There are two major bases of classifying biome. The bases of these two classifications and its various types are discussed below:
On the basis of climate with special emphasis on availability of moisture
- According to this basis biomes are determined by the degree to which moisture is available to plants in a scale hanging from abundant (forest biome) to almost scarce (desert biome).
- But within each biome, conditions of temperature are vastly different from low to high altitudes and low to high latitudes.
- Consequently there is a need to sub-divide each biome in to further sub-types.
- However, according to this classification, there are four major types of biomes:
- Forest biome
- Savanna biome
- Grassland biome
- Desert biome
On the basis of climate and vegetation
- This classification argues that there is a close relationship between the world distributional patterns of plants and animal species and the climatic types of the world.
- Thus, based on this relationship the world has been divided into different biome types.
- The vegetation is the most dominant component of the biomes.
- As the vegetation and climate have intimate relationship the world is divided into various types on the basis of climates.
- Further, these climate based biomes are divided into various sub-types on the basis of vegetation. Look at the table given below.
