BIOMES OF AMERICA: CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES - ENVIRONMENT - 2025

The biomes of America include a great variability of bioclimatic landscapes due to the particular geographical shape of this continent. They extend from north to south and include cold, temperate and tropical climates in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

These biomes are included in the Holartic, Neotropical, and Antarctic biogeographic realms. The Holartic kingdom includes the biomes present in North America, including the USA, Canada and northern Mexico.

Bed sheet. Source: Inti / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

For its part, the Neotropical kingdom goes from the Yucatan peninsula (Mexico) to 40º south latitude in Patagonia (Argentina and Chile). The Antarctic kingdom, in South America, is limited to the southern tip of Patagonia in Chile and Argentina.

The biomes of America present in the North American subcontinent are the tundra and the boreal forest or taiga in a polar climate to the extreme north. While the rest of the territory, with a temperate climate, includes mixed forest, temperate deciduous forest and coniferous forest.

Similarly, in North America you can find prairies, deserts and one of the five areas of Mediterranean forest on the planet, called here chaparral.

For their part, the biomes of America in the South American subcontinent include the largest extension of tropical forests, with tropical rainforests and seasonal forests. There are also savannas, deserts, the pampas, the temperate forest, the mixed forest, the coniferous forest and the tundra.

Similarly, among the biomes of South America is the Chilean Mediterranean forest, which is one of the five Mediterranean forest regions in the world.

Biomes of North America

characteristics

The North American subcontinent stretches from the Arctic Circle region to the Gulf of Mexico. Because of this, in Alaska and the Yukon there are temperatures of down to -50 ° C, while to the south there are deserts with 45 ° C in summer.

Precipitation varies equally across North America from north to south and east to west. In the northwest, rainfall occurs in the form of snow, while in the southeast there are heavy rains.

Types

The biomes present in North America correspond mainly to the cold and temperate climatic zones. Although there is a tropical climate in the extreme south of Florida and in areas of Mexico.

Tundra

This biome is located in polar latitudes above the northern tree line, extending from North America to the eastern tip of Russia. They are great plains with cold climates, which in the North American case occur in Alaska (USA) and northern Canada.

Tundra. Source: ADialla / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

They are characterized by vegetation dominated by mosses and lichens, with a frozen subsoil (permafrost) and areas of bogs and swamps. Among the fauna, the caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus), the wolf (Canis lupus), the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi) stand out.

Boreal forest

This biome runs from Alaska in the west to the coast of Labrador in the east, in a strip about 2,000 km wide. Two-thirds of the boreal forest is on land in Canada and the rest in the US.

It is a region with an extremely cold climate formed by coniferous forests. Of these there are mainly evergreen genera such as Pinus and Abies, but also deciduous such as Larix.

For example, the eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) is evergreen and the larch (Larix laricina) is deciduous. In the boreal forest fauna, the elk (Alces sp.) And the caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are characteristic, as well as the wolf (Canis lupus) as the main predator.

Mixed forest

Although sometimes designated as a biome, the mixed forest is a transitional formation between the boreal forest and the temperate deciduous forest. The first made up of coniferous trees, such as pine and fir, and the second made up of angiosperm trees such as oak and beech.

Therefore, in the transition area there are forests that contain species from both groups. In the same way, the fauna found both in the mixed forest and in the boreal and temperate deciduous forests is similar.

Temperate deciduous forest

It is located between the boreal forest and the great North American prairie, in the USA (most abundant in the west) and in the southeast of Canada. These are tree species adapted to temperate climates such as oak (Quercus robur), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and birch (Betula spp.).

In these forests live the wolf (Canis lupus), the bear (Ursus arctos arctos), the wild boar (S us scrofa) and the European bison (Bison bonasus). At the southern limit, in Mexico, is the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi).

Coniferous forest

In North America there are other forests composed of conifers, such as redwood forests (Sequoia sempervirens). These thrive in the deep, rainy valleys of California.

