# 24.10.14 Land Biomes
Part one: Land biomes
Hawaii biomes:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajpGScyuPiE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajpGScyuPiE)
[Download mod12-land\_biomes.pdf (application/pdf, 6.2 MB)](https://bookstack.kamuela.org/attachments/233)
Look:Here's what we learned so far:
cd6cd.png
Now look at this map, and compare with your trusty globe:
6a22f.pngSee the pattern? Pay close attention to cause and effect:
- onshore moist air from the Pacific ocean hits the mountains near Seattle=rainy there
- onshore moist air from the lower Atlantic ocean hits the amazon basin=rainy there
- dry air moving down from the Mediterranean moves over the Sahara Desert=dry there
Screenshot 2024-10-14 at 2.14.31 PM.png
Screenshot 2024-10-14 at 2.14.43 PM.pngScreenshot 2024-10-14 at 2.14.54 PM.pngThere are about 9 Biomes, usually defined by precipitation (rain, fog, others) and temperature.
- The Big Island has 8 of the 9 biomes, or in the 12 biome model, we have 11/12, or 9 of 13, or 10 of 14 in another model.
- Many models...[https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/hawaii-has-10-worlds-14-climate-zones-explorers-guide-each-them](https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/hawaii-has-10-worlds-14-climate-zones-explorers-guide-each-them)
- Traveling up a mountain is like crossing biomes. Check this out:
- Imagine driving from Hamakua or Hilo up to the summit of Mauna Kea: tropical rain forest to temperate (mild) rain forest to boreal (north) forest to tundra.
- There is even a glacier up on Mauna Kea. Cool.
- This would be like starting in the upper right corner of the diagram and moving diagonally down and to the left.
Now check out the planet again:
703d0.png
Notice the horizontal bands. If you've read "Guns Germs and Steel" you know that humans migrated horizontally, so their crops and livestock would thrive in similar biomes. See? Migrating north to south is tough.How is this changing?[https://climate.nasa.gov/interactives/climate-time-machine](https://climate.nasa.gov/interactives/climate-time-machine)
Biomes provide the physical and climatic framework, while biodiversity fills that framework with living systems. Warmer and wetter biomes usually support greater biodiversity, while harsher biomes restrict it.
Biodiversity is complex (genes, species, ecosystems), ecologists usually talk in relative terms: how species richness compares across biomes. I’ll use the classic global biodiversity gradient (warm + wet = highest; cold + dry = lowest).
## Relative Biodiversity by Biome1 = very low diversity and 10 = very high diversity, based on species richness patterns.
Biome
Relative Biodiversity (1–10)
Rationale
Tundra
1
Harsh climate (cold, dry, short growing season) → very few species.
Boreal Forest (Taiga)
2
Cold, conifer-dominated, acidic soils → moderate productivity but low species richness.
Temperate Grassland
4
Fewer plant species (mostly grasses), but supports large herbivore and predator diversity.
Very low precipitation → low species count, though high specialization.
Temperate Forest
6
Mixed tree communities, moderate climate → higher diversity than grasslands/taiga.
Temperate Seasonal Forest
6–7
Deciduous dominance, rich soils, clear seasons → supports more species than conifer forests.
Tropical Seasonal Forest
8
High productivity, seasonal rainfall → slightly less rich than rainforests but still very diverse.
Tropical Rainforest
10
Highest biodiversity on Earth: stable warm/wet climate, extremely high productivity.
## Key Patterns
1. Latitude Gradient: Biodiversity increases from poles (tundra) → tropics (rainforest).
2. Precipitation Effect: Wetter biomes generally support more plant species → more niches for animals.
3. Seasonality vs. Stability: Seasonal environments (temperate/seasonal forests, savannas) have moderate-high diversity, but not as high as stable, year-round productive environments (rainforests).
4. Extremes Are Low: Very cold (tundra) and very dry (deserts) are biodiversity “deserts.”
Screenshot 2025-09-22 at 8.09.03 AM.png
Decoding Climatograms:
You will need to understand these when you create your green dream home:
fce37.png
- These diagrams are how climatologists describe biomes without a cool map.
