North America is home to a wide variety of different biomes, ranging from blistering desert to frozen tundra. This range in climate provides inhabitants of North America with not only options of where to live, but also pride in where they come from and how they were raised. Different states or provinces are known for their weather patterns and their ensuing biomes. Although there has been a lot of talk recently about how humans are shaping their environment, today we hope to show you how the environment we live in has played a pivotal role in shaping who we are and how we live.
Biomes in North America are contained within the land of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and countries in Central America. This large area has a broad range of temperature and precipitation which results in nine separate biomes ranging from tropical rainforest, deciduous forest, boreal forest, tundra, temperate forest, grasslands, deserts, and chaparral woodlands. A biome is a specific area of the world that can be classified into a group according to the plants and animals that live in it. What
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The bottom half of the United States is mostly filled with desert, while the top half is filled with both coniferous and deciduous forests and prairie biomes, and the upper portion of North America (enveloping most of Canada) is filled with largely arctic tundra. Such a large continent means that North America is home to many different biomes, and although I try to describe North American biomes based on their significance, the truth is that within each state and/or province, you will find many different biomes. For example in the state of Washington, you have both kinds of forests, the alpine and subalpine biomes, wetlands, sand dunes, grasslands, and even desert. This variety is consistent across most provinces and states, and is partially responsible for the proud nature of North American inhabitants, in relation to their
The first biome I am going to discuss is the Central Prairies and Woodlands biome. This biome is located in the middle of biome 2 and 3 covering all of the coastal area from the Gulf of Mexico. The precipitation gradient in this area is the highest in the state of Texas. Averaging from 75-115 cm/yr. this concludes that it’s a high precipitation area which means that the land in that area is green and hydrated. Since this biome extends from the south were the coast is all the way to the top of eastern Texas the temperature varies depending on the location you are looking at the further north its colder and the more south you go the hotter, humid it gets. The kinds of plants that are in this regions are mostly tall green
In summary, climate and geography play a tremendous
Currently residing in the state of Vermont the bioregion to which I’ve been informally assigned to is commonly known as the Laurentia bioregion. This assignment of bioregion is widely accepted, but when looked at more deeply assigning Vermont to the Laurentia bioregion becomes problematic. There are seemingly an endless number of variables that contribute to the characteristics and attributes that one can choose from to define their bioregion, yet those characteristics can widely vary even within a singular bioregion. Geologic makeup, weather patterns, soil type, biologic diversity, political influence, human activity, and the natural processes that occur within any given bioregion must be considered when analyzing and attempting to assign themselves to a bioregion.
The following section provides general descriptions of each of the major biomes on the Reservation. Biomes are communities of plants and animals that are typically expected to be found together on the land. For example Gila monster lizards, jack rabbits, creosote bushes, and prickly pear cactus all might be expected to be found in the same place. Natural resource managers would probably classify such a place a “desert scrub” biome and expect to find it in the southwest United States or northwestern Mexico. Climate, geology, and topography are major factors in determining the occurrence and characteristics of biomes across landscapes.
If someone is looking for a magical adventure to a winter wonderland, point them north in the direction of the wonderful biome, the Taiga! There is an opportunity to travel the world as the taiga stands as the largest land biome in the world; locations include Canada, Alaska, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, and many more countries. Also known as the boreal forest, the taiga is home to a variety of plant and animal life for an adventurer to experience. These areas experience half of the year in the summer and winter seasons; depending on the season, it has a moderate amount of precipitation and warm or freezing temperatures. The taiga biome, located at fifty and sixty degrees north, holds a wide variety of plants and animals with many adaptations to survive the cold climate and a moderate amount of precipitation.
