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Biome. A biome (/ ˈbaɪ.oʊm /) is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. [ 1 ][ 2 ] Biomes may span more than one continent. A biome encompasses multiple ecosystems within its boundaries.
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the abiotic pools (or physical environment) with which they interact. [3][4]: 5 [2]: 458 The biotic and abiotic componentsare linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. [5] "Ecosystem processes" are the transfers of energy and materials from one pool to another.
A standardized typology for large-scale areas characterized by vegetation, soil, climate, and wildlife in 14 major categories per Dinerstein et al. [81] Within the IUCN Ecosystem Typology, Level 2 "biomes" are reduced to 7 "core" terrestrial types, including an anthropogenic land-use type, and several additional "transitional" biome types. [82]
v. t. e. Ecology (from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos) 'house' and -λογία (-logía) 'study of') [A] is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels.
A shift of 1 or 100% (darker colours) indicates that the region has fully moved into a completely different biome zone type. [1] Climate changeis already now altering biomes, adversely affecting terrestrial and marine ecosystems. [2][3]Climate change represents long-term changes in temperature and average weather patterns.
Biodiversity (or biological diversity) is the variety and variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. [ 1 ] Diversity is not distributed evenly on Earth.
Alaska is the most biodiverse state with 15 ecoregions across three biomes in the same realm. California comes in a close second with 13 ecoregions across four biomes in the same realm. By contrast, Rhode Island is the least biodiverse with just one ecoregion—the Northeastern coastal forests —encompassing the entire state.
Anthropogenic biomes (v1 from Ellis & Ramankutty (2008)) Anthropogenic biomes, also known as anthromes, human biomes or intensive land-use biome, describe the terrestrial biosphere (biomes) in its contemporary, human-altered form using global ecosystem units defined by global patterns of sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems.