Biomes Basics
A large natural region with similar climate, plants, and animals.
What is a biome?
The long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.
What is climate?
The height of land above sea level.
What is altitude?
Growing crops and raising animals for food and other products.
What is agriculture?
Changes to the natural environment caused by human activity.
What is an environmental impact?
The variety of plant and animal species living in an ecosystem.
What is biodiversity?
The rain, snow or other moisture that falls in an area.
What is precipitation?
Land that is mostly flat and often used for farming.
What is a plain?
Supplying water to land to help crops grow, especially in dry areas.
What is irrigation?
The destruction or removal of the natural homes of plants and animals.
What is habitat loss?
The organic elements found in a region or biome.
What are biotic features?
This climate factor measures how hot or cold a place is.
What is temperature?
The shape of the land, including natural features of the Earth’s surface, such as mountains, valleys, and plains.
What is topography?
Step-like fields cut into hillsides to allow farming on steep slopes.
What is terracing?
Chemicals, waste or fertilisers entering rivers, lakes or groundwater.
What is water pollution?
The amount of crops or plant life a biome can grow to support life.
What is productivity?
These large areas of Earth share similar temperature and rainfall patterns.
What are climatic zones?
A natural system made up of biotic and abiotic things interacting in an environment.
What is an ecosystem?
The removal of natural vegetation, particularly trees, to make space for farming or development.
What is deforestation?
When salt builds up in soil and makes it difficult for crops to grow.
What is salinity?
The pattern of where biomes are located across the Earth.
What is the spatial distribution of biomes?
The imaginary lines around the Earth that measure distance north or south of the Equator and influence climate.
What is latitude?
The different levels of soil, from topsoil down to bedrock.
What is a soil profile?
Large scale farming that focuses on producing large amounts of food for sale and profit.
What is commercial/industrial agriculture?
When a species completely disappears from Earth.
What is extinction?