Terrestrial Biomes
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| climate/ˈklaɪmət/ | The long-term pattern that sets the stage for life. |
| biome/ˈbaɪəʊm/ | A large region defined by its climate and characteristic life. |
| terrestrial/təˈrestrɪəl/ | terrestrial |
| tundra/ˈtʌndrə/ | tundra |
| taiga/ˈteɪɡə/ | taiga |
The great regions of life
- Fly across a continent and the landscape changes: forest, then grassland, then desert.
- Each of these broad zones has its own climate and its own kinds of life.
- These large life-zones are called biomes.
- Climate decides which biome you find where.
What a biome is
- A biome 生物群系 is a large region defined by its climate and characteristic life.
- All rainforests share a similar look and similar kinds of species.
- Terrestrial 陆地的 biomes are the land-based ones.
- Each biome is a patchwork of many ecosystems that share a climate.
A tropical rainforest: hot and wet all year, giving dense layered plant life and the richest biodiversity of any land biome
A desert: very low precipitation, so only sparse drought-adapted life survives
A biome is…
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A biome is a large area with a distinctive climate and the plants and animals adapted to it.
Climate shapes the biome
- Two factors mainly decide a terrestrial biome: temperature and rainfall.
- Warm and wet gives tropical rainforest; warm and dry gives desert.
- Cold regions give tundra or taiga (boreal forest).
- Climate 气候 is the long-term pattern that sets the stage for life.
Which two factors mainly determine a terrestrial biome?
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Climate — mainly temperature and rainfall — decides which biome forms in a region.
The cold, treeless biome with frozen ground for much of the year is the ____.
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The tundra is cold and treeless, with permanently frozen ground (permafrost) below the surface.
A tour of the biomes
- Tropical rainforest: hot, wet, and bursting with species.
- Desert: hot days, cold nights, almost no rain.
- Grassland: seasonal rain, dominated by grasses.
- Tundra 苔原 and taiga 泰加林: cold biomes with frozen ground or conifer forests.
Match the biome to its climate
Sort each terrestrial biome by the temperature and rainfall that define it.
Biomes are set by continent, so the same climate produces different biomes in Africa and America.
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False. Similar climates give similar biomes worldwide: deserts look alike whether in Africa or America, because temperature and rainfall shape the vegetation.
Select all true statements about terrestrial biomes.
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A biome is a whole region with many species, not one species. The other three are correct.
The same climate produces the same biome, even on far-apart continents. A desert in Africa and a desert in Australia look alike because the climate, not the location, defines the biome. Match by temperature and rainfall, not by map position.
Why rainforests cluster near the equator:
- Near the equator, sunlight is strong all year and rainfall is heavy.
- That hot, wet climate favours fast-growing, broad-leaved trees.
- So tropical rainforest appears in a band around the equator — in South America, Africa, and Asia alike.
A biome is a large region defined by its climate and characteristic life. Terrestrial biomes — rainforest, desert, grassland, tundra, taiga — are set mainly by temperature and rainfall. The same climate produces a similar biome anywhere on Earth.