How many biomes are there?

Many ecologiste have tried to classify the principal vegetation types into which the world is divided (Mueller-Dombois, 1984). The world vegetation types have come to be known as biomes and aquatic biomes have also been recognised. It is impossible in a single chapter to look at all the biomes in any detail. Instead, we will try to give a flavour of what life must be like for some of the organisms found there. We will also consider why particular biomes are found where they are. Some biomes have already been considered in earlier chapters and we will refer to these again only briefly.

No two ecologists seem to agree on how many biomes there are. This is hardly surprising as a biome is not a natural unit. If individual ecosystems are the ‘species’ of ecology, then biomes are the phyla or divisions. No two taxonomists seem to agree on a system of classification, so it is hardly surprising that a definitive list of biomes cannot be produced. This does not mean, however, that the concept of the biome has no use. Biomes provide a convenient shorthand for describing the world's flora and fauna. Traditionally biomes have been defined mainly in terms of their vegetation. However, in our descriptions below we will look at the animals in them (and sometimes the fungi, protoctists and prokaryotes too) as well as at the plants.