Biomes of the World
Edited by Nathan Clegg
Biomes are the
world’s major
communities where
insects, animals,
plants, and people live
in a certain type of climate. The climate and
geography of an area determines what type of biome
can exist in that region. Each biome consists of
many ecosystems. There are eight
commonly grouped biomes: desert,
deciduous forest, coniferous forest,
chaparral, arctic tundra, tropical
rainforest,
grasslands, and taiga.
There are also marine and freshwater
ecosystems that could be considered
the water biomes. The marine and
freshwater biomes are extremely
important because water is the basis of
all life. The Earth's coldest biome is the tundra,
which has permanently frozen subsoil, called
permafrost.
All of the biomes need to be protected. Over the
past several years, human activity has destroyed,
exploited, or polluted many of the biomes. All
living things are closely related to their
environment. Any change in a part, like an increase
or decrease in one type of plant or
animal, can cause a ripple effect of
change through the entire biome. Biomes
have moved and changed many times
throughout the history of the Earth.