- The blue line is the amount of rainfall, with units on the RIGHT side of the graph.
- The red line is the temperature, with units on the LEFT side of the graph.
- The shaded region in the months below (jfmamjjasond) is the growing season when temperatures are above freezing.
- When the precipitation line is above the temperature line, growth is limited by temperature (e.g. freezing).
- When the blue line is below the red line, growth is limited by precipitation (e.g. the desert).
- Start with the north: Tundra is what you'd see in Alaska.
- Permafrost is soon to be in the news.
- It is made of permanently frozen ground a few feet below the surface.
- Even roots cannot penetrate it, so some trees grow in a stunted fashion.
- It is also composed of frozen organic matter, which when it melts will decompose, releasing CO2 and CH4 (methane), which is 20x as powerful as CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
Tundra: (like in Palmer, Alaska, away from the water)
2879f.png
Note the cool temp, so growth is determined by temp, not rainfall. Lots of snow here, and little liquid water for plants, so yeah, mainly snow and glaciers.
Boreal (north) forest: (think of the aurora-lights, borealis-northern)
Contrast that with the boreal (north) forest:
ea2c0.png
- Note the short growing season.
- Any plants that survive usually have an oily sap (pine trees, evergreens) that does not freeze.
- Also note the serious cold in the winter-animals have to adapt to these (fur, hibernation, etc.)
Temperate (mild) forests: (maybe Skagway, AK, on the water)
- Temperate (mild) forests are nicer, longer growing season, and rarely freeze.
- They are usually near the ocean, so they do not freeze (ocean is a huge heat sink).
- They often have lots of rain (think of Seattle).
- You may recall these are places where the surface parts of Ferrell and Polar cells converge, bringing in clouds and as these clouds rise into the atmosphere, they release their water as precipitation.
- Temperate (mild) seasonal forest actually has seasons
- Deciduous trees can live here, like maple and oak. It gets close to freezing, but no real dry season.
- Is like much of southern California, or the Mediterranean.
- Wine can grow here. It is also known as the mediterranean (medi=middle, terra=earth) biome.
99264.pngNote it never really freezes, but growth is determined by precipitation (blue line is below the red line). This is also known as "chaparral" or the "fynbos" or "nice forest" in Afrikaans (South Africa). Look up the main wine regions of the world, they will fit this biome. Also consider how many Italians could start vineyards in northern California...
Temperate grassland/cold desert:
- Is a dry, grassy area, like Oklahoma, although it does get very cold there, so think more of Texas, or the Gobi desert.
- Again, growth is rain limited: (you may recall these are near Hadley/Ferrel cell subsidence, so dry air from space falls here).
- These areas tend to be far from large bodies of water, so they have more extreme temperatures than similar latitudes near water (e.g. Italy, France, California)
- Is the rainiest of them all, and much of our island has this near the shore.
- Warm temperatures, and paradoxically poor soil nutrition (all of the nutrients are in the plants).
- On Mt. Waialeale on Kauai, the rainfall is 480 INCHES per year, 2.5 times as high as the high point on the chart below:
4d9c8.pngSavanna or tropical seasonal forest:
- Africa and Brazil hold the next biome: Savanna or tropical seasonal forest.
- Think of Madagascar (the film): not many large trees, room for animals to roam, lots of grass, happy lions, maybe a bossy penguin or two...Growth dependent on rainfall: (blue line below red one)
- Finally, the subtropical desert biome, like what you'd see in the Sahara desert (another film), or most of Australia, the Atacama in Chile, the Mojave desert in California, and some of Mexico.
- Note the Gobi desert is not on this list-too cold. Again, note these areas are where dry air subsides (falls) from the Hadley and Ferrell cells.
cffbb.pngFind these places in the first three climatographs: Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaSan Diego, CaliforniaBelem, Brazil
de227.png9139d.png86a5a.png[Download Find these biomes below:.pdf.pdf (application/pdf, 980.2 KB)](https://bookstack.kamuela.org/attachments/231)
Google this: [aquatic biome game](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=aquatic+biome+game&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)
---
Migrated from Apple Server Wiki. Original page ID: V5v9M8