Polar/Boreal Climate Zone

Cool Temperate with cool summers and warm windters. Average annual temp -0.7 degrees C.

Evergreen, frost-hardy, needle leaved forest (taiga)

Soils are moist through most of the growing season, acidic, podsilized, generally low fertility

Found in the Northern Hemisphere

Polar/Boreal Climate Zone

Permafrost, acidic soil, nutrient poor (on surface layer of soil)

Plants are dwarf, prostrate woody shrubs (grow low to the ground)

Ave. Temp -11.9 degrees C

Highest precipitation in (our) summer. Low drainage so soil stays saturated throughout most of the growing season.

Temperate Climate Zone

Moderate conditions with winter freezing

Deciduous trees are the dominant plant growth form. Layer of smaller trees and shrubs beneath teh dominant trees as well as herbaceous plants.

Eastern US. in N. America, Southeastern Canada, widely distrubuted in Europe and eastern Asia

Soils often podsolized, tend to be slightly acideic and moderatly leached, and are brown in color owing to abundant organic material.

Warmer and drier parts of the temperate seasonal forest niome, especially where soils are sand and nutrien poor, tend to develop needle-leaved forests dominated by pines.

Temperate Climate Zone

In warm temperate climates near the pacific coast in northwestern North America, and in souther Chile, New Zealand, and Tasmania.

Mild winters, heavy winter rains, and summer fog support tall evergreen forests.  Somewhat frost sensitive.

Rainfall ranges between 30 and 85 cm per year and winters are cold. Precipitation is relatively infrequent.

These grasslands are often called prairies in N. America. Also found in central asia and are called steppes.

Soils are rich in organic matter. Low acidity, not heavily leached and tend to be rich in nutrients.

Vegetation dominated by grasses. Forbs are also abundant.

Fire is a dominant influence in these grasslands, particularly where the habitat dries out during the late summer.

Where precipitation ranges between 25 and 50 cm per year, and winters are cold and summers are hot, grasslands grade into deserts. Covers most of the Great Basin of teh western US. In the norther part of the region, sagebrush is the dominant plant, whereas toward the south and on womewhat moister soils, widely spaced juniper and pinon trees predominate, forming open woodlands less than 20 m in stature with sparse coverings of grass. In these areas soils are dry and littel water percolates through them to for streams and rivers. Calcium carbonate leached from the surface layers of the soil tends to accumulat at the depths to which water usually penetrates. Fires are infrequent in the deserts because the habitat produces little fuel. 

Many grasslands in the western US and elsewhere in the world have been converted into deserts due to overgrazing.  

Temperate Climate Zone

The mediterranean climate zone is found at 30-40 degrees north and south of the equator, on the western side of continental landmasses. Southern Europe, southern California, central Chile, the cape region of South Africa, and southwestern Australia.

Mild winter temperatures, winter rain, and summer drought.

Support thick, evergreen, shrubby vegetation with deep roots and drought-resistant foliage. The small, durable leaves of typical Mediterranean-climate plants have earned them the label of sclerophyllus ("hard-leaved") vegetation.

Fires are frequent in the woodland/shrubland biome, and most plants have either fire-resistant seeds or root crowns that resprout soon after a fire.

Emperate Climate Zone

"Hot Deserts", develop at latitudes 20-30 degrees N and S, in areas with high atmospheric pressure associated with the descending air of the Henley Cells.

Very sparse rainfall, high temperatures, and generally long growing seasons.

Soils are shallow, virtually devoid of organic matter, and neutral in pH.

Creosote bush dominates the subtropic deserts. Moister sites within this biome support a profusion of succulent cacti, shrubs, and small trees.

Many plants are not frost-tolerant. Species diversity is usually much higher than in termperate arid lands.

Tropical Climate Zone

Always warm and receive atleast 200cm of precipitation throughout the year, with no lesss than 10cm during any single month.

Amazon and Orinco basins of South America, areas in Central America and along with the Atlantic coast of Brazil constitute the Neotropical rain forest. The area from southernmost West Africa and extending eastward through the Congo River basin makes up teh African rain forest. The Indo-Mayan rainforest covers parts of Southeast Asia, the islands between Asia and Australia and the Queensland coast of Australia.

Two peaks of rainfall centered around the equinoxes.

Soils are typically old and deeply weathered oxisols. Take on the reddish color of aluminum and iron oxides and retain nutrients poorly.

Vegetation is dominated by continuous canopy of tall evergreen trees. Occasionally emergent trees rise above the canopy to heights of 55 m or so. These emergent trees are often deciduous, even in a mostly evergreen forest. Typically have several understory layers beneath teh canopy, containing smaller trees, shrubs, and herbs, but these are usually quite sparse bc so little light penetrates the canopy. Climbing lianas, or woody vines, and epiphytes, plants that grow on teh branches of other plants and are not rooted in soil are pominent in the forest canopy itself. High species diversity.

High productivity

Tropical Climate Zone

30 degrees north and south of the equator

Small shrubs, Deciduous forest, thorny plants, grasses, brushes

Laterized Soil

Dry Season and Wet Season

(Pronounced dry season in the winter)

Rain Shadows

Nutrient Poor (This combined with dry season cause scattered forests)

The effect of the Earth's rotation on the circulation patterns of the atmosphere and oceans, which causes winds and currents to veer to the right of their direction of travel in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.

(Think about what would happen to a cannon ball if you shot it north from the equator as opposed to south)