What defines a biome?

A biome is defined as a large geographical area characterized by specific climatic conditions, vegetation types, and animal communities. This definition encompasses the idea that biomes contain distinct ecosystems that occur in similar environments across the globe, such as deserts, forests, grasslands, and tundra. Each biome has particular adaptations that organisms have developed in response to the climate, soil, and geography of that region.

Understanding biomes requires recognizing that they represent broad ecological categories, unlike smaller-scale ecological units such as microhabitats or individual species groups, which focus on much narrower aspects of ecology. While transitional zones between different ecosystems and specific habitats are important concepts in ecology, they do not encompass the broad and diverse features that define a biome. Biomes are about the larger patterns of life that emerge across extensive areas, driven by both environmental and biological factors.