Ecological communities of living things,
such as microorganisms, plants and animals; the communities form as a result of
the physical surroundings, including the land, air, and water of an area. For
example, deserts, grasslands, and tropical rainforests are biomes.
The largest unit of ecological classification that is convenient to recognize
below the entire globe.
Terrestrial biomes are typically based on dominant vegetation
structure (e.g., forest, grassland). Ecosystems within a biome function in a
broadly similar way, although they may have very different species composition.
For example, all forests share certain properties regarding nutrient cycling,
disturbance, and biomass that are different from the properties of grasslands.
Marine biomes are typically based on biogeochemical
properties.
