In order to learn about biomes, it is essential that you fully comprehend the concept of ecosystem.
Ecosystems
The term ecosystem refers to a system that involves all the living organisms in an area and the specific physical habitat in which they live. The definition of ecosystem is quite general and it applies to all structures that meet the criteria. As a result, size and complexity do not matter; ecosystems could be as simple as a puddle, or as big as a lake.
As you can see in the above, there are two types of environmental factors in an ecosystem: the living components and the non-living components. All the living things in an ecosystem are referred to as biotic factors. The factors include, not only the physical existence of the organisms, but also the complex interactions occurring between the animals and plants. Abiotic factors, on the contrary, are all the non-living things (both physical and chemical) in the ecosystem. Some of the major examples are oxygen, sunlight, water, wind, and temperature. There is a strong relationship or interaction between the abiotic and biotic factors of an ecosystem; both factors alter each other at some point in time.
One could say that ecosystems are quite fragile. If changes are made to an ecosystem, such as sharp temperature changes or introduction of new species, it would suffer a huge impact.
Biomes
A simple definition of biome that I found from the textbook called Horizons Canada Moves West is "an ecological community of plants and animals extending over a large area." In other words, biome is a made up of several large ecosystems.
The major biomes in the world are
- Tundra
- Boreal Forest
- Temperate Deciduous Forest
- Temperate Rainforest
- Grassland
- Tropical Rainforest
- Desert
- Polar Ice
Each biome is unique due to the fact that each has its own (different) types of vegetation, animal species, and abiotic factors.