Temperate grasslands are located north of the tropical of cancer and south of the tropical of Capricorn. In the middle of North America is a huge area of land, the North America prairie covers much of the central and western part of the US to the Rocky Mountain and spreads into the northern Canada send down to Mexico. The prairies of the Midwestern United States are both tall-grass and short grass. West of the Mississippi River the temperature is moist and humid, in the summers they are warm and humid. Winters are cold but not to extreme. The far west and in the interior of the country, the temperatures became drier. The grass that grows in this part if North America is called big Bluestem grass also known as turkey feet because of its shape,
Temperate deciduous forests are among the major biomes on earth. They are also among the biomes that have been most heavily impacted by global change factors. Although there is the perception that the greatest concern should be held for tropical rain forests, temperate deciduous forests have a smaller fraction of original vegetation remaining than boreal or tropical forests, and also have been more severely impacted by land use change and air pollution. Temper- ate deciduous forests are most common in Europe, eastern North America, Japan and China, and in all these regions humans have used them heavily as a resource. Logging, grazing, conversion to agriculture, fire suppression and manipulation of wildlife populations, have caused massive alterations
Oak savannas and woodland ecosystem were once common in Central North America prior to European settlement and once covered an estimate of 11 million ha. They were generally known as plant communities where trees are present but their density is so low that it allows grasses and herbaceous vegetation to dominate the landscapes. This type of ecosystems has been found to develop (in temperate zones) as a transition between grasslands and forest (Curtis 1959).
North-Eastern region of the United States has been serving as the backbone of US economy in many respects. Obviously, it is densely populated region of the US due to the presence of megacities like New York, Philadelphia and the capital Washington DC. The size and number of airports in this regions also reflects the movement of people and flow of business in this region. Here most of the major city areas lie in the Atlantic coastal plain, whereas mountains and hills are also significantly affecting the the forest coverage as well as the climate of this area. More particularly, the climate is regulated by the position of the general west to east flow of weather in the middle latitudes.
As our country has access to lakes, prairies, tundra, and mountains (and therefore volcanoes in the past), igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock can be found nationwide. This makes our country home to many different kinds of rare stones and minerals that would otherwise be unavailable elsewhere. Furthermore, the different kinds of landforms also indicate different kinds of environments for organisms to live in. As there are a large variety of landforms, many different kinds of animals, plants, and structures can be observed. Due to this, Canada possesses a large combination of organisms that would not be normally found in the same place, which leads to a diverse ecosystem.
The American prairies are located in the center of North America. The prairies reach north from Canada down to southern Texas, and west from Indiana to the Rocky Mountains. The climate of the prairies changes the type of the prairie. Tall grass prairie or "the true prairie" is located where the climate is more wet. and the short grass prairie is located where the climate is more dry. The amount of rainfall in the prairies changes yearly. It is usually somewhere between 12.6 inches and 21.7 inches. In the prairie the summers are hot and the winters are cold. The summer is a very dry time. About every 30 years or so there is a drought. And between 1 and 5 years there is a fire. The fire burns the dead grasses and the other similar plants which
All areas of the American Prairie include North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. (Wikipedia.org)
Canada has massive mountains, freezing cold tundra, endless prairies, powerful oceans, even cold and warm deserts. Not only do we have such diverse geographical places, but landscapes that are quite well known in some other areas of the world. Two examples of this would be the excellent ski and snowboard resorts nestled among the mountains in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario, or the surfing beaches along the coast of British Columbia. Many people think that Canada’s climate is extremely cold all the time, but really that is only accurate in the northern part of Canada where there is definitely colder weather. The southern area of Canada still encounters snow and minus forty degrees in winter, but at shorter durations than in the north. On the other hand, in the southern parts of our country we do face warmer temperatures. In the Western provinces such as Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, we have had our share of what we would call heat waves, with temperatures up to forty degrees celsius. In the very southern part of British Columbia lies the Osoyoos desert which reaches high temperatures during summer months. The Osoyoos desert is not the only desert in Canada though, the Arctic tundra is sometimes referred to as a cold and harsh desert with permafrost and minimal plant and animal life. Although our mountains may not be as
Biomes is an area on earth that can be classified according to plants and animals that live there. Each biome consists of many ecosystems whose communities have adapted to the small differences in climate and the environment inside the biome. There are many different types of biomes on earth’s surface. The divisions are based on climate patterns, soil types, animals, and plants that inhabit the area. There are five basic types of biomes which includes; desert, aquatic, grasslands, forest, and tundra.
I will be talking about my biome grasslands. My biome grassland is could be located in Africa, South America, and North America.