biome: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	major life zone • formation

Photos

World map displaying the distribution of seven major biomes: grassland and savanna, temperate deciduous forest, taiga (boreal forest), desert, tropical rainforest, tundra, and areas not classified. Each biome is represented by a distinct color, illustrating their global locations and extents across continents.

Diagram illustrating the levels of ecological organization, from ecological community and habitat to ecosystem and biome, using labeled landscape cross-sections and showing interactions like energy flow, disturbances, and nutrient cycling.

Map of Brazil displaying the country's major biomes with color-coded regions: Amazon Rainforest in green, Cerrado savanna in yellow, Caatinga thorny forest in pink, Pantanal wetlands in purple, Mata Atlantica coastal forest in blue, and Pampas plains in orange. Illustrations of characteristic animals and plants are shown within each biome.

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Topics

biogeographic region Tundra Desert Grassland Forest aquatic ecosystem terrestrial ecosystem Climate biome type community biodiversity trophic pyramid keystone species ecological succession guild ecotone food chain niche indicator species

Key People

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Victor Ernest Shelford

American zoologist

Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.

Ecosystems