Coniferous forest in Yosemite (United States). Source: Complicated from ATHENS, GEORGIA, USA / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

In the southern limit of North America, in Mexican lands, are the coniferous forests that are home to the greatest diversity of pines in the world.

Meadow

It is a huge plain that stretches like a strip from the west to the east of the US, occupied mainly by continuous cover grasses. These prairies are the largest floristic province in North America and are characterized by a seasonal climate and deep soils.

They have a dry climate for most of the year, with cold winters and hot summers, and there is a gradation in terms of humidity increasing from east to west. The eastern grasslands are drier with short grasses, while the central plains have more moisture and taller grasses.

Meadow. Source: No machine-readable author provided. Kgwo1972 assumed (based on copyright claims). / Public domain

On the west side, the rains are higher due to the oceanic influence and therefore the pastures tend to be taller. In the past these prairies were occupied by large herds of buffalo or American bison (Bison bison).

However, indiscriminate hunting drove the bison to near extinction and some small recovering populations survive today. Other characteristic fauna species are prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.), Which form large colonies.

Californian chaparral or Mediterranean forest

Of the 5 world regions of the Mediterranean forest biome, California (USA and Mexico) is one of them, receiving the name of chaparral there. It is a low forest of hard-leaved trees and shrubs adapted to particular climatic conditions and to a periodic occurrence of fire.

In this region, located in the Pacific Ocean, winters are mild and summers are dry and warm. Oak (Quercus robur) is the dominant species in these conditions and shrubs such as oak (Quercus berberidifolia).

Likewise, the so-called manzanitas are presented with about 60 species of the genus Arctostaphylos. The coyote (Canis latrans) and the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), among other animal species, live in these forests.

Desert

In North America there are deserts from southern Oregon to northern Mexico, being mainly areas of high temperatures in summer during the day. On the contrary, frosts occur at night and in winter, especially in the northernmost latitudes.

In the case of the Mojave Desert located between Nevada, Utah and California, there is a Mediterranean climate. The harsh conditions determine a sparse vegetation, especially scattered herbs and shrubs and a mainly nocturnal fauna.

Mojave Desert. Source: AnimAlu / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Characteristic species include cacti and shrubs such as mugwort (Artemisia tridentata). For its part, in the Mojave desert, the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is characteristic.

While in the Sonora desert, which includes California, Baja California and Arizona, columnar cacti predominate, such as the giant saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea). The fauna of these deserts includes the coyote (Canis latrans) and the rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox, C. adamanteus and others).

Biomes of South America

characteristics

The South American subcontinent stretches from the Darien region between Panama and Colombia to Cape Horn in Argentina in the extreme south. The northern part of this vast territory is in the northern hemisphere, while most of it is in the southern hemisphere.

Types

Tropical rain forest

In South America there are the largest extensions of tropical rainforest in the world, mainly in the Amazon-Orinoco basin. The Amazon rainforest alone represents 40% of the surface of South America and it is home to a quarter of the species on Earth.

In addition, on the slopes of the Andes mountain range there are high mountain rainforests or cloudy forests, as well as in the Venezuelan coastal mountain range. Another important extension of tropical rainforest is that of Choco-Darién in northwestern South America, between Colombia and Panama.

These jungles are characterized by high rainfall (over 2,000 mm per year) and are home to a huge diversity of plant and animal species. In plain forests such as the Amazon, average temperatures are high, while in cloudy mountain forests they are cooler.

The fauna includes the jaguar (Panthera onca), the tapir or tapir (3 species of Tapirus) and the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu). Similarly, various species of monkeys and reptiles and countless insects and birds.

Tropical seasonal jungle

Seasonal forests or dry forests are characterized by two climatic seasons, one dry and the other rainy. The soils are deep and with good water retention allow the establishment of forests.

One strategy to survive the dry season is that 50 to 80% of trees lose their foliage during drought. Depending on the intensity of the dry season, the soil and groundwater supplies, these jungles can become more or less complex.

Seasonal jungle. Source: FB Lucas / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

They are highly threatened biomes, for example, large areas of the Colombian-Venezuelan plains were covered with semi-deciduous forests. However, today small areas remain due to logging and deforestation for agriculture and livestock.

