Environment Reference Libraries
The Edwards Plateau is an area of west-central Texas which is bordered by the Balcones Fault towards the south and the east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado towards the north, and the Chihuahuan Desert and Pecos River towards the west. San Angelo, San Antonia, Del Rio, and Austin make a rough outline of the area. The eastern part of the plateau is the Texas Hill Country. The trees of...
Rainforests are forests that are characterized by high levels of rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum usual annual rainfall of about 68 to 78 inches. The monsoon trough, or otherwise known as the intertropical convergence zone, holds an important role in producing the climatic conditions that are essential for the Earth’s tropical rainforests. About 40 to 75 percent of all biotic...
Kelp forests are areas that are underwater with a high density of kelp. They’re recognized as one of the most dynamic and productive ecosystems on Earth. Smaller regions of anchored kelp are known as kelp beds. Kelp forests can be found worldwide throughout polar and temperate coastal oceans. In the year 2007, kelp forests were discovered in tropical waters near Ecuador as well. While...
Taiga, or otherwise known as boreal forest, is a biome that is characterized by coniferous forests made up mostly of spruces, larches, and pines. The taiga is the world’s largest terrestrial biome. In North America, it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as portions of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods. It covers most of Sweden,...
A wetland is an area of land that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the traits of a distinct ecosystem. First and foremost, the factor that distinguishes the wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the unique vegetation that has adapted to its characteristic soil conditions. The wetland consists mostly of hydric soil, which is supportive...
The Central tall grasslands are a prairie ecoregion of the Midwestern United States, a portion of the North American Great Plains. It covers a large region of southern Minnesota, most of Iowa, and a small portion of eastern South Dakota and a narrow strip going through eastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas. The rainfall here is 1,000 millimeters per year, which is higher than most of the...
The Central forest-grasslands transition are a prairie ecoregion of the central United States, a portion of the North American Great Plains. This is a great area that covers 157,000 square miles from central Illinois through the majority of Missouri, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and into Texas. This region was conventionally a mixture of woodland and tall grass prairie, which as the soil is made...
The Central and Southern mixed grasslands are a prairie ecoregion of the central United States, a portion of the North American Great Plains. This is a vast grassland area with few trees running north to south from central Nebraska through central Kansas and western Oklahoma to north central Texas, covering about 282,000 square kilometers. This is a transition zone between the Central tall...
The Columbia Plateau ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, with little areas over the Washington state border in Idaho. This ecoregion stretches across a wide swath of the Columbia River Basin from the Dalles, Oregon to Lewiston, Idaho to Okanogan, Washington near the Canadian border. It...
The Montana Valley and Foothill grasslands are an ecoregion of northwestern North America within the northern United States and Canada. This area is made up of rolling grassy hills and river valleys of the Rocky Mountains foothills within the US state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta. The area largely consists of the Rocky Mountain Front, where the Great Plains rise to meet...
