they occur where moisture is limited: in cold climates, moisture is unavailable (frozen) in
winter; hot climates may have seasonal drought; sandy soils hold little moisture, and they are
often occupied by conifers.
Coniferous Forests
- Or Northern Forests
- Lie between about 50° and 60° north.
- Mountainous areas at lower latitudes
Boreal Forest
The extreme, ragged edge of the boreal forest, where forest gradually gives way to open tundra, is
known by its Russian name, ______.
Taiga
- A treeless landscape that occurs at high latitudes or on mountaintops, has a growing season of
only two or three months, and it may have frost any month of the year. - A variant of grasslands because it has no trees
- Very cold desert because water is unavailable (frozen) most of the year.
Tundra
- An expansive biome that has low productivity because it has a short growing season. During midsummer, 24-hour sunshine supports a burst of plant growth and an explosion of insect life.
Arctic Tundra
- Occurring on a near mountain top, has environmental conditions and vegetation similar to arctic tundra. These areas have a short, intense growing season.
Alpine Tundra
- Vary mainly with depth, temperature, and salinity.
- Coral reefs and estuaries are among the world’s most productive and diverse ecosystem
Marine Ecosystem
is a key feature of aquatic ecosystems, mainly because light decreases rapidly with depth, and communities below the photic zone must rely on energy sources other than photosynthesis to persist. Temperature also decreases with depth.
Vertical stratification
(light zone, often reaching about 20
m deep)
photic zone
are microscopic floating algae that carry on photosynthesis in pelagic
ecosystem
Phytoplankton
are small, weakly swimming animals that feed on phytoplankton.
Zooplanktons
Ocean Systems based on depth and proximity to shore: (7 answers)
- Benthic
- Pelagic zone
- Epipelagic zone
- Abyssal Zone
- Hadal Zone
- Littoral Zones
- Intertidal Zone
communities occur on the bottom.
Benthic
(from “sea” in Greek) are the water column
Pelagic zone
(epi = on top) has photosynthetic organisms. Below this are the
mesopelagic (meso = medium), and bathypelagic (bathos = deep) zones.
Epipelagic zone
Ocean depth up to 4,000 m
Abyssal Zone
Ocean depth up to 6,000 m
Hadal Zone
– located at shorelines
Littoral Zones
– located at area exposed by low tides.
Intertidal Zone
– are among the best-known marine ecosystems because of their extraordinary biological
productivity and their diverse and beautiful organisms.
Coral Reefs
– are trees that grow in salt water. They occur along calm, shallow, tropical coastlines around the world. these type of forests or swamps help stabilize shorelines, and they are also critical nurseries for fish, shrimp, and other commercial species.
Mangroves
– are bays where rivers empty into the sea, mixing fresh water with salt water
Estuaries
– shallow wetlands flooded regularly or occasionally with seawater, occur on shallow coastlines, including estuaries.
Salt marshes
– are depressions in a rocky shoreline that are flooded at high tide but retain some water at low tide. These areas remain rocky where wave action prevents most plant growth or sediment (mud) accumulation.
Tide Pools
– are low, narrow, sandy islands that form to parallel to a coastline
Barrier Islands
- Vary according to depth and light penetration, which control size and types of vegetation.
- Often small but they are disproportionately important in biodiversity
Freshwater Ecosystems
- Like marine environments, have distinct vertical zones.
Freshwater Lakes
Vertical Zones: (5 answers)
- Freshwater Lakes
- Epilimnion
- Hypolimnion
- Thermocline
- Mesolimnion
- Shallow ecosystems in which the land surface is saturated or submerged at least part of the
year. - Have vegetation that is adapted to grow under saturated conditions.
Wetlands
- Also known as wooded wetlands
- Wetlands with trees.
Swamps
- Wetlands without trees.
Marshes
- Areas of saturated ground, and usually the ground are composed of deep layers of accumulated, undecayed vegetation known as peat.
Bogs
- Similar to bogs except that they are mainly fed by groundwater, so that they have mineral-rich
water and specially adapted plant species.
Fens
- Humans have become dominant organisms over most of the earth, damaging or disturbing
more than half of the world’s terrestrial ecosystems to some extent.
Human Disturbance
