Biome Map

Map Number

Name of Region

Alternative Names

Some Notable Plants

Arctic Tundra

Alpine Tundra found southward at high elevations

Dwarf Willows, Sedges, Heaths, Lichens

Boreal Forest

Taiga is the name of the sparsely forested northern edge, but often used for any coniferous forest. Subalpine Forest found southward at high elevations

Spruces, Balsam Fir, Paper Birch, insectivorous bog plants, orchids

Rocky Mountain Evergreen Forest

Montane Forest is any forest found at mid elevations of mountains

Ponderosa Pine, Douglas-fir, Engelmann Spruce

Pacific Coastal Evergreen Forest

Temperate Rain Forest

Western Hemlock, Douglas-fir, Sitka Spruce (in temperate rain forests near coast), Western Redcedar, Coast Redwoods (limited to CA fog belt where otherwise dry summer). White Fir and Giant Sequoias in the Sierra Nevada montane zone.

Great Lakes / New England Mixed Forest

Northern Hardwoods-Hemlock or sometimes considered merely a transitional Mixed Forest

Beech, Maple, Eastern Hemlock, Yellow Birch, White Pine, Northern Whitecedar

Eastern Deciduous Forest

Temperate Deciduous Forest

Beech-Maple-Tuliptree "mixed-mesophytic forest" or "cove-hardwood forest" (mesic areas; highly diverse), Oak-Hickory (xeric areas)

Coastal Plain Mixed Evergreen Forest

Southeastern Mixed Evergreen Forest

Southern Pines (xeric, successional after fire), Oaks, Evergreen Magnolia (mesic), Bald-cypress (hydric), Spanish Moss, some Palms, insectivorous bog plants

Mexican Montane Forest

Tropical Montane Forest sometimes called Cloud Forest where clouds touch the mountainside

Various Rocky