World Biomes and Climate Zones Learning Objective • To understand what biomes are and where they are located across the world.
Success Criteria • To identify where different biomes are located. • To make links between biomes and climate zones. • To implement this new knowledge in a piece of extended writing. What Are Ecosystems and Biomes?
An ecosystem is a system of plants and animals which are interconnected and working together.
Some ecosystems are found under a stone or in a pond and are very small, whereas others are very large and cover the majority of a continent.
An ecosystem covering a large area of a continent is called a biome. Types of Biomes
Colder climates found at high altitudes in mountain ranges. alpine Populated with coniferous trees such as firs and pines.
Hot and dry like a desert, but has more rain and therefore chaparral more plants and animals, including yucca, trees and cacti, coyotes, deer, lizards and jack rabbits. deciduous Warm, wet and mild areas and dominated by deciduous forest trees (trees that lose their leaves in the autumn).
Deserts are dry; less than 25cm rain per year. They can be hot and sandy or cold and icy. Both hot and cold deserts desert can support life as long as it is well adapted, such as cacti and silver ants in hot deserts, and penguins in cold deserts. Types of Biomes desert Very dry areas of hot deserts populated with grasses, herbs scrub and shrubs adapted to live in very arid areas.
Areas where a variety of grasses grow. There are few other trees or plants apart from near to water sources. The grasslands grasslands are very hot places in summer. Some become extremely cold in the winter.
Warm, wet and humid, rainforests are home to half of the world’s species and are populated with dense vegetation and rainforest trees. Rainforest animals include sloths, howler monkeys and jaguars. Types of Biomes
This is a mixture of grasslands and woodland. There are some trees but they are spread out enough to allow the savanna sunlight to reach the ground and grasses in between. Grasslands Animals that live here include zebras, giraffes and lions.
Very wet and cold, receiving plenty of snow during the winter. Coniferous trees are evergreen and remain green all taiga Rainforest year round. The soil is not very nutritious and therefore, the variety of vegetation is limited.
Cold, harsh and difficult for much vegetation to survive. Found at the top of mountains and the Poles. These areas tundra are snow-covered and all life here is very hardy, including mosses, birds and mountain goats. Biome Locations
Grasslands Linking Biomes and Climates
Task 1: Use an atlas (or online Google maps) together with your coloured biomes map to complete the ‘Biome’ column in the table below (which is on your sheet).
AreaGrasslands Biome Climate
North Africa
Northern Russia
India
Central Australia
Eastern USA
UK What is Climate?
The average weather conditions of a location over a long period of time. The UK has a temperate climate: warm summers, mild winters and some rainfall all year. Greenlan d
U K The New York (USA) Alps Spai n Egypt Jamaica India
Brazil Equator
Australia
Click on the circles to find out about the climate of each place. Average Temperature: Greenland - 4.6°C
• Greenland is within the Arctic Circle.
• There are very long winters and very short summers.
• Over 80% of Greenland is covered with snow and ice.
• The temperature is rarely above freezing.
• It is around 10°C in the summer.
• In winter the temperature can drop to around -16°C. Back
Photos courtesy of greenland_com and Greenland Travel @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: United Kingdom 9.3°C
• The UK has warm summers and cool winters. Summers are cooler than others in Europe but winters are milder.
• July and August are the warmest months in the UK.
• January and February are the coldest months.
• The west of the UK is the wettest.
• It rains throughout the year. Back
Photos courtesy of Leimenide and dominiqs @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: The Alps - Europe 8.9°C
• The Alps are a mountain range in Europe. They stretch across eight countries: Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, France, Italy and Monaco.
• The Alps are very cold as the mountains are high up.
• Rain and snow fall on the mountain peaks for most of the year.
• Warm winds make the snow on the mountains melt, which causes avalanches. Back
Photos courtesy of Artur Staszewski and Tambako the Jaguar @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: New York (USA) 8.2°C
• New York has cold winters.
• Summers are very warm and the air is moist.
• January is the coldest month.
• July is the warmest month.
Back
Photos courtesy of All Kinds of New and Anthony Quintano @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: Spain 15.5°C
• Spain has 4 different climates - Mediterranean, Mountain, Continental Mediterranean and Oceanic.
• Summers are clear, hot and dry.
• Winters are cloudy and cool.
• Rain falls mostly in spring and autumn.
Back
Photos courtesy of dynamosquito and Thomas Tolkien @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: Jamaica 25.4°C
• Jamaica has a tropical climate.
• It is hot and warm all year round because it is close to the equator.
• There is little rainfall.
• Hurricanes happen between June and November.
Back
Photos courtesy of MSMcCarthy Photography and Yatmandu @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: India 24.2°C
• India doesn’t have the same seasons as ours. It has:
Winter: from November to January. Summer: from March to May. Monsoons: from June to September. Spring: A hint of spring in early November.
• Monsoons are winds that blow from cold to warm places that bring heavy rain.
Back
Photos courtesy of mallika.viegas and nevil zaveri @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: Brazil – The Amazon Rainforest 24.5°C
• Around 60% of the Amazon rainforest lies in Brazil.
• There is a lot of rainfall.
• It is hot and very humid throughout the year.
• It is close to the equator.
Back
Photos courtesy of CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture and ggallice @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Average Temperature: Australia 17.7°C
• In the summer, Australia is mostly hot everywhere.
• There is very little rainfall overall.
• There are no extreme cold temperatures.
• There are different seasons in different regions.
Back
Photos courtesy of mallika.viegas and nevil zaveri @flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Types of Climate Zone
Biome Description Example Polar Very cold and dry all year round Antarctica
Temperate Cold winters and mild summers UK
Arid Dry and hot all year round Sahara Desert
Tropical Hot and wet all year round Brazil
Mediterranean Dry, hot summers and mild winters Spain
Mountain Very cold, sometimes wet, all year Himalayas Climate Zone Locations
Grasslands Linking Biomes and Climates
Task 2: Now use your knowledge of where these places are located, together with the coloured climate zone locations map to complete the ‘Climate’ column in the table below (which is on your sheet).
AreaGrasslands Biome Climate
North Africa
Northern Russia
India
Central Australia
Eastern USA
UK Report It!
Imagine you are on holiday anywhere in the world!
Write a postcard, email or letter describing the climate and the landscape. You should include a description of the type of weather you are experiencing. You should describe the types of plants and animals you can see there.