Tundra

The tropical rainforest also called as the Worlds Largest Pharmacy is one
of the worlds most threatened biomes, despite being home to some of the
most diverse and unique species on the planet. Many of the worlds most
colorful creatures reside in rainforests, and animals from tiny organisms to
large wild cats find homes amongst the range of plant life. A home for over
15 million species of plants and animals.

In Tropical Rainforest there are four main

characteristics:
Very high annual rainfall
High average temperatures
Climate- Tropical rainforests are warm and humid.
Nutrient-poor soil
The temperature ranges from 21 to 30 degrees
Celsius (70 to 85F).
The average annual temperature of tropical
rainforests is above 20 C.

Tropical rainforests have dense vegetation. From ground

level up these levels of vegetation are:
The shrub layer. It is dark and gloomy with very little
vegetation between the trees. During heavy rainfalls this area
can flood.
The under canopy is the second level up. There is limited
sunlight. Saplings wait here for larger plants and trees to die,
leaving a gap in the canopy which they can grow into. Woody
climbers called lianas avoid having to wait for gaps by rooting
in the ground and climbing up trees to get to the sunlight.
The canopy is where the upper parts of most of the trees are
found. The canopy is typically about 65 to 130 feet (20 to 40
metres) tall. This leafy environment is home to insects,
arachnids, birds and some mammals.
The emergents are the tops of the tallest trees in the
rainforest. These are much higher, and so are able to get
more light than the average trees in the forest canopy.

ANIMALS LIVING
Tropical rainforests support a greater number and
variety of animals than any other biome. One of the
reasons for this great variety of animals is the constant
warmth. Tropical rainforests also provide a nearly
constant supply of water and a wide variety of food for
the animals. Small animals, including monkeys, birds,
snakes, rodents, frogs, and lizards are common in the
tropical rainforest. Many of these animals and a
multitude of insects never set foot on the ground. The
animals use the tall trees and understory for shelter,
hiding places from their predators, and a source of food.

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Tropical rainforests are located around the equator where

temperatures stay near 80 degrees F year round. Rainforests
receive 160 to 400 inches (400-1000 cm) of rain each year. The
largest rainforests are in Brazil (South America), Zaire (Africa) and
Indonesia (South East Asia). Other tropical rainforest places are in
Hawaii and the islands of the Pacific & Caribbean.
LOCATION IN THE GLOBE
Tropical rainforests are found in the worlds hottest and wettest areas, namely
those closest to the equator. The worlds largest tropical rainforests are in
Amazon basin in South America, lowland regions in Africa, and the islands off
of Southeast Asia. While they are found in abundant in Sumatra and New
Guinea, small areas are also found in Central America and parts of Australia.

ADAPTATION OF ORGANISMS

1. Bark
In drier, temperate deciduous forests a thick bark helps to limit
moisture evaporation from the tree's trunk. Since this is not a
concern in the high humidity of tropical rainforests, most trees have
a thin, smooth bark. The smoothness of the bark may also make it
difficult for other plants to grow on their surface.
2. Lianas
Lianas are climbing woody vines that drape rainforest trees. They
have adapted to life in the rainforest by having their roots in the
ground and climbing high into the tree canopy to reach available
sunlight. Many lianas start life in the rainforest canopy and send
roots down to the ground.
3. Drip Tips
The leaves of forest trees have adapted to cope with exceptionally
high rainfall. Many tropical rainforest leaves have a drip tip. It is
thought that these drip tips enable rain drops to run off quickly.
Plants need to shed water to avoid growth of fungus and bacteria in
the warm, wet tropical rainforest.
4. Buttresses
Many large trees have massive ridges near the base that can rise 30
feet high before blending into the trunk. Why do they form? Buttress
roots provide extra stability, especially since roots of tropical
rainforest trees are not typically as deep as those of trees in
temperate zones.
5. Prop and Stilt Roots
Prop and stilt roots help give support and are characteristic of
tropical palms growing in shallow, wet soils. Although the tree grows
fairly slowly, these above-ground roots can grow 28 inches a month.
6. Epiphytes
Epiphytes are plants that live on the surface of other plants,
especially the trunk and branches. They grow on trees to take
advantage of the sunlight in the canopy. Most are orchids,
bromeliads, ferns, and Philodendron relatives. Tiny plants called
epiphylls, mostly mosses, liverworts and lichens, live on the surface
of leaves.

