Terrestrial Biomes
This is the driest biome, characterized by its lack of precipitation, totaling less than 10cm per year.
What is a desert?
Freshwater makes up this amount of all the water on Earth.
What is 3%?
This is the largest biome on Earth, covering approximately 75% of the surface of the planet.
What is the ocean?
This type of agriculture where trees are cut down and burned to add their nutrients to the soil is one of the primary threats to the tropical rainforest.
What is "slash and burn"?
These type of roots allow tall trees in the tropical rainforest to anchor themselves so that they do not fall over.
What are buttress?
This hot biome is home to the highest plant and animal biodiversity on the planet, with some scientists estimating that it contains as much as 50% of the world's animal species.
What is a tropical rainforest?
This word refers to the origin of a freshwater stream or river, usually somewhere in the mountains.
What is the "headwater"?
This region of water is deeper than light can penetrate, causing it to have lower amounts of plankton, and specialized adaptations to the dark, including bioluminescence .
This biome is under threat from ranchers who allow their livestock to overgraze the native vegetation, resulting in erosion and topsoil loss.
What is the grassland?
The process by which some animals greatly decrease their energy needs for an extended period, allowing them to survive seasons when food is scarce.
What is hybernation?
This Russian name, meaning "Land of little sticks", is also called the Boreal Forest and is dominated by evergreen trees and characterized by cold weather. It is home to very few reptiles.
What is the taiga?
This term refers to the shallow part of a lake or pond, closest to the shore.
What is the littoral zone?
This is the term that refers to the area found above the low tide, but below the high tide marks. It means literally "between the tides".
What is the intertidal zone?
This is the only biome that is growing in size.
What is the desert?
The temporary movement of organisms from one location to another in order to benefit from improved environmental conditions. Usually seasonal.
What is migration?
This biome is very hot and characterized by wet and dry seasons. It is home to more species of grazing mammal than any other biome.
What is the savanna?
This is the region of water near the top of a body of water that light can penetrate. It is where you will find phytoplankton, which need that light in order to carry out photosynthesis.
What is the photic zone?
These trees form small islands with their dense, woody roots that form protective habitats for many species of fish and invertebrates.
What are mangroves?
This treat to the tundra is a result of humanity's ever increasing need for fossil fuels.
What is oil extraction?
These sharp growths help plants deter herbivores from eating them.
What are thorns?
This biome is the second driest of the biomes. While there is frequently standing water on the ground, very little precipitation falls due to very dry air. Permafrost can be found year round, sometimes as little as a few centimeters below the surface of the soil.
What is the tundra?
These two words describe the different types of freshwater biomes. The first describes water that is still or unmoving like a lake or pond, the second describes water that moves continuously in one direction like a river or a stream.
What are "lentic" and "lotic"?
This biome has very rich soil, and is home to very few trees, but many species of grass. Temperatures range from very cold in the winter to very hot in the summer. Animals such as American bison, prairie dogs, elk, and mule deer are found here.
What is the grassland?
This is the process by which a body of water gets overgrown with plants due to excess nutrients that wash in from fertilizers or animal and human waste.
What is artificial eutrophication?
What is noctournal?