By Tejas Bhartiya
Biomes are communities of plants and animals that share common characteristics. Most of the time these form in response to the climate in these areas. Tropical Rain Forests are home to the most amount of species in any of the biomes. They are generally hot and wet along with trees that are over 70 meters tall! Tropical Dry Forests are similar to Tropical RainForests, except the rain is seasonal not year round. There are wet and dry seasons and during the dry seasons trees generally lose their leaves in order to conserve water. Tropical Savannas tend to get less water than the forests but more than Deserts. These generally have lots of high grasses and short, sparse trees. All Deserts are dry, and they all get less than 25 cm of rainfall a year. Many Deserts have extreme temperature changes from it being very hot during the day and very cold at night. Most of the animals who live in these areas have adapted in order to tolerate the daily temperature swings. Temperate Grasslands are more commonly known as Prairies used to be all over North America, but most of this land has been converted to farmland today. These have mostly grasses, with what we would consider normal temperature. There are occasional fires which are necessary to these environments. Temperate Woodland and Shrubland are areas mixed with open woodlands, shrub communities and more. Fires are also a big deal in these areas as many of the plants have flammable oils on them. These have hot and dry summers with cool and moist winters. Temperate forests have a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. These areas have very cold winters with warm summers along with year round rain. Northwestern Coniferous Forest are generally found in the Pacific
northwest. These generally have dry summers with lots of rain the rest of the year. These also have an abundance of conifers. The Boreal forest also known as Taiga forests have very cold winters with still cold but relatively warm summers. Lastly there is the Tundra. The tundra is characterized by permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen subsoil. During the short, cool summer, the ground thaws to a depth of a few centimeters and becomes soggy and wet.
©Tejas Bhartiya, 2020