Essay On Biome

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Biome is a wide area on earth which consists of land or water and is characterized by its special features (Kalman, 1997). It is also known as a life zone with similar climate and soil adapted by plants, animals and other living organisms. The features of biome are mainly influenced by abiotic factors and location of that particular biome. Abiotic factors are the non-living components exists in the ecosystem, which include chemical components, temperature and weather. Abiotic factors can set boundaries between each biomes because the temperature and amount of yearly rainfall affect the species of living organisms that are able to live in the area. Besides that, the location of the wide area from the equator also affects the features of the biome. The climate will be warmer if it is located nearer to the equator compared to the area which is farther away from the equator. Biomes on earth are also characterized by the dominant flora and fauna living in the area. Scientists classify biomes to five major classes which are grassland, tundra, desert, aquatic and forest (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
The first type of biomes is grassland. Grassland is believed to exist in the world after the Pleistocene Ice Ages time. Grassland is defined as a wide area dominated by grasses. One of the most distinguishable characteristics of grassland is “the dominant vegetation comprises grasses, with geophytes and herbs also being well represented” (Fuls, Bredenkamp, Van Rooyen & Theron, 1993, p. 345). Grassland is divided into two: savanna and temperate grassland. Savanna consists of scattered trees and it covers a large area of Africa, Australia, South America and India. Besides that, the rainfall in savanna is only about 50.8 cm to 127 cm annual...

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...es as it is usually located near to the equator with two distinct seasons: rainy and dry. Furthermore, its duration of daylight is 12 hours. On the other hand, the temperate forest is covering eastern North America, North Eastern Asia as well as in Europe. Temperate forest is distinguishable from the rest as it has unique season with distinct winter, moderate climate and growing season of 140-200 days annually. The third type of forest is boreal forest or taiga which represents the largest terrestrial biome. Boreal forest is located between 50 and 60 degrees north latitudes which is found in the broad belt of Eurasia and North America. Moreover, the seasons are divided into short period of moderately warm summer and long dry winter. Boreal forest has the length of growing season of 130 days annually.The summer at the boreal forest is short while the winter is long.

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