PEOPLE LIVING

Tropical rainforests are home to tribal peoples who rely on

their surroundings for food, shelter, and medicines. Today very
few forest people live in traditional ways; most have been
displaced by outside settlers or have been forced to give up
their lifestyles by governments.
In Africa there are native forest dwellers sometimes
known as pygmies. The tallest of these people, also
called the Mbuti, rarely exceed 5 feet in height. Their
small size enables them to move about the forest more
efficiently than taller people.

FACTS
Rainforests are extremely important because the water they produce is
evaporated and then used as rain in other areas.
The average temperature of the tropical rainforest remains between 70 and
85 F.
The tropical rainforest is very rainy as its name implies. The rainfall can
reach up to 400 inches in one year.
Orchids are a type of epiphyte plant that grows in the tropical rainforest. It
grows on the surface of other plants, usually trees.
The tropical rainforest has hundreds of different types of trees living there.
There are over 2,500 different vine species in the tropical rainforest. Some
have a thickness that equals the circumference of a human being.
Tropical rainforests are one of the oldest biomes on Earth and therefore have
a great variety of animals living there.
About half of all known species of plants and animals live in the tropical
rainforest.
There are some tropical rainforests that have been around since dinosaurs
roamed the Earth.
Most of the animals living in the tropical rainforest live in the trees. There
they can find all of their necessities and rarely have to come down to the
floor of the forest.
Insects make up the majority of living creatures in the tropical rainforest.
Rainforests provide people with many cooking spices such as vanilla,
allspice, and black pepper.
Some people choose to live in the tropical rainforest and become farmers for
the food and spices people eat.
Because of the amount of trees in the tropical rainforest biome, it is
responsible for the majority of the oxygen production in the air that we
breathe.
The droppings of birds in the tropical rainforest grow into new plants.

Grassland
and local climates for the most part determine what kinds of plants grow in a particular
grassland. A grassland is a region where the average annual precipitation is great enough
to support grasses, and in some areas a few trees. The precipitation is so erratic that
drought and fire prevent large forests from growing. Grasses can survive fires because
they grow from the bottom instead of the top. Their stems can grow again after being
burned off. The soil of most grasslands is also too thin and dry for trees to survive. There
are two main divisions of grasslands: (1) tropical grasslands, called savannas, and
(2) temperate grasslands.

Savanna is grassland with

Temperate grasslands have

scattered individual trees.

hot summers and cold winters.

Savannas of one sort or

Rainfall is moderate. The

another cover almost half the

amount of annual rainfall

surface of Africa (about five

influences the height of

million square miles, generally

grassland vegetation, with

central Africa) and large areas

taller grasses in wetter

General Characteristics
dominant vegetation
trees and large shrubs are absent
temperatures vary more from summer
to winter
The amount of rainfall is less in
temperate grasslands than
in savannas.

