Contents What is a Biome Forests FOCUS ON Yosemite Rain Forests FOCUS ON The Amazon Rain Forest Grasslands and Savannas FOCUS ON The Serengeti Deserts FOCUS ON The Sahara Desert Tundra and Ice FOCUS ON Antarctica Oceans FOCUS ON The Great Barrier Reef Rivers and Lakes FOCUS ON The Nile River Glossary Test Yourself Index 4 6 8 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
What is a Biome Biomes are natural areas on Earth that have the same climate landscape plants and animals They can be on land or in water There are many different habitats and ecosystems within each biome The map on the right shows the main biomes of the world Temperate forest page 6 Taiga page 6 Tropical rain forest page 10 Grassland page 14 Savanna page 14 Desert page 16 Tundra page 20 Ice page 20 Ocean page 22 Freshwater page 26 FOCUS ON The Amazon Rain forest page 12 Habitats A habitat is the area where a certain plant or animal lives For example the habitat of a tawny owl is the trees in temperate forests Some species have their habitat in several biomes The African elephant moves between rain forests savannas and even deserts 4 FOCUS ON Yosemite page 8 FOCUS ON Antarctica page 21
Ecosystems An ecosystem is the relationship between all living things in an area Living things can be connected by food chains or by their behavior such as the way insects help to pollinate flowers If one plant or animal in an ecosystem disappears it affects all the other living things in the area Adaptations Animals and plants are adapted to the conditions of the biome where they live These can be physical adaptations such as fins or behavioral adaptations such as migration We can see similar adaptations in different animals in the same biome FOCUS ON The Serengeti page 15 FOCUS ON The Nile River page 28 FOCUS ON The Great Barrier Reef page 24 FOCUS ON The Sahara Desert page 18 5
