Climate and ClimagraphsInteractive Map
Biomes - “Vegetation Regions”
Climate and Vegetation Regions
What is a Biome?• Regional or global community of
living things• Characterized by the dominant
forms of plant life and the prevailing climate.
• There are many different ways to characterize and list biomes.
Aquatic – Saltwater and Freshwater
• 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water.
• Includes rivers, lakes, oceans, and every other body of water on Earth.
• This water is teeming with life of tremendous diversity.
Forestlands - Deciduous• Located in the mid-
latitude areas
• places that have four seasons.
• During the fall, trees change color and then lose their leaves in preparation for winter.
• Many different kinds of trees, shrubs, and herbs
Forestlands - Coniferous• Consist mostly of conifers, trees that
grow needles instead of leaves, and cones instead of flowers.
• Conifers tend to be evergreen
• Spruces, pines, and firs.
• Called taiga in Russia and Canada.
Forestlands – Rainforest
• Two types:– Tropical Rainforests
are found closer to the equator.
– Temperate Rainforests are found near the cooler coastal areas further north or south of the equator.
Grasslands - Savanna
• Flat, grassy, mostly treeless plain in the tropical grassland region
• The largest areas of savanna are found in Africa
Grasslands - Steppe• Dry, cold, grassland that
is dominated by short grasses
• Temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere
Grasslands - Prairie
• Dry grassland very similar to a steppe, but with longer grasses.
• Usually refers to grasslands of North America.
Grasslands - Pampas
• Temperate grassland located in South America.
• Essentially same as prairie or steppe.
Desert• Receive less than 10” of
rain a year.
• Little vegetation.
• Hot and Dry Deserts near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn.
• Cold Deserts are near the Arctic
Tundra
• Flat treeless lands forming a ring around the Artic Ocean
• Permafrost - permanently frozen layer of soil.
Extreme Weather
• ENTER VIDEO HERE
• Does weather effect settlement patterns? Where people live?
Geographic Information System(GIS)
What is GIS?
Moore, OK
Tracking Climate Change
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