Name Class Date

4.4 Biomes
Lesson Objectives
Describe and compare the characteristics of the major land biomes.
Identify the areas that are not classified into a major biome.

Lesson Summary
The Major Biomes A biome is a group of terrestrial regional climate communities that
covers a large area and is characterized by soil type, climate, and plant and animal life.
▶ In tropical rain forests, the tops of tall trees form a covering called the canopy. Shorter
trees and vines form another layer called the understory. It is hot and wet all year.
▶ Tropical dry forests are found in areas with alternating wet and dry seasons. The trees in
these forests may be deciduous, meaning they shed their leaves during a particular season.
▶ In a tropical grassland, grassy areas are spotted with isolated trees.
▶ Deserts have less than 25 centimeters of precipitation annually.
▶ Temperate grasslands have warm summers, cold winters, and deep soil.
▶ Temperate woodlands and shrublands are large areas of grasses and wildflowers such as
poppies interspersed with trees or shrubs.
▶ Temperate forests are made up of deciduous and evergreen coniferous trees. Coniferous
trees produce seed-bearing cones and most have waxy needles. Temperate forests have
soils rich in humus, which forms from decaying leaves and makes soil fertile.
▶ Northwestern coniferous forests have mild temperatures with cool, dry summers and
abundant precipitation in fall, winter, and spring.
▶ Boreal forests, or taiga, are dense forests of coniferous evergreens.
▶ Tundra is characterized by permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen subsoil.

Other Land Areas Some areas, such as mountains and polar ice caps, do not fall neatly
into the major biomes.

The Major Biomes

For Questions 1–4, complete each statement by writing the correct word or words.
1. The side of a mountain range that faces the wind often receives more rainfall
than the downwind side of the same range.
2. A(n) biome is a group of terrestrial communities that covers a large area and
is characterized by certain soil and climate conditions and particular types of
plants and animals.
3. Organisms within each biome can be characterized by adaptations that enable them
to live and reproduce successfully in the environment.
4. In a tropical rain forest, the layer formed by the leafy tops of tall trees is called the
canopy and the layer of shorter trees and vines is called the understory .

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5. In the box below, draw and label a diagram showing how a coastal
mountain range can affect a region’s climate.

Students’ drawings should be similar to the figure in the textbook.

Use the graph to answer Questions 6–9.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Average Precipitation (mm)

40 400
Average Temperature (°C)

30
20 300
10
200
0
-10 100
-20
-30 0
J F M AM J J A S OND
Month

6. Complete the climate diagram by adding labels to the bottom and both sides of the graph
to show what the variables are.
7. Describe what a climate diagram summarizes.
A climate diagram summarizes a region’s climate, including temperature and
precipitation.

8. Explain what the line plot on a climate diagram shows.

The line plot shows changes in temperature through the months of a year.

9. Explain what the vertical bars on a climate diagram show.

The vertical bars show the amount of precipitation each month of a year.

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10. Complete the table about some of Earth’s major biomes.

Some Major Biomes

Biome Climate and Soil Plants and Animals

Tropical warm year-round with wet and plants: tall, deciduous trees; succulents
dry forest dry seasons; rich soil
animals: undergo estivation or migration

Tropical rain hot and wet year round; plants; broad leaved evergreen trees,
forest nutrient poor soil vines; animals: many use camouflage
to hide from predators; animals that
live in the canopy have adaptations
for climbing, jumping, and/or flight.

Tundra cold, dark winters and short, plants: ground-hugging plants

soggy summers; permafrost
animals: birds and mammals that can tolerate the
harsh conditions

Temperate warm to hot summers, plants: grasses and herbs; animals:

grassland cold winters; fertile soil predator and herbivore mammals,
camouflage and burrowing are two
common protective adaptations

Desert low precipitation with variable plants: short growth cycles, cacti
temperatures
animals: adaptations to quickly lose body heat and
regulate body temperature

Boreal forest long, cold winters; short, plants: conifers; animals: most
mild summers; moder- have small extremities and extra
ate precipitation; acidic, insulation, some migrate to warmer
nutrient-poor soils areas in winter

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Other Land Areas

11. What is the main cause for variation of abiotic and biotic conditions on a mountain?
elevation

12. Describe the conditions you would most likely find on a mountain in the Rocky
Mountains as you moved from the base to the mountain’s summit.
Most likely there is a grassland at the base of the mountain. As you go higher, you
pass through pine woodland and then a forest of spruce and other conifers. You find
thickets of deciduous trees growing along streambeds in protected valleys. Past the
tree line, soils are thin. Only grasses, wildflowers, and stunted plants grow. Strong
winds blow. A glacier may be found at the summit of the mountain.

13. Which producers can be found in the polar ice regions?

Produces in polar ice regions include some algae, mosses, and lichens.

14. Which animals can be found in the northern polar region?

Animals include polar bears, marine mammals, insects, and mites.

