Biomes of the World

Equatorial Zone

Equatorial rainforest – around equator

• Amazon rainforest, Congo basin, and east indies
• Uniform weather through out the year
• Rains in the afternoons
• Double rainfall peaks coinciding with the equinoxes
• Canopy structure – layered trees
• Epiphytes
• Unfertile soil
• Abundance of species
• Difficult to penetrate the jungle
• Cloud Forests – relates to Selvas
• Hardwood trees – mahogany, rosewood, rubber, ebony etc.
• Major Tribal groups :
  • Malaysia – Semang
  • Sumatra – Kubus
  • Borneo – Dayaks
  • Congo Basin – Pygmies
  • South America – Amazon Indians

 

Hot Zone

Desert

• Evaporation exceeds precipitation
• Hot desert – around west coasts, around offshore trade winds zone, cold ocean currents influence, hot days, cold nights
• e.g.. Atacama desert, Sahara, great Australian desert, Mohave desert, Kalahari desert
• Mid latitude desert – continentalism e.g.. Gobi desert / rain shadow e.g. Patagonia desert
• Scanty rainfall
• Large roots, wide spread shallow roots
• Oil rich countries
• Camel dependent
• E.g. Dubai
• Major Tribal groups
  • Western Sahara – Tuaregs
  • Arabian Desert – Bedouins
  • Kalahari – Bushmen
  • Australia – Bindibus

 

Savannah or Sudan/ tropical grassland

• Africa – national geo shot
• Masai – cattle pastoralist – on the run – cattle as their god
• Hausa – settled cultivators
• Tall grasses and short trees a.k.a elephant grass
• Distinct weather – wet summer and Dry winter
• Llanos – Venezuela
• Campos – Brazil

 

Tropical monsoon

• India
• Dry, cold winter
• Wet and humid summer
• South west monsoon and retreating NE monsoon – seasonal reversal of winds
• Broad leaves deciduous trees
• Teak, sal, rosewood, bamboos, deodar

 

Tropical marine

• Around east coasts, trade winds
• Burma teak famous, spices, tea and coffee plantations, sugar cane, bamboo trees

 

Warm Temperate Zone

Warm temperate – Mediterranean

• Med region, SFO, south Chile, south west Australia and Africa
• Influenced by westerlies and movement of ITCZ
• Hot summer and wet winter 
• World’s orchard land
• Known for wines, orchids and grapes – Viticulture
• Sclerophyllous vegetation is best developed here
• Walnut, Figs, Chestnut, Almond, Cedar are found
  • California – Chapparal
  • Europe – Maquis
  • South Africa – Fynbos

 

Steppe grassland – temperate grassland

• Prairie – America
• Pampas – Argentina
• Pustaz – Hungary
• Steppe – Russia
• Veld – South Africa
• Downs – Australia
• Canterbury – NZ
• Wheat and pastoral
• Short grasses – dairy industry, cheese
• Granaries of the world
• Major Tribal Groups
  • Central Asia – Kirghiz
  • North America – Red Indians
  • South Africa – Hottentots

 

Eastern warm temperate – China type

• Gulf type – SE America – Florida, NC, SC, Indiana etc.. , south Japan
• natal type
• Influenced by monsoon
• Cotton, tobacco and corn in gulf
• Rice in South East China
• Affected by tropical cyclones and hurricanes
• Mulberry thrives the best in this region

 

Cool Temperate Zone

Cool temperate – British type – temperate deciduous

• Vancouver BC, Seattle areas, Britain
• Four seasons – winter, spring, summer and fall
• Deciduous trees
• Salmon fish
• Shed leaves
• Oak, Elm, maple, beech and birch are the trees found here

 

Temperate evergreen/ coniferous/ boreal/ taiga

• Around Southern Alaska, Canada, Siberia
• East west stretch – largest biome on the land
• Absent in southern hemisphere
• Pine, spruce, fir trees – coniferous trees
• Needle shaped trees
• Olympic national park, Banff national park etc..
• Soft wooded trees
• Wood and pulp industry – lumbering

 

Eastern cool temperate – Laurentian type

• NE America and north Japan
• Greatest fishing zones of the world
• Warm and cold current meet
• Have best technologies in fishing
• Absent in southern hemisphere – continent tapers down
• Japan
  • Non agri land
  • Protein source of fish
  • Currents meet, technology in fishing

 

Cold Zone

Tundra

• Around poles
• Largest wetlands of the world
• Northern Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland and northern Russia
• Frozen desert
• Denali national park
• Permafrost – Permanently frozen sub soil
• Snow in winter, beautiful landscape in summer
• Bugyals in Himalayas
• Mosses, lichens, Rhododendrons

 

 

Marine

• largest biome
• most stable biome
• covers 75% of Earth’s surface
• provides majority of Earth’s food and oxygen