Climate
Vegetation
Temperate
grasslands have hot summers and cold winters. Summer
temperatures can be well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while winter
Low to moderate
precipitation
temperate
grasslands
temperatures
can makes
be as low
as -40 degrees
Fahrenheit. They typically
a difficult place for tall
plants
such as
trees to
have
between
10 woody
and 35shrubs
inches and
of precipitation
a year, much of it
grow. Grasses ofoccurring
this area in
have
adapted
to
cold
temperatures,
the late spring and early summer. Snow often serves as a
drought, and occasional
fires.
These grasses
deep,of the growing season.
reservoir of moisture
for thehave
beginning
massive root systems
that drought
take hold
in occasional
the soil. This
allows
Seasonal
and
fires
helpthe
maintain these grasslands.
grasses to remain firmly rooted in the ground to reduce erosion
and to conserve water.
Location in the Globe
There
twobebroad
Temperate grassland vegetation
can are
either
shorttypes
or tall.of grasslands in temperate
latitudes:
Prairie
and low
Steppe.
In areas that receive little precipitation,
grasses
remain
to thePrairie grasslands are found
the globe.
Theyreceive
have a variety of names in other
ground. Taller grasses can be foundacross
in warmer
areas that
of the in
world:
pampas in South America, veldt in
more rainfall. Some examples ofparts
vegetation
temperate
South Africa and puszta in Hungary.
Animal Thriving
Temperate grasslands have a low diversity of
wildlife, but a high abundance of wildlife. In North
America the dominant grazing animals
are bison and pronghorn. Rodents include pocket
gophers and prairie dogs. Carnivores
include wolves, coyotes, swift foxes, badgers
Adaptation
and black-footed ferrets. Birds
include grouses,
meadowlarks, quails, sparrows,
hawks and owls.
Geographical
Some animals, such as
bison, haveLocation
broad, flat-topped
Foundand
in the
middle of large
land masses
or continents.
Thetotwo
major areas are
teeth
digestive
systems
especially
adapted
feed
the
prairies
in
North
America
and
the
steppe
which
straddles
Europe
and Asia.
on grasses.
The majority of this biome is found between 40 and 60 north or south of the
Equator.

Many prairie animals have front legs and paws that

allow them to burrow into the ground, where they are
protected from predators.

Many prairie animals are adapted for nocturnal life; that

is, they are active at night, which helps conceal their
presence from predators.

People Living
About 800 million people live in grasslands.
In America, most of the original land has
Facts
been turned into agricultural uses and urban
Grassland Biome Facts
areas. On the contrary, very few people live
Grassland biomes are made mostly of grasses. They are said to be between a forest
in the Steppe climate because of the harsh
and a desert when it comes to rainfall. They do not receive enough rainfall to grow
trees like a forest but they contain lots of grass so they receive more rain than a
desert.
Interesting Grassland Biome Facts:
Grasslands are also known as prairies, pampas, steppes, and savannas.
Grassland biomes are normally situated between a forest and a desert. In fact,
grasslands surround every desert in Asia.
Twenty-five percent of the Earth is covered by the grassland biome.
There is a grassland biome on each continent with the exception of Antarctica.
Tropical and temperate are the two kinds of grasslands. Tropical grasslands
experience warm weather all year long while temperate grasslands are warm part
of the year and very cold during the other part.
Grasslands are perfect for cropping and pasturing because its soil runs deep and
is extremely fertile.
Periodic fires, whether they are human induced or occur spontaneously, are very
important to the grassland to ensure that invasive plants do not take over.
Tropical grassland biomes are located in the Southern Hemisphere while
temperate grassland biomes are located in the Northern Hemisphere.
The grasses in the tropical grassland biome tend to be taller than that of the
temperate because of the constant warm weather and additional rainfall it
receives.
Since grassland biomes have rich soil, much of them are used for farming. There
is only 2% of the original grassland left in North America.
There are two seasons in the temperate grassland: the growing season and the
dormant season. Plants do not grow during the dormant season because the
climate is too cold during that time.
Animals that you can expect to find in a grassland biome are zebras, lions,
wolves, prairie dogs, and foxes. The animal diversity is dependent upon the

