The 13 types of biomes that exist in the world (and their characteristics)

Our world is home to our most precious asset: nature. The human being, with the aim of classifying him, has decided to group those ** biotic areas of the world that share the climate and that have similar flora and fauna.

Although there is no universal consensus, biologists have made different proposals. Today we will make a small introduction to the term and we will expose the most significant ones.

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What are biomes?

Biomes are those regions of the Earth that show uniformities in terms of climate, flora and fauna. In this way, identifiable areas are formed that respond to common characteristics and patterns.

One of the determining factors is the weather (with its temperature and rainfall regime) since, among many others, it ends up modeling the type of vegetation and, consequently, the fauna that can inhabit each biome.

The biomes of the world

From the African savannah, through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado and reaching the extensive mangroves of Bangladesh, do you want to know what are the main biomes of the world?

1. Equatorial Forest / Tropical Rain Forest

Known for being one of the most productive biomes on Earth, are the result of the union of two climatic conditions: high rainfall and warm temperatures and uniform throughout the year, conditions that occur mainly in the tropical areas of the balloon.

Despite the fact that their soils are often poor in nutrients, the trees that grow in these places are very tall and, in turn, time, they do not lose their leaves, since they have adapted to be able to capture the humidity of the environment even during the season dry. For this reason, they are also known as evergreen forests. They also abound in lianas and shrubs.

Although they only occupy 6% of the earth's surface, it is a biome that houses half of the planet's plant and animal species. It can be found in regions of Brazil, Madagascar, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

2. Seasonal tropical forest

They are the forest formations that are distributed outside the equatorial zones and are found in regions where there are very marked differences between the periods of rain and those of drought. An example is the monsoon climate of India.

These conditions are ideal for generating forests where half or almost all of its species lose their leaves with the arrival of the dry season to compensate for the deficit of rain.

3. bed sheet

It is a biome that is found in geographic areas extensively flat hot and dry climate. Trees and shrubs are few and far between, while a type of herbaceous plants abound: grasses.

Being the African savannah a clear example of this, there are large herds of herbivores like zebras, wildebeest and antelope living with the felines par excellence: the lion, the leopard and the Cheetah.

4. Temperate deciduous forest

Located in the zones of mesothermic climate (in the intermediate between the cold and warm climate), they are biomes that need a remarkable rainfall regime. It is distributed to the southeast of Canada, the United States and Europe among others.

Its trees are large and lose their leaves in the fall, being the dominant species those that have wide leaves, being able to find majestic species: chestnut trees, oaks, beech and birch trees. In Europe the fauna includes hares, wild boars and wolves, while in North America moose and black bears can be seen.

5. Temperate evergreen forest

With cold temperatures that never drop below 0ºC, many precipitations and cloudy summers are forested formations with extremely tall evergreen trees. Do you remember those scenes in Twilight where Edward Cullen was climbing trees? Well, precisely this type of forest.

Present in North America, they can also be found in Chile and they are biomes with a limited extension. They are home to squirrels, deer, elk, lynx, bears and wolves. To highlight the Douglas fir and the redwood that can exceed 100 meters in height.

6. Mediterranean forest

Also known as chaparral and marked by a Mediterranean climate (wet winters and hot, dry summers), it is distributed in southern Europe but also on the southern coast of Australia, California, Chile and the western coast of Mexico.

With groves of oak, holm oaks and cork oaks, they also grow dense shrubs with sturdy small leaves adapted to drought conditions. In summer, fires are frequent that make their trees can not assume too much longevity. In fact, they have species that produce fire resistant seeds.

On the contrary, the fauna does not have too many endemic species. Hares abound in the Mediterranean area, although the Iberian Lynx is in danger of extinction, in California the coyote and in Chile the weeping lizard.

7. Prairies

Located in areas where the relief is flat and gentle, its vegetation consists of herbaceous plants and few trees are observed. For this to be the case, it is necessary that the summers be sunny and the winters cold and humid. This biome spans all continents.

Most of the grasslands have been altered by human action and are now the main regions of the world where cereals such as wheat and corn are produced.

8. Steppes

The steppe is a biome that also develops in the flat territories, but nevertheless requires some arid conditions with little rainfall and a wide thermal variation between summer and winter. In her bushes and low grasses abound.

Different types of steppe are distinguished according to their geographical location, distinguishing broadly, the Asian steppe with a very severe, the subtropical steppe that appears in places in Spain and the North American steppe that offers us landscapes such as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

9. Taiga

It is an extensive forest that spans from North America to Siberia and encompasses neither more nor less than 11% of the earth's surface. The climate is cold and temperatures can drop to -70ºC in winter and rise to 40ºC in summer.

It has very little biodiversity and has trees such as pines and firs, shrubs adapted to extreme conditions, mosses and lichens. The fauna is mostly made up of wolves, reindeer, bears, moose and hares.

10. Tundra

Present in both the Arctic and Antarctic areas, it is a biome with temperatures that range between -15 and 5ºC and with a rainfall regime almost as low as that of a desert. This makes the development of "life" extremely complicated.

The land is practically frozen throughout the yearTherefore, only those forms of life adapted to extreme environments such as moss, lichens and some herbs can survive. This makes this type of biome also called "cold desert".

11. Desert

Distributed in points of the United States, northern Mexico, South America (Peru, Chile and Argentina, northern Africa and Australia), they are biomes that are born from high temperatures and very little rainfall (In some places it may not rain in years).

The scarcity of water added to the low nutrients of its soils, makes the vegetation very scarce and very adapted to these conditions: it is mainly made up of shrubs with very small leaves and prickly.

The fauna consists of those lethargic beings specialized in resisting high temperatures and lack of water such as small reptiles, insects and some very well adapted mammals such as the hare of the desert.

12. Mangrove swamp

And after so much drought, a little water: the mangroves, some very peculiar biomes. They're in areas flooded with water, at the mouths of rivers, estuaries and coastal areas. Mangroves grow in them, some types of trees that are in direct contact with water (both fresh and salty) and that, therefore, are very tolerant to sea salts.

These host a large number of aquatic, amphibian, terrestrial and bird organisms. They are life-generating engines: they make a nest for those fish, mollusks and crustaceans of the juvenile stage. The largest mangrove in the world (with almost 140,000 hectares), it is located at one of the confluences of the great Ganges River in Bangladesh.

13. The marine and freshwater biome

It is important to mention the existence of aquatic biomes, otherwise the Earth could not be named the Blue Planet. On the one hand there are those of fresh water that would be made up of rivers, lakes, lagoons and streams. But who takes the cake is the marine biome.

The oceans and seas are home to infinite biomes as make up 70% of the Earth's surface And we could talk about it for weeks We owe everything to our beloved Mother Sea: she is home to a great wealth of plant and animal species.

Bibliographic references

• Mucina, L. (2019) "Biome: evolution of a crucial ecological and biogeographical concept". New Phytologist.
• Woodward, I., Lomas, M.R., Kelly, C.K. (2004) "Global climate and the distribution of plant biomes". Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences.
• Ricklefs, R. AND. (2008). The economy of nature. W. H. Freeman, New York.