Definition: A forest biome is a terrestrial biome which includes, across its entire spatial extent, densely packed vegetation which strongly limits light penetration to the forest floor.
Comment: "Large" is ambiguous. For details on "Large rivers" (e.g. the Mekong river) see http://worldwildlife.org/biomes/large-river-ecosystems This class will be replaced with a less ambiguous class.
Definition: An aquatic biome that comprises systems of open-ocean and unprotected coastal habitats, characterized by exposure to wave action, tidal fluctuation, and ocean currents as well as systems that largely resemble these. Water in the marine biome is generally within the salinity range of seawater: 30 to 38 ppt.
Definition: An aquatic biome that comprises systems of open-ocean and unprotected coastal habitats, characterized by exposure to wave action, tidal fluctuation, and ocean currents as well as systems that largely resemble these. Water in the marine biome is generally within the salinity range of seawater: 30 to 38 ppt.
Definition: The mediterranean sea biome comprises mostly enclosed seas that have limited exchange of deep water with outer oceans and where the water circulation is dominated by salinity and temperature differences rather than winds.
Definition: An aquatic biome that comprises systems of open-ocean and unprotected coastal habitats, characterized by exposure to wave action, tidal fluctuation, and ocean currents as well as systems that largely resemble these. Water in the marine biome is generally within the salinity range of seawater: 30 to 38 ppt.
Comment: "Small" is ambiguous. For details on "Small rivers" (e.g. the Salween river) see http://worldwildlife.org/biomes/small-river-ecosystems. This class will be replaced with a less ambiguous class.
Definition: A grassland biome is a terrestrial biome which includes, across its entire spatial extent, an unbroken layer of grasses (Gramineae), sedges (Cyperaceae) or rushes (Juncaceae).
Definition: A wetland that features permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water, generally with a substantial number of hummocks, or dry-land protrusions.
Definition: A desert biome is a terrestrial biome which loses more liquid water by evapotranspiration than is supplied by precipitation and includes communities adapted to these conditions.
Definition: A desert biome is a terrestrial biome which loses more liquid water by evapotranspiration than is supplied by precipitation and includes communities adapted to these conditions.
Definition: A wetland, featuring grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water.
Definition: Expressions of the estuarine biome occur at wide lower courses of a rivers where they flow into a sea. Estuaries experience tidal flows and their water is a changing mixture of fresh and salt.