Biome

Further information: Vegetation type

there are many biomes tundra , grassland, tropical rain forest, Savannah and many more.

A map of different biomes around the world.

A biome /ˈbaɪoʊm/ is a formation of plants and animals that have common characteristics due to similar climates and can be found over a range of continents.[1] Biomes are distinct from habitats, because any biome can comprise a variety of habitats.

A biome contrasts with a microbiome. A microbiome is also a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space, but on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on a human.

Classification

Biomes are defined by climate regimes and biogeography.

A 1978 study on North American grasslands[2] found a positive logistic correlation between evapotranspiration in mm/yr and above-ground net primary production in g/m2/yr. The general results from the study were that precipitation and water use led to above-ground primary production, while solar irradiation and temperature lead to below-ground primary production (roots), and temperature and water lead to cool and warm season growth habit.[3] These findings help explain the categories used in Holdridge’s bioclassification scheme (see below), which were then later simplified by Whittaker. The number of classification schemes and the variety of determinants used in those schemes, however, should be taken as strong indicators that biomes do not fit perfectly into the classification schemes created.

Holdridge

Holdridge classified climates based on the biological effects of temperature and rainfall on vegetation under the assumption that these two abiotic factors are the largest determinants of the types of vegetation found in a habitat. Holdridge uses the four axes to define 30 so-called "humidity provinces", which are clearly visible in his diagram. While this scheme largely ignores soil and sun exposure, Holdridge acknowledged that these were important.

Whittaker's biome-type classification scheme

The distribution of vegetation types as a function of mean annual temperature and precipitation.

Whittaker classified biomes using two abiotic factors: precipitation and temperature. His scheme can be seen as a simplification of Holdridge's; more readily accessible, but missing Holdridge's greater specificity.

Whittaker based his approach on theoretical assertions and empirical sampling. He was in a unique position to make such a holistic assertion because he had previously compiled a review of biome classifications.[4]

Key definitions for understanding Whittaker's scheme

Physiognomy
The apparent characteristics, outward features, or appearance of ecological communities or species.
Biome
A grouping of terrestrial ecosystems on a given continent that are similar in vegetation structure, physiognomy, features of the environment and characteristics of their animal communities.
Formation
A major kind of community of plants on a given continent.
Biome-type
Grouping of convergent biomes or formations of different continents, defined by physiognomy.
Formation-type
A grouping of convergent formations.

Whittaker's distinction between biome and formation can be simplified: formation is used when applied to plant communities only, while biome is used when concerned with both plants and animals. Whittaker's convention of biome-type or formation-type is simply a broader method to categorize similar communities.[5]

Whittaker's parameters for classifying biome-types

Whittaker, seeing the need for a simpler way to express the relationship of community structure to the environment, used what he called "gradient analysis" of ecocline patterns to relate communities to climate on a worldwide scale. Whittaker considered four main ecoclines in the terrestrial realm.[5]

  1. Intertidal levels: The wetness gradient of areas that are exposed to alternating water and dryness with intensities that vary by location from high to low tide
  2. Climatic moisture gradient
  3. Temperature gradient by altitude
  4. Temperature gradient by latitude

Along these gradients, Whittaker noted several trends that allowed him to qualitatively establish biome-types:

Whittaker summed the effects of gradients (3) and (4) to get an overall temperature gradient, and combined this with gradient (2), the moisture gradient, to express the above conclusions in what is known as the Whittaker classification scheme. The scheme graphs average annual precipitation (x-axis) versus average annual temperature (y-axis) to classify biome-types.

Walter system

The eponymously-named Heinrich Walter classification scheme considers the seasonality of temperature and precipitation. The system, also assessing precipitation and temperature, finds nine major biome types, with the important climate traits and vegetation types. The boundaries of each biome correlate to the conditions of moisture and cold stress that are strong determinants of plant form, and therefore the vegetation that defines the region. Extreme conditions, such as flooding in a swamp, can create different kinds of communities within the same biome.

I. Equatorial
II. Tropical
III. Subtropical
  • Highly seasonal, arid climate
  • Desert vegetation with considerable exposed surface
IV. Mediterranean
  • Winter rainy season and summer drought
  • Sclerophyllous (drought-adapted), frost-sensitive shrublands and woodlands
V. Warm temperate
  • Occasional frost, often with summer rainfall maximum
  • Temperate evergreen forest, somewhat frost-sensitive
VI. Nemoral
  • Moderate climate with winter freezing
  • Frost-resistant, deciduous, temperate forest
VII. Continental
  • Arid, with warm or hot summers and cold winters
  • Grasslands and temperate deserts
VIII. Boreal
  • Cold temperate with cool summers and long winters
  • Evergreen, frost-hardy, needle-leaved forest (taiga)
IX. Polar
  • Short, cool summers and long, cold winters
  • Low, evergreen vegetation, without trees, growing over permanently frozen soils

