Biology Made Fun · Go Further

Unit 10: Ecology — Biomes

The companion to Unit 10 in Biology Made Fun — the code printed on page 104, the unit's Big Picture opener. Guiding question: Why do different places on Earth wear different living coats?

Animation — Ecology — BiomesThe concept animation for this unit will be embedded here.

Key ideas from the lesson

  • A biome is a large area defined by its climate and ecosystems — and climate, the average weather in a region over a long time, is where every biome story starts.
  • Lots of rain and warmth year-round grows a rainforest, the biome with the greatest biodiversity — variety of life — on land.
  • Little rain grows a desert, or a grassland where grasses dominate and there is too little rain for forests. A savanna is a grassland with scattered trees, warm all year with wet and dry seasons.
  • Long frozen winters grow tundra. At every setting of the dial, the plants that survive the climate decide which animals can live there.

Why this helps

Unit 10's question — why do different places wear different living coats? — has a two-dial answer: rain and warmth. The animation turns those dials and lets you watch the coat change, plant community first and animal community after it.

Try this

Pick two biomes from the unit and name the climate setting that produces each — rain and warmth, in words. Then name one plant and one animal the unit places in each, and check your picks against the unit's pages.

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