sign in sign up
<<
Home , Grassland, Vegetation

Coniferous

Coniferous forest are found in regions of the that experience somewhat long and cold winters, with summer being much shorter. Between the to the north and the forest to the south lies the large area of coniferous forest. Coniferous consist mostly of conifers, trees that grow needles instead of leaves, and cones instead of flowers. Conifers tend to be , that is, they bear needles all long. These adaptations help conifers survive in areas that are very cold or dry. Some of the more common conifers are spruces, pines, and firs.

The in the Coniferous forest is small in size, but large enough to feed the vast population. Most of these animals survive the brutal winters by migrating or hibernating.

Most animals are ; however some and omnivores are thrown in. Animals in Coniferous Forests include the red , moose, snowshoe hare, great horned , and the crossbill.

Common life forms living in this are evergreen trees, small such as rodents, large mammals such as moose and , and a variety of insects, spiders, and life.

Grasslands

Grassland are large, rolling terrains of grasses, flowers and herbs. Latitude, and local for the most part determine what kinds of plants grow in particular . A grassland is a region where the average annual precipitation is great enough to support grasses, and in some areas a few trees. The precipitation is so erratic that and prevent large forests from growing. Grasses can survive because they grow from the bottom instead of the top. Their stems can grow again after being burned off. The soil of most is also too thin and dry for trees to survive.

When the settlers of the moved westward, they found that the grasslands, or as they called them, were more than just dry, flat areas. The prairies contained more than 80 species of animals and 300 species of , and hundreds of species of plants.

There are two different types of grasslands; tall-grass, which are humid and very wet, and short- grass, which are dry, with hotter summers and colder winters than the tall-grass .

Grassland biomes can be found in the middle latitudes, in the interiors of continents. They can have either moist continental climates or dry subtropical climates. In , , the grasslands are known as . The there is humid and moist. Grasslands in the southern hemisphere tend to get more precipitation than those in the northern hemisphere, and the grass tends to be the tall-grass variety.

In the winter, grassland temperatures can be as low as -40° F, and in the summer it can be as high 70° F. There are two real : a growing and a dormant season. The growing season is when there is no frost and plants can grow (which lasts from 100 to 175 days). During the dormant (not growing) season nothing can grow because its too cold. Plants usually start growing when the daily temperature reached about 50° F.

In temperate grasslands the average rainfall per year ranges from 10-30 inches. In tropical and sub-tropical grasslands the average rainfall per year ranges from 25-60 inches per year The amount of rainfall is very important in determining which areas are grasslands because it's hard for trees to compete with grasses in places where the uppers layers of soil are moist during part of the year but where deeper layer of soil are always dry.

The most common types of life on the North American prairie are Buffalo Grass, Sunflower, Crazy Weed, Asters, Blazing Stars, Coneflowers, Goldenrods, , and Wild Indigos.

Some common animals in the grasslands are , Eagles, Bobcats, the Gray , Wild , Fly Catcher, Canadian Geese, Crickets, , , and Prairie Chicken.

Desert

A Hot and Dry is, as you can tell from the name, hot and dry. Most Hot and Dry don't have very many plants. They do have some low down plants though. The only animals they have that can survive have the ability to burrow underground. This is because they would not be able to live in the hot sun and heat. They only come out in the night when it is a little cooler.

A cold desert is a desert that has snow in the winter instead of just dropping a few degrees in temperature like they would in a Hot and Dry Desert. It never gets warm enough for plants to grow. Just maybe a few grasses and mosses. The animals in Cold Deserts also have to burrow but in this case to keep warm, not cool. That is why you might find some of the same animals here as you would in the Hot and Dry Deserts.

Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface. Most Hot and Dry Deserts are near the Tropic of Cancer or the . Cold Deserts are near the Arctic part of the world.

Hot and Dry Deserts temperature ranges from 20 to 25° C. The extreme maximum temperature for Hot Desert ranges from 43.5 to 49° C. Cold Deserts temperature in winter ranges from -2 to 4° C and in the summer 21 to 26° C a year

The precipitation in Hot and Dry Deserts and the precipitation in Cold Deserts is different. Hot and Dry Deserts usually have very little rainfall and/or concentrated rainfall in short periods between long rainless periods. This averages out to under 15 cm a year. Cold Deserts usually have lots of snow. They also have around spring.

Hot and Dry Deserts vegetation is very rare. Plants are almost all ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. All of the leaves are replete (packed with ). Some examples of these kinds of plant are Turpentine Bush, Prickly Pears, and Brittle Bush. For all of these plants to survive they have to have adaptations. Some of the adaptations in this case are the ability to store water for long periods of time and the ability to stand the hot weather.

