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biome
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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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Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.
Ecosystems
Quick Facts
Also called:
major life zone
Key People:
Victor Ernest Shelford
Related Topics:
biogeographic region
Tundra
Desert
Grassland
Forest
On the Web:
Biology LibreTexts - Earth's Biomes (Oct. 29, 2026)
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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
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.
Terrestrial biomes of the world Worldwide distribution of major terrestrial biomes.

biome

biology
Also known as: formation, major life zone
Written by
Adam Augustyn
Adam Augustyn was a senior editor at Encyclopædia Britannica.
Adam Augustyn
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

biome, the largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions. It includes various communities and is named for the dominant type of vegetation, such as grassland or coniferous forest. Several similar biomes constitute a biome type—for example, the temperate deciduous forest biome type includes the deciduous forest biomes of Asia, Europe, and North America. “Major life zone” is the European phrase for the North American biome concept.

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.
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A diagram showing that different levels of ecological organization often occur in a given area.An area may be divided into different levels of ecological organization, with smaller units often being nested within larger ones. Biomes, also called major life zones, are the largest ecological units.
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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Major biomes of BrazilBrazil is home to six major terrestrial biomes—Amazonia, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pantanal, Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest), and Pampa—each with distinct ecosystems, climates, and plant and animal life.

Most scientists recognize five major biome types (aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra). Sometimes, however, scientists divide Earth’s terrestrial environment into 14 smaller biomes.

(Read E.O. Wilson’s Britannica essay on mass extinction.)

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