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
Climate similarity with biomes.
http://www.vividmaps.com/p/cities-with-similar-climates.html