Bailey system

Robert G. Bailey nearly developed a biogeographical classification system for the United States in a map published in 1976. He subsequently expanded the system to include the rest of North America in 1981, and the world in 1989. The Bailey system, based on climate, is divided into seven domains (polar, humid temperate, dry, humid, and humid tropical), with further divisions based on other climate characteristics (subarctic, warm temperate, hot temperate, and subtropical; marine and continental; lowland and mountain).[6]

WWF system

A team of biologists convened by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) developed an ecological land classification system that identified fourteen biomes,[7] called major habitat types, and further divided the world's land area into 882 terrestrial ecoregions (includes new Antarctic ecoregions by Terrauds et al. 2012). Each terrestrial ecoregion has a specific EcoID, format XXnnNN (XX is the ecozone, nn is the biome number, NN is the individual number). This classification is used to define the Global 200 list of ecoregions identified by the WWF as priorities for conservation. The WWF major habitat types are:

Freshwater biomes

According to the WWF, the following are classified as freshwater biomes:[8]

Realms or ecozones (terrestrial and freshwater, WWF)

Marine biomes

Marine biomes (H) (major habitat types), Global 200 (WWF)

Biomes of the coastal and continental shelf areas (neritic zone – List of ecoregions (WWF))

Realms or ecozones (marine, WWF)

  • North temperate Atlantic
  • Eastern tropical Atlantic
  • Western tropical Atlantic
  • South temperate Atlantic
  • North temperate Indo-Pacific
  • Central Indo-Pacific
  • Eastern Indo-Pacific
  • Western Indo-Pacific
  • South temperate Indo-Pacific
  • Southern Ocean
  • Antarctic
  • Arctic
  • Mediterranean

Other marine habitat types
Major habitats, nonglobal 200 (WWF)

Summary – ecological taxonomy (WWF)

Example

Anthropogenic biomes

Humans have altered global patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. As a result, vegetation forms predicted by conventional biome systems can no longer be observed across much of Earth's land surface as they have been replaced by crop and rangelands or cities. Anthropogenic biomes provide an alternative view of the terrestrial biosphere based on global patterns of sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems, including agriculture, human settlements, urbanization, forestry and other uses of land. Anthropogenic biomes offer a new way forward in ecology and conservation by recognizing the irreversible coupling of human and ecological systems at global scales and moving us toward an understanding of how best to live in and manage our biosphere and the anthropogenic biomes we live in.

Major anthropogenic biomes

Dermal biome

The dermal biome is the living ecosystem that animals (including humans) have evolved, that permits them to live symbiotically and in balance with the microbes on and in them (the microbiome). This ecosystem consists of skin, follicles, hair, sebaceous glands, sweat glands, arrector pili muscles, peptides, proteins, lipids and its associated microbiota. A healthy dermal biome has several functions: it resists infection of pathogens, protects against moisture loss and water damage, dynamically regulates body temperature and supports the healthy renewal of skin through the epidermal cell life cycle.

Other biomes

The endolithic biome, consisting entirely of microscopic life in rock pores and cracks, kilometers beneath the surface, has only recently been discovered, and does not fit well into most classification schemes.

Freshwater biomes

The drainage basins of the principal oceans and seas of the world are marked by continental divides. The grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the ocean.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The World's Biomes, Retrieved August 19, 2008, from University of California Museum of Paleontology
  2. ↑ Sims, Phillip L.; Singh, J.S. (July 1978). "The Structure and Function of Ten Western North American Grasslands: III. Net Primary Production, Turnover and Efficiencies of Energy Capture and Water Use". Journal of Ecology (British Ecological Society) 66 (2): 573–597. doi:10.2307/2259152.
  3. ↑ Pomeroy, Lawrence R. and James J. Alberts, editors. Concepts of Ecosystem Ecology. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1988.
  4. ↑ Whittaker, Robert H., Botanical Review, Classification of Natural Communities, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Jan–Mar 1962), pp. 1–239.
  5. 1 2 Whittaker, Robert H. Communities and Ecosystems. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1975.
  6. ↑ http://www.fs.fed.us/land/ecosysmgmt/index.html Bailey System, US Forest Service
  7. ↑ Olson et al. (2001); Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth, BioScience, Vol. 51, No. 11., pp. 933–938.
  8. ↑ "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: Major Habitat Types" . Accessed May 12, 2008.
  9. ↑ WWF: Marine Ecoregions of the World
  10. ↑ Zimmer, Carl (March 19, 2015). "The Next Frontier: The Great Indoors". New York Times. Retrieved March 2015.

External links

Look up Biome in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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