15. How are the plants and animals found in a biome related to the biome’s climate? Give at
least two examples to support your answer.
SAMPLE ANSWER: The plants and animals that live in a certain biome have adaptations
that help them survive the climatic conditions that shape the biome. For example,
animals living in the boreal forest have insulation in the form of blubber or downy
feathers. These adaptations help them survive the cold temperatures during the long
winters of the taiga. Cacti growing in deserts have waxy leaves and specialized tissue
that helps them store large amounts of water. These adaptations help a cactus survive
in a biome with very little precipitation.

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4.5 Aquatic Ecosystems

Lesson Objectives
Discuss the factors that affect aquatic ecosystems.
Identify the major categories of freshwater ecosystems.
Describe the importance of estuaries.
Describe and compare the distinct ocean zones that make up marine ecosystems.

Lesson Summary
Conditions Underwater Aquatic ecosystems are determined mainly by the depth, flow,
temperature, and amount of dissolved nutrients of the water.
▶ The photic zone is the sunlit upper layer of water where photosynthesis can occur.
▶ The aphotic zone is the dark lower layer where photosynthesis cannot occur.
▶ The benthic zone is found on the bottoms of lakes, streams, and oceans. The organisms
that live on the floor of a body of water are called benthos.

Freshwater Ecosystems Freshwater ecosystems include flowing-water ecosystems,

standing-water ecosystems, and freshwater wetlands. Plankton are common. They form the
base of many aquatic food webs.

Estuaries Estuaries are wetlands formed where rivers meet the sea. They contain a mixture
of fresh and salt water. Most of the food produced in estuaries enters food webs as tiny pieces
of organic matter, or detritus.

Marine Ecosystems Marine ecosystems are found in the ocean.

▶ The intertidal zone is the shallowest and closest to land. It is exposed to the rise and fall of
tides each day.
▶ The coastal ocean is the relatively shallow border of water that surrounds the continents.
▶ The open ocean begins at the continental shelf and extends outward. The open ocean can
be divided into the photic zone and the aphotic zone.

Conditions Underwater
1. What are the four main factors that affect aquatic ecosystems?
water depth, temperature, flow, and amount of dissolved nutrients

2. What does the depth of the water determine?

the amount of light that organisms can receive

3. What distinguishes the photic zone from the aphotic zone in an aquatic ecosystem?
Sunlight penetrates the photic zone but not the aphotic zone.

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Freshwater Ecosystems
For Questions 4–10, complete each statement by writing the correct word or words.
4. The three main categories of freshwater ecosystems are rivers and streams ,
lakes and ponds , and freshwater wetlands .

5. Flowing-water ecosystems originate from underground water sources in

mountains or hills.

6. Circulating water in lakes and ponds distributes heat , oxygen ,

and nutrients throughout the system.
7. Plankton is a general term that includes both phytoplankton and
zooplankton .
8. An ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface of
the soil is called a(n) wetland .
9. Freshwater wetlands purify water by filtering pollutants.
10. The three types of freshwater wetlands are freshwater bogs , freshwater marshes ,
and freshwater swamps .

Estuaries
Write the letter of the correct answer on the line at the left.
B 11. Estuaries form where
A. a lake evaporates.
B. a river meets the sea.
C. a river becomes dammed.
D. a wetland becomes filled in.
C 12. The salinity of estuary water is
A. equal to the salinity of river water.
B. less than the salinity of river water.
C. less than the salinity of ocean water.
D. greater than the salinity of ocean water.
C 13. Shallow estuaries allow
A. freshwater wetlands to merge with the estuary.
B. large marine mammals to hibernate in the estuary.
C. sunlight to reach the benthos to power photosynthesis.
D. salt to sink to the bottom of the estuary.
B 14. Temperate estuaries characterized by salt-tolerant grasses
above the low-tide line and seagrasses below water are called
A. bogs. C. mangrove swamps.
B. salt marshes. D. freshwater wetlands.

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Marine Ecosystems
15. Complete the diagram by adding labels for each marine zone. Then shade in the aphotic
zone.
intertidal zone coastal ocean
Land
200 m
1,000 m

Students should
shade in everything

benthic zone 4,000 m under the 200 m

mark.
6,000 m

open ocean

10,000 m

16. Complete the table about the type of organisms living in each ocean zone.

Marine Life by Ocean Zone

Zone Life Forms

Coastal kelp forests, coral reefs

Intertidal barnacles, seaweed, starfish

Open ocean large marine mammals such as whales, chemosynthetic bacteria

17. Which type of marine ecosystem do you think supports the least life? Explain your
answer.
The aphotic open ocean zone most likely supports the least life because food webs
there must be based on organisms that fall from the photic zone above or on chemo-
synthetic organisms. This would limit the number of niches that could develop in the
aphotic open ocean zone.

