A biome is a major regional ecosystem with a distinct climate, soil, plant,and animal life. An ecosystem is an environment where plants and animals interact with each other and with non-living things such as the geography, climate, and weather. Biomes are specialized ecosystems with climate, plant life, soil, and animals that make them unique. Some biomes have a great diversity of plants and animals where others have limited numbers of different species that can survive there.

The different adaptations you learned about earlier are just a few of the ways that animals are built to survive in a particular biome. All mammals are well adapted for the biome they call home. Look for specific examples as you learn more about the biomes.

Icicles and Ice Floes

The arctic and the tundra biomes are found in the upper part of North America. They are best known for their cold temperatures, icy landscapes, and specially adapted wildlife. Sometimes ice floes, or chunks of ice, will break off the arctic landscape and float out to sea. You might even see a polar bear catching a ride on one of these floes.Two features these areas have in common are extremely low temperatures and limited rainfall. One way the tundra is different from the arctic are the changes that happen in the summer. During the summer, the ground thaws a bit, allowing low plants to grow. This encourages a number of animals to migrate through the tundra taking advantage of the food supply. The arctic keeps its harsh climate most of the year. The ground never thaws so plants cannot grow.

Select this text to lear about the polar bear, an arctic dweller.

Forest Through the Trees

Trees may be the best known part of a forest, but many other plants and animals make the forest biome their home. There are three types of forests you may see depicted in the museum dioramas: coniferous, deciduous, and the rainforest. All of these forests are also home to a number of different mammal species. All three of these forests are similar in many ways. They all have a large number of trees growing closely together, support a wide diversity of animal life, and receive a fair amount of rain. This rain is what helps with the growth of their extensive plant life.

Coniferous forests have mostly pine trees, or cone-producing trees with needles for leaves. These trees keep their needles all winter and are often called evergreens. When needles do fall, they decompose slowly and this makes the soil very acidic. This soil is difficult for some plants to grow in so the plants you will most often see at the base of these trees are ferns, lichens, and mosses. Long snowy winters and warm summers are common for coniferous forests.

Deciduous forests are best known by the deciduous, or leaf dropping trees that are found there. These leaves change colors in the fall before falling to the ground in winter. Once these leaves fall, they easily rot, making a nice rich soil at the base of the tree. This is a great place for a variety of other plants to grow. Deciduous forests receive more rain and less snow than coniferous forests.

The rainforest is quite different from the other two described here. There are two types of rainforest: tropical and temperate. The difference between the two is the latitude of their location . Rainforests get a large amount of rain and have trees with leaves that remain green and attached to the tree all year long. The section with the highest reaching tree tops in the rainforest is considered the canopy and can reach more than 100 feet into the air. The rainforest is home to an extremely diverse animal population with a variety of mammals, exotic birds, and insects.

Select this Text to learn about the chimpanzee, a forest dweller.

Beat the Heat

When the climate heats up, you know you must be near a desert biome. A number of characteristics make a desert a desert, but hot temperatures are not always the case! It’s true that many deserts are hot, but sometimes deserts get very cold at night or in the winter. In some deserts you might even see snow! A lack of rain or moisture is the key characteristic of desert biomes. Plants and animals that live in the desert must be adapted for an environment with limited rain-fall, nutrient poor soil, and potentially scorch-ing heat. Some portions of deserts like those in parts of Africa are comprised only of sand dunes. These areas are especially difficult for many animals to adapt to.

A biome special to Southern California, that may remind you of the desert, is the chaparral biome. It is found only in few other areas and its shrubby plants, dry soil, and warm temperatures give it a desert feel. The chaparral biome has a hot and dry summer and fall. Many of the chaparral plants have adaptations to protect them from drying out in the heat, such as small, waxy leav e s. The winter months are cool and rainy. This rainy period is one of the differences between chaparral biomes and desert biomes. Another big difference is the role that fire plays in the chaparral biome. Many of the chaparral plants depend on regular fires, started naturally from lightning, to help with their normal growth cycle. Many of the animals found in the desert are also found in chaparral biomes.

Wild and Wet

Wetlands refer to areas where water and land meet. These include marshes, swamps, and estuaries. A unique trait of the plant life in these areas are that their roots stay submerged in water much of the time. These areas can be fresh water, salt water, or a mixture referred to as brackish water. Wetlands are usually filled with wildlife and a large variety of birds make their home there alongside mammals such as beavers and river otters. Mammals that live in wetlands often have webbed paws or other adaptations for swimming that help them make the most of life in this biome.

From the Tallest Mountains …

Montane environments involve life at the tops of mountains. In this biome the climate is cold and dry with seasons that are very different from one another. In the highest parts of mountains only plants that grow close to the ground can survive. The section where this change occurs is called the timberline. The mammals of the montane biome are specially adapted for the cold weather and the dif ficult climbing that living there requires. Mountain goats are one example with hooves specially designed for climbing slippery rocks.

… To Seas of Grass

North American grasslands have hot summers and cold winters. Changing rainfall patterns limits the growth of trees in the area as well as the grass. In areas where there is more rain, the grass grows taller. African savannas are generally drier than the grass-lands of North America . The trees that dot the savanna are called acacia trees and are adapted for this dry environment by having small leaves, much like chaparral and desert plants.

"Make-a-Mammal"

Select this text to learn about the elephant, a savanna dweller.