Cold Desert's plants are scattered. In areas with little shade, about 10 percent of the ground is covered with plants. In some areas of sagebrush it reaches 85 percent. The height of scrub varies from 15 cm to 122 cm. All plants are either deciduous and more or less contain spiny leaves.

Hot and Dry Deserts animals include small nocturnal (only active at night) carnivores. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles, and birds. Some examples of these animals are Borrowers, Mourning Wheatears, and Horned Vipers. Cold Deserts have animals like Antelope, Ground Squirrels, Jack , and Kangaroo Rats.

The Tundra

Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning treeless . It is noted for its frost-molded , extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Dead organic material functions as a pool. The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation.

Characteristics of Tundra

1. Extremely cold climate 2. Low biotic diversity 3. Simple vegetation structure 4. Limitation of drainage 5. Short season of growth and reproduction 6. Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material 7. Large population oscillations

All of the plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil. Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow during the winter. They can carry out at low temperatures and low light intensities.

Animals are adapted to handle long, cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly in the summer. Animals such as mammals and birds also have additional insulation from fat. Many animals hibernate during the winter because food is not abundant. Another alternative is to migrate south in the winter, like birds do. Reptiles and amphibians are few or absent because of the extremely cold temperatures. Because of constant immigration and emigration, the population continually oscillates.

Tropical Rain Forest

The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. An average of 50 to 260 inches of rain falls yearly.

The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 93 °F (34 °C) or drops below 68 °F (20 °C); average humidity is between 77 and 88%; rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of less rain. In monsoonal areas, there is a real dry season. Almost all rain forests lie near the equator.

Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface. Scientists estimate that more than half of all the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests. Tropical produce 40% of Earth's oxygen.

A tropical rain forest has more kinds of trees than any other area in the world. Scientists have counted about 100 to 300 species in one 2 1/2-acre (1-hectare) area in South America. Seventy percent of the plants in the are trees.

About 1/4 of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants. Curare comes from a tropical vine, and is used as an anesthetic and to relax muscles during surgery. Quinine, from the cinchona tree, is used to treat malaria. A person with lymphocytic leukemia has a 99% chance that the disease will go into remission because of the rosy periwinkle. More than 1,400 varieties of tropical plants are thought to be potential cures for cancer.

All tropical rain forests resemble one another in some ways. Many of the trees have straight trunks that don't branch out for 100 feet or more. There is no sense in growing branches below the canopy where there is little light. The majority of the trees have smooth, thin bark because there is no need to protect them from water loss and freezing temperatures. It also makes it difficult for epiphytes and plant parasites to get a hold on the trunks. The bark of different species is so similar that it is difficult to identify a tree by its bark. Many trees can only be identified by their flowers.

Besides these four layers, a shrub/sapling layer receives about 3 % of the light that filters in through the canopies. These stunted trees are capable of a sudden growth surge when a gap in the canopy opens above them.

The air beneath the lower canopy is almost always humid. The trees themselves give off water through the pores (stomata) of their leaves. This process, called transpiration, can account for as much as half of the precipitation in the rain forest.

Many species of animal life can be found in the rain forest. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds (and reptiles and amphibians, too) include adaptations to a life in the trees, such as the prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other characteristics are bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits.

Insects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests. They include brightly colored butterflies, mosquitoes, camouflaged stick insects, and huge colonies of ants. Deciduous Forest

Deciduous forests can be found in the eastern half of , and the middle of . There are many deciduous forests in Asia. Some of the major areas that they are in are southwest , Japan, and eastern . South America has two big areas of deciduous forests in southern Chile and Middle East of . There are deciduous forests located in , and southeastern also.

The average annual temperature in a deciduous forest is 50° F. Climate is a mix of temperature and precipitation. Deciduous forests have almost 14 inches of rain in the winter months and more than 18 inches of rain in the summer.

The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the autumn the leaves change color. During the winter months the trees lose their leaves. Most deciduous forests have mild summers averaging about 70 °F. Summer months usually begin in early June and end in late August. Winter months don't begin until December. Winter temperatures are fairly cool with an average temperature of a little below freezing. Almost all of the world's deciduous forest is located by an ocean. The ocean and the wind are two big factors of why the temperature and climate change so much in this biome.

The animals adapt to the climate by hibernating in the winter and living off the land in the other three seasons. The animals have adapted to the land by trying the plants in the forest to see if they are good to eat for a good supply of food. Also the trees provide shelter for them. Animal use the trees for food and a water sources. Most of the animals are camouflaged to look like the ground.

Animals found in the Deciduous forest

 American Bald  Duckbill Platypus  Fat Dormouse Eagle  Eastern  Least Weasel  American Black Chipmunk  White-Tailed Deer Bear  European Red  Squirrel

The plants have adapted to the forests by leaning toward the sun. Soaking up the nutrients in the ground is also a way of adaptation.