Types of Biomes!

STREAMS AND RIVERS

These are bodies of flowing water moving in one direction. Streams and rivers can be found everywhere — they get their starts at headwaters, which may be springs, snowmelt or even lakes, and then travel all the way to their mouths, usually another water channel or the ocean. The characteristics of a river or stream change during the journey from the source to the mouth. The temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth. The water is also clearer, has higher oxygen levels, and freshwater fish such as trout and heterotrophs can be found there. Towards the middle part of the stream/river, the width increases, as does species diversity — numerous aquatic green plants and algae can be found. Toward the mouth of the river/stream, the water becomes murky from all the sediments that it has picked up upstream, decreasing the amount of light that can penetrate through the water. Since there is less light, there is less diversity of flora, and because of the lower oxygen levels, fish that require less oxygen, such as catfish and carp, can be found.

DESERT

Deserts, in simplest terms, are areas of little rain or rainfall restricted to a short period during the year. Rain is limited because cool air sinks into a warmer region. As air warms its capacity to hold water vapor increases and rain cannot form. The great deserts of the world occur at about 30 degrees latitude on both sides of the equator and extend poleward in the interiors of the continents. These regions are areas of falling, warming air. Deserts can also be produced by the rain shadow effect of mountain ranges. As air masses approach from west to east in North America and meet a mountain range such as the Rockies, the air rises, cools, and loses much of its water vapor as rain or snow. The air falls on the other side of the mountains, warms, and creates a rain shadow on the eastern side of the mountains.

TEMPERATE DECIDUOUS FOREST

Temperate deciduous forest is characterized by a warm to hot growing season with moderate precipitation, followed by a winter that is not as cold or as long as in more northerly regions. The dominant trees in this zone avoid water loss during the winter by shedding their leaves. The temperate deciduous forests are much richer in plant and animal species than the taiga or tundra zones. A rich variety of tree and other plant species characterize the temperate deciduous forest. Temperate deciduous forest is primarily characteristic of the eastern United States and Canada, and also occurs in Europe, Japan, parts of Australia, and the mountainous regions of Patagonia at the southern tip of South America.

TAIGA

The taiga is characterized by a climate of long, severe winters, and a constant cover of snow and short, cool summers. The vegetation is dominated by conifers such as spruce, fir, and hemlock. Characteristic animals are elk, moose, mule deer, black bears, and grizzly bears. The taiga occurs in the northern reaches of North America and Eurasia.
The taiga is also sometimes referred to as boreal forest or northern coniferous forest. Taiga-like vegetation occurs on the upper elevations of mountain ranges.