In the case of deciduous forests, the largest extensions are found in Brazil in the Catinga, as well as in the Chaco in Bolivia. They also extend through the coastal mountain ranges of the Colombian and Venezuelan Caribbean, the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Peru, as well as northern Argentina and Paraguay.

bed sheet

The savannah is a grass-dominated plant formation that develops in a warm bi-seasonal climate in the great plains of northern South America. There is rainfall of 600 to 3,000 mm per year and average temperatures of 27 ºC, with a dry season of 3 to 7 months.

Mainly they extend in the Orinoco river basin, existing savannas in trees (without trees) and wooded (with scattered trees or palms). Here there is a rainy period with high rainfall for half a year or more, and then an intense dry season.

The savannas are crossed by large rivers with associated fauna such as fish, alligators and turtles. As well as the anaconda (Eunectes murinus) and large herds of capybaras or chigüires (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a giant rodent.

The jaguar (Panthera onca), the deer (Odocoileus virginianus apurensis) and the armadillo or cachicamo (Dasypus sabanicola) also inhabit these lands.

Desert

Desert and semi-arid regions occur in the north of South America towards the coast of the Caribbean Sea. In the north, between Colombia and Venezuela is the Guajira desert, but the largest deserts occur on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

The Atacama desert between Chile and Peru is the largest of the deserts in South America and is considered the driest place on Earth. In Peru there are other deserts such as Sechura and Nazca.

In Argentina there are also deserts such as the Patagonian desert and the Monte desert. A family of plants endemic to America and characteristic of arid and semi-arid areas are cacti.

Pampas

It corresponds to the formation dominated by grasses of the southern cone of America, equivalent to the prairie in North America in terms of climate. It extends from Argentina, passing through Uruguay to the south of Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul state).

Pampas. Source: Waterloo / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

However, the species composition is different in both flora and fauna. The fauna includes the pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus), the rhea (Rhea spp.), The pampas fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus) and the puma (Puma concolor).

Chilean Mediterranean Forest

It consists of a strip of forest and low shrubland that develops along the central coast of Chile in the Pacific. Species of hard or drought-resistant leaves typical of the South American region inhabit here, such as the Chilean carob (Prosopis chilensis).

Likewise, there are maiten (Maytenus boaria), hawthorn (Acacia caven) and cacti, such as Echinopsis chiloensis. Among the fauna, endemic species of the southern American cone stand out, such as the black-necked swan (Cygnus melancoryphus) and the culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpaeus).

Temperate forest

It is located in the south of Chile and Argentina, especially in mountainous areas, both temperate deciduous forests and temperate rain forests. As in North America, the species here are adapted to temperate conditions, but the floristic composition varies.

There are genera typical of the southern hemisphere such as Nothofagus with various species such as raulí (Nothofagus alpina), hualo (Nothofagus glauca) and ñire (Nothofagus antarctica).

This includes the temperate rainforest or Valdivian rainforest in Chile, with rainfall of over 4,000 mm per year. The huiña or red cat (Leopardus guigna) and the mountain monkey (Dromiciops gliroides) live here.

Mixed forest

As in North America, there are mixed forests between temperate forest and coniferous forest. In this case, it is a transition forest with species of araucaria and podocarp, combined with species of angiosperms.

These mixed forests occur on the extreme southern Andean slopes, in Chile and Argentina, as for example in the Valdivian forest.

Coniferous forest

Although not as abundant as in North America, there are also coniferous forests in South America, particularly in Chile and Argentina. Araucariaceae species predominate in these forests, as well as the larch or cahuen (Fitzroya cupressoides) and the Guaitecas cypress (Pilgerodendron uviferum).

Tundra

In reduced areas of the extreme south of Chile and Argentina, the tundra biome (Antarctic tundra) is present, forming peatlands and permafrost. The diversity of species is lower than in the Arctic tundra, highlighting species of grasses such as Poa pratensis and Deschampsia antarctica.

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