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• See if you can list, from memory, the 6 characteristics that are necessary for a factor to be considered “biotic”.

Biomes and Ecosystems

What is a biome? A biome is a large geographical region

characterized by a specific climate and distinct types of plants and animals

What is a biome? Sometimes people use the words

“ecosystem” and “biome” interchangeably, meaning they can mean the same thing

However, technically an ecosystem can be much smaller than a biome (it can be as small as a puddle!)

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

• Temperate Deciduous Forests

Yearly Rainfall: 30-49 inches

Average Temperatures: 43 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit

Animals: rabbits, deer, squirrels, bears, lots of birds

Plants: deciduous trees (leaves fall off in the autumn), grass, ferns, woody shrubs

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

• Coniferous Forests

Yearly Rainfall: 14 -30 inches

Average Temperature: 14 – 57 degrees Fahrenheit

Animals: moose, deer, chipmunks, foxes, birds

Plants: evergreen trees (they never lose their leaves and often have needles, like pine trees)

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

• Tropical Rain Forests

Yearly Rainfall: up to 158 inches

Average Temperatures: 68 – 93 degrees Fahrenheit

Plants: hundreds and hundreds of different types (most diversity in the world)

Animals: monkeys, parrots, butterflies, snakes and MANY more!

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

• Temperate Grasslands

Yearly Rainfall: 10 – 30 inches

Average Temperatures: 32 – 86 degrees Fahrenheit

Plants: grass, some flowers

Animals: prairie dogs, mice, bison

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

• SavannaYearly Rainfall: 59 inches

Average Temperatures: 61 – 93 degrees Fahrenheit

Plants: grass, bushes

Animals: lions, zebras, hyenas, elephants

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

Deserts

Yearly Rainfall: less than 10 inches

Average Temperatures: 45 – 100 degrees Fahrenheit

Plants: cacti, some flowers, some bushes

Animals: jack rabbits, rats, lizards, snakes

Let’s Review the Major Biomes

• Tundra Yearly Rainfall: 12-20 inches

Average Temperatures: -14 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit

Plants: ground covered in permafrost and only the surface thaws in the summer so only grass and some shrubs grow

Animals: caribou, wolves, lemmings, hares