Desert
Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's land surface. Most
Hot and Dry Deserts are near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic
of Capricorn. Cold Deserts are near the Arctic part of the world.
There are four major types of desert:
Hot and Dry
Semiarid
Coastal
Cold
A Hot and Dry Desert is, as you can tell from the name,
hot and dry. Most Hot and Dry Deserts don't have very
many plants. They do have some low down plants though.
The only animals they have that can survive have the
ability to burrow underground. This is because they would
not be able to live in the hot sun and heat. They only come
out in the night when it is a little cooler.
A cold desert is a desert that has snow in the winter
instead of just dropping a few degrees in temperature like
they would in a Hot and Dry Desert. It never gets warm
enough for plants to grow. Just maybe a few grasses and
mosses. The animals in Cold Deserts also have to burrow
but in this case to keep warm, not cool. That is why you
might find some of the same animals here as you would in
the Hot and Dry Deserts.

The major deserts of semiarid include the sagebrush of Utah, Montana and
Great Basin. They also include the Nearctic realm (North America,
Newfoundland, Greenland, Russia, Europe and northern Asia).
The coastal deserts occur in moderately cool to warm areas such as the
The summers are moderately long and dry, and like hot deserts, the winters
Nearctic andnormally
Neotropical
realm.
A good exampleofisrainfall.
the Atacama
of Chile.
bring
low concentrations
Summer
temperatures usually
average between 21-27 C.
The cool winters of coastal deserts are followed by moderately long, warm
summers. The average summer temperature ranges from 13-24 C; winter
temperatures are 5 C or below.

General Characteristics
the presence of high pressure, creating
cloud-free conditions
cold ocean currents
mountain ranges to create rain shadows
Climate
The desert's climate is very hot and dry. Not many plants and
animals can survive, but the ones that do are adapted to the
torturous climate. As if the heat were not enough, at night it
cools down to very cold temperatures. Deserts are usually
located in areas near the equator. Most are just barren land
with sand that stretches for miles. The climate controls for this
region are latitude because they are positioned near the
equator. Another control is land & water because land heats
up and cools down much Vegetation
faster than water making the climate
more extreme.
Hot and Dry Deserts vegetation
is very rare. Plants are almost
all ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. All of the
leaves are replete (packed with nutrients). For all of these
plants to survive they have to have adaptations. Some of the
adaptations in this case are the ability to store water for long
periods of time and the ability to stand the hot weather.

Animal Thriving
Deserts are a very important biome. Mostly because of all the
plants and animals that call the desert "home". Some animals that
live in the hot desert are cold-blooded, like snakes, insects, and
lizards. Mammals that live in the desert are usually small, such as
the kangaroo rat and kit fox.
Location in the Globe
Most deserts lie between 15 and 35 north and south of the
equator. They were created by air that rises over the equator and
comes down over the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn. All over the world many deserts lie in these regions.

Adaptation
Desert plants must change their way of life and get used to the heat
and the dryness. Some flowers only live for a few days. The seeds may
be in the desert ground for years and when it rains they start
to blossom. Plants of the desert usually have small leaves that look
like needles. Such plants can live with very little water, which
they store in the needles or stems. Some plants have long roots that
reach up to 80 metres below the surface. Most animals stay in
the shade during the daytime and look for food at night when it gets
cooler. They get water from the food they eat or from the water holes in
People Living
the desert. Some animals sleep during the summer. Camels are animals
that
are fitwho
to live
desert.
They
can gothemselves
on for daysfrom
without
People
liveininthe
deserts
must
protect
highdrinking
temperatures during the daytime and low temperatures at night
and in the winter.
Some people live in mud houses that are painted white. They
keep out the heat during the daytime and protect people from
cold evenings. Nomads in Africa live in tents and move around

The Sahara - The biggest desert in the world

The Sahara is the biggest desert in the world. The landscape is
made up of mountain ranges, rocky plateaus and sandy plains
called ergs. The Nile is the only river that carries water all year
long. It flows through the Sahara in Sudan and Egypt.
The desert reaches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red
Sea in the east over 3,500 km. The highest peaks are in the
Tibesti mountains. They reach a height of about 3,500 meters.