North American Biomes

• Main Authors: Peters, Debra P.C., Scroggs, Stacey L.P., Yao, Jin
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2014
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Canada; North Pole; Pacific; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199830060-0099

Biomes of North America are contained within the land area of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and countries in Central America. The area is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. This large area (over 24 x 106 km2) is characterized by a broad range of temperature and precipitation that result in nine biomes ranging from tropical rainforests and seasonal deciduous forests in the south near the equator to boreal forests and tundra at high latitudes near the North Pole. Temperate forests (deciduous, coniferous), grasslands, deserts, and Chaparral woodlands occur at mid-latitudes. Landscape-scale patterns in contemporary ecosystems within each biome reflect variability in climate and soil parent material combined with human activities that have increased in extent and intensity over the past several centuries. These patterns are often influenced by the redistribution of organisms, water and sediment, fire, and air chemistry. Connections with biome types on other continents on Earth can lead to invasion by exotic species including pests and pathogens, large climatic events such as hurricanes and drought, and changes in air quality through dust storms and volcanic eruptions. These tele-connections often occur infrequently, yet with large and surprising effects on ecosystem properties and dynamics. Directional changes in climate are expected to influence biome distributions and composition in novel ways. Increasing awareness of these broad-scale dynamics that connect biomes globally is leading to new avenues of research that intersect ecology with other disciplines.