The term biome refers to the area of biology, more particularly to ecology . The biome can be understood as a large surface that forms an ecological unit . Therefore, this ecological unit is composed of flora, fauna and climate , thus constituting a biome. The influence of climate on the landscape is crucial and that is why biomes are also known as bioclimatic landscapes.
The biome has different types of ecosystems. Thus, if an ecosystem is the sum of all living beings in a habitat, the biome is the sum of ecosystems that have similar characteristics (for example, the oasis and the desert are two different ecosystems, but that are part of the same biome, that is, of a desert).
Usually the term biome is confused with other concepts, for example, by the term habitat, biotype, ecosystem or ecozone. It can be said that the biome is a model of nature in which living beings in a habitat have characteristics that depend on certain climatic factors such as temperature , humidity, rainfall, etc.
Types of biome on our planet
The main biomes are: the tundra, forests, desert, taiga, jungle, savanna, steppes and aquatic biomes.
The tundra has very low temperatures, scarce rainfall and the land is almost always frozen. These climatic conditions determine a type of vegetation that only blooms in summer.
Forests give off large amounts of oxygen and have a great diversity of fauna and flora (more than half of terrestrial species are found in forests).
The desert has very low rainfall levels, practically non-existent. Water scarcity determines the state of the soil and the living conditions of animals and plants.
The taiga is located in the northern hemisphere of the planet and in some mountainous areas. In this biome, temperatures are very low and summer is very short. Water is scarce and remains cold most of the time. The vegetation consists of conifers (eg pine or fir) and the plants are adapted to water scarcity.
Tropical jungles are located in the equator, have a humid and rainy climate. The vegetation has large trees and there is a good diversity of fauna and flora.
Savannas are large tropical grasslands with dispersed vegetation. They have a high temperature and two well-differentiated seasons: one dry and one wet.
The steppes form a biome with a temperate, semi-arid and humid climate, as well as a warm season in summer and low temperatures in winter. There are large prairies in countries like the United States, Argentina and Australia.
Finally, there are the aquatic biomes, which are divided into salt and fresh water ecosystems.
