A biome is an ecological community that lives in a certain area. As such, the biomes differ from each other by the type of flora, fauna and climate that predominates in them. In this sense, the biome is the expression of the ecological conditions of a place to be inhabited by certain species of animals and plants. Hence, they are also known as bioclimatic landscapes or biotic areas.
Some of the factors that influence a zone to develop a certain type of biome are the variables of latitude, altitude, temperature and rainfall, which determine the climate of a place. Likewise, other aspects, such as the structure of the plants, the space between them, their type of foliage and the type of soil, are also factors associated with the configuration of a biome.
The Earth, in this sense, can be subdivided into biotic zones according to the climatic characteristics that they present. Thus, in each zone a certain type of vegetation and characteristic fauna develops, whose interrelation forms a biome.
The biomes are divided into two main groups: terrestrial and aquatic, and these, in turn, are subdivided into many others. Among the terrestrial biomes, for example, tropical rainforest, temperate forest, savanna, steppe, tundra, desert, among others can be distinguished . Among the aquatic ones, on the other hand, you can count the freshwater ecosystems (lentic: lakes, lagoons, wetlands, and lotics: rivers and streams), those of marine waters (oceans, intertidal areas and coral reefs), and ecosystems Brackish (estuaries, marshes and mangroves).
For its part, the scientific discipline responsible for the description, study and analysis of terrestrial biomes is Biogeography.
The word biome, as such, is derived from the Greek βιο (bio), which means ‘life’. The concept, however, is relatively recent in the areas of Ecology and Biology. As such, it was coined by American ecologist Frederic E. Clements, who defined the biome as a community of plants and animals.
