Terrestrial Biomes Flashcards
Distribution: equator, subequatorial.
Temperature: 25-29C
Plants: vertically layers, competition for light. Emergent trees, broadleaf evergreens, orchidis, thorny shrubs, succulent plants.
Human impact: destroying forest
Tropical Forest
Distribution: 30 N and S of equator
Temperature: max 50, min -30
Plants: low, widely scattered vegetation. Lots of bare ground. Cacti, euphorbs, shrubs, herbs, spines, CAM photosynthesis, reduced leaf surface.
Animals: snakes, lizards, scorpions, ants, beetles, migratory birds, seed-eating rodents.
Human impact: reduction of natural biodiversity because of irrigation.
Desert
Distribution: equatorial/sub equatorial.
Temperature: 24-29
Plants: scattered trees, flies fireadapted grass, Forbes.
Animals: large herbivores, wildebeests, zebras, predators, lions, hyenas, insects, terimites. Lots of migration.
Human impact: frequent fires kill trees and over hunting cause decline in animals.
Savanna
Distribution: mid latitude coastal regions, Italy Spain, southern Australia and Southern Africa, Western California.
Temperature: 10-12, max 40 in summer.
Plants: shrubs and small trees with many grasses and herbs. High diversity of plants, some seeds only germinate after a hot fire, fire-resistant roots.
Animals: browsers: deer, goats, small mammals, amphibians, birds, reptiles, insects.
Human impact: heavily settle dag conversion, human addition to fires.
Chaparral
Distribution: praries of North America, steppes of Russia, puszta of Hungary.
Temperature: -10 winter 30 summer.
Plants: grasses and forbs short-2m tall grass, grazing by large mammals.
Animals: bison, wild horses, burrowing mammals.
Human impact: ideal for agriculture, converted to farm land, cattle made it a desert
Temperate Grasslands
Distribution: Canada, north Asia (Russia) largest biome on earth.
Temperature: -50 winter 20 summer.
Plants: CONE-BEARING TREES: pine spruce, for hemlock (shaped for snow to pass through branches, needles hold water).
Animals: moose, brown bears, Siberian tigers, insect-killing trees.
Human impact: logging in northern areas. Old stand may disappear.
Northern Coniferous Forest
Distribution: Northern hemisphere: New Zealand, N Europe, Colonial U.S.
Temperature: 0 winter, 35 summer.
Plants: vertical layers, closed canopy, shrub, herb deciduous trees, eucaliputs in Australia.
Animals: mammals, birds, insects.
Human impact: highly settled by humans, logging, ag, recovering though.
Temperate Broadleaf Forest
Distribution: actic ares, 20% of earth, very north of Canada and Russia, alpine tundra even on mountaintops in tropics.
Temperature: -30 winter, 10 summer.
Plants: herbaceous, mosses, grasses, forbs, lichens, shrubs, permanently frozen layer (permifrost) restricts plant growth.
Animals: large grazing musk oxen, caribou reindeer, bears, wolves, foxes, birds in summer.
Human impact: oil extraction.
Tundra
