All studied biomes (0)

1. Key features for all studied biomes.
Tundra The main seasons are winter and summer . The tundra is the world's coldest and driest biomes. The average annual temperature is -28° C. Nights can last for weeks when the sun barely rises during some months in the winter, and the temperature can drop to -70° C. During the summer the sun shines almost 24 hours a day. Summer are usually warm . Average summer temperatures range from 3° to 16°C.
Taiga Taiga is the Russian word for forest and is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America. The taiga is located near the top of the world, just below the tundra biome. The winters in the taiga are very cold with only snowfall. The summers are warm, rainy, and humid. Some of the animals in the taiga hibernate in the winter, some fly south if they can, while some just cooperate with the environment.
GrasslandsGrassland biomes can be found in the middle latitudes. They can have either moist continental climates or dry subtropical climates. There are two different types of grasslands; tall - grass , which are humid and very wet, and short-grass, which are dry, with hotter summers and colder winters than the tall-grass prairie . In the winter, grassland temperatures can be as low as -40° F, and in the summer it can be as high 70° F. There are two real seasons: a growing season and a dormant season.
Deciduos forest The average annual temperature in a deciduous forest is 50° F. The average rainfall is 30 to 60 inches a year . In deciduous forests there are five different zones . The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn , and winter. In the autumn the leaves change color . During the winter months the trees lose their leaves. The animals adapt to the climate by hibernating in the winter and living off the land in the other three seasons.
Desert Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's land surface. Deserts temperature ranges from 20 to 25° C. The extreme maximum temperature ranges from 43.5 to 49°. Hot and Dry Deserts usually have very little rainfall and concentrated rainfall in short periods between long rainless periods. Most Hot and Dry Deserts don't have very many plants . The only animals they have that can survive have the ability to burrow under ground . They only come out in the night when it is a little cooler.
SavannaA savanna is a rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees, which can be found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome. Savannas are also known as tropical grasslands. Savannas have warm temperature year round . There are two very different seasons in a savanna; a very long dry season(winter) and a very wet season. In the dry season only an average of about 4 inches of rain falls . In the summer there is lots of rain. The savanna has a large range of highly specialized plants and animals.
RainforestThe tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. Rain forests belong to the tropical wet climate group. The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 34 °C or drops below 20 °C. Rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of less rain. In monsoonal areas , there is a real dry season. Almost all rain forests lie near the equator. Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface.
Alpine Cold, snowy, windy. In the summer average temperatures range from 10 to 15° C . In the winter the temperatures are below freezing. The winter season can last from October to May. The summer season may last from June to September. The temperatures in the Alpine biome can also change from warm to freezing in one day. Alpine animals have to deal with two types of problems: the cold and too much high UV wavelengths.
4. How are plants adapted to life in the biome?
Tundra plants are small -- usually less than a foot high .The hairs on the stems of many tundra plants, such as the Arctic crocus, help to trap heat near the plant and act as protection from the wind. Plants adapted to the tundra have small waxy leaves to prevent the loss of precious water in this dry environment. Quick- Developing , Cup-Shaped Flowers Soil Not Needed for Growth
Polar Desert- Plants that grow in the Arctic regions must be very hardy and adapted to the extreme winter cold of these environments. Polar desert plants have a summertime growing season, but in the Arctic and Antarctic that season is short---often wildflowers and the other plants that manage to survive here are active only from June to July
Alphine biome- Because of the blustery weather , most plants are small groundcover plants, which grow and reproduce slowly. They protect themselves from the cold and wind by hugging close to the ground. When plants die the cold weather makes it hard for them to decompose quickly. This makes for poor soil conditions . Most alpine plants are adapted to grow in sandy and rocky soil. Plants have also adapted to the dry conditions of the alpine biome. Some
5. How are animals adaapted to life in the biome ?
Tundra: There aren't many different species of insects in the tundra, but black flies, deer flies, mosquitoes and "no-see-ums" can make the tundra a miserable place to be in the summer. Mosquitoes can keep themselves from freezing by replacing the water in their bodies with a chemical called glycerol. It works like an antifreeze and allows them to survive under the snow during the winter. The marshy tundra is a great place for migratory birds like the harlequin duck, sandpipers and plovers.
Polar desert: All the wildlife is connected with sea, because there is very little food on land.
Vast colonies of seabirds can be found nesting on the cliffs of this ecoregion. Not many animals spend all year there.
Alpine biome: Alpine animals adapt to the cold by hibernating, migrating to lower , warmer areas, or insulating their bodies with layers of fat. Animals will also tend to have shorter legs , tails, and ears , in order to reduce heat loss. Alpine animals also have larger lungs, more blood cells and hemoglobin because of the increase of pressure and lack of oxygen at higher altitudes. This is also true for people who have lived on mountains for a long time, like the Indians of the Andes Mountains in South America and the Sherpas of the Himalayas in Asia.
6. What animals live in Arctic and Antarctica .
Arctic- reindeer , polar bear , Arctic fox, narwhal, walrus, seal, ox, moose, orca, and snowy owl Antarctica- blue whale , emperor penguin , weddell seal, octopus, sea star
7. Why is tundra so wet? The warmer weather in summers causes a layer of permafrost, ice that never goes away in the ground, to melt, creating bogs and shallow lakes that don't drain.
8. What is snowline? A snow line is the point above which snow and ice cover the ground throughout the year. The actual snow line may seasonally be significantly lower.
9. What is treeline (timberline)? The treeline is the zone where conditions become too harsh to support growth as large as trees. When viewing a mountain from the side, this line is visible as the place where forests stop and snow, ice and rock begin . Sometimes there is a transition called the krumholtz line, where trees become stunted and warped before disappearing entirely as the altitude increases.
10. Name traditional human activities in tundra and polar desert areas.
Polar desert: Few direct threats exist for this ecoregion, simply because humans are largely absent. But where humans have tread, this ecoregion has suffered. Plans for a northern shipping route through the Russian Arctic could open up oil, gas, and other natural resources for exploitation. This could increase the risk of oil spills and introduce species such as rats to the ecoregion, which could have drastic consequences for nesting seabirds.
Tundra: More people have recently been moving to the tundra to work in the mines and oil industry. New towns and roads are being built to support these people. These developments have interrupted many of the animals’ migrations and feeding patterns, as well as caused damage to the permafrost. It takes so long for the tundra to recover that tire tracks and footprints remain on the ground for decades after they were made. In areas of the tundra there are also many natural resources, like oil.