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Chapter Vocabulary Review

Match the term with its definition.
Term Definition
F 1. weather A. the average yearly condition of temperature and
C 2. greenhouse effect precipitation in a region
B 3. niche B. the full range of conditions in which an organism
lives and the way in which the organism uses those
E 4. predation conditions
A 5. climate C. natural situation in which atmospheric gases trap heat
H 6. herbivory inside Earth’s atmosphere
G 7. humus D. permanently frozen subsoil
D 8. permafrost E. interaction in which an organism captures and feeds
on another organism
F. day-to-day condition of Earth’s atmosphere at a
particular time and place
G. a material formed from decaying leaves and other
organic matter
H. interaction in which an organism feeds on a primary
producer
Complete each statement by writing the correct word or words.

9. The three main types of symbiotic relationships in nature are mutualism ,

commensalism , and parasitism .
10. The gradual change in living communities that follows a disturbance is called
ecological succession.

11. The first species to live in an area of primary succession are called pioneer species .
12. The area where an organism lives is its habitat .
13. The ability of organisms to survive and reproduce under a range of environmental
circumstances is called tolerance .
14. The taiga contains dense evergreen forests of coniferous trees.
15. The well-lit upper layer of ocean water is known as the photic zone .
16. The tiny, free-floating, weakly swimming algae and animals that occur in both freshwater
and saltwater environments are called plankton .
17. Organisms that live on the ocean floor are referred to as benthos .

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In March 1995, biologists with the

Yellowstone Wolf Project helped to
reintroduce the gray wolf into Yellowstone
National Park. Gray wolves had been
eliminated from the park almost 70 years
THE WOLF EFFECT before that.

Learning

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wolf

Reintroduction
Newspapers, magazines, and media broadcasts contained editorials that argued either for or
against the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone. People who were against reintroduction
might have made arguments such as those in the paragraphs below.

Why We Shouldn’t Allow Wolves

Back in Yellowstone National Park
An Opinion From a Concerned Rancher
Crazy P Ranch has been in my family for Gray wolves are predators with incredible
three generations. I have worked alongside my hunting skills. They hunt in packs to take down
parents and grandparents and heard many stories the weakest prey animals.
about my great-grandparents raising cattle here. How can my 500 head of cattle survive attacks
Ranching is not an easy life. In fact, it’s really by these predators? The sick and young cattle are
hard. However, it is our livelihood. at their mercy, especially after a long winter. Not
Our Wyoming ranch overlooks the Absaroka only are my cattle in danger, but so are the elk
Mountain Range, a place abundant with elk that my father, son, and I hunt each fall. We rely
and other game that our family has hunted for on the meat of the elk for food throughout the
years. Now we feel that our very livelihood will winter. We face an economic loss if our cattle herd
be endangered by the reintroduction of wolves. is decimated. This rancher says no to wolves.

Themes Science and Civic Literacy

1. Explain this rancher’s view on the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park.
The rancher does not want wolves reintroduced because he is afraid the wolves will
kill his cattle and lower his income and because of the potential decrease in elk
populations due to wolf predation.

Continued on next page ▶

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2. What time of year do you think ranchers are most concerned about their cattle? Why?
SAMPLE ANSWER: I think ranchers are probably most concerned about wolves in late win-
ter or early spring. The wolves might be hungry after a long winter and looking for
food in the spring, when offspring are typically born.

3. What specific evidence does the rancher give to support his argument that the ranch’s 500
head of cattle are in danger?
Wolves are excellent hunters that prey on weak and young cattle. They hunt in
packs, which makes them efficient hunters.

4. In his arguments, the rancher focuses only on his family. In what way is this technique
effective? Could his arguments benefit from additional information? If so, what kinds of
information?
SAMPLE ANSWER: The rancher’s arguments personalize the issue and make the rancher’s
situation seem real to the reader. The rancher’s arguments would be stronger if they
included specific data about cattle losses and economic hardships to ranches where
wolves are present.

5. What did you learn from the chapter in the textbook that would support the opinion that
the reintroduction of wolves in 1995 was a good idea?
SAMPLE ANSWER: Prior to the late 1920s, the Yellowstone ecosystem had a wolf popula-
tion. Biologists were trying to restore the ecosystem and the biodiversity of animals
and plants within the park to how it once was.

6. Do you agree with the rancher’s opinion in this editorial? Why or why not?
SAMPLE ANSWER: I don’t agree because I think that a national park should have as natural
an ecosystem as possible. SAMPLE ANSWER: I agree with his opinion because I think the gov-
ernment should help protect people’s property.

Arguments Pro and Con

The skills used in this activity include information and media literacy, communication
skills, and creativity and intellectual curiosity.
Conduct independent research to find facts that support the reintroduction of the gray
wolf in Yellowstone National Park. You might begin your search by visiting the Web sites
of the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and private conservation groups.
Then search for and read editorials that both support and oppose wolf reintroduction. Write
an editorial from the perspective of someone in favor of the reintroduction of gray wolves to
the park. As an alternative to writing an editorial, conduct a debate with your classmates on
whether or not wolves should have been reintroduced to Yellowstone.
Evaluate students’ editorials or debates based on the number and quality of facts or
data they use to support their argument, the logic and organization of the argument,
and the clarity with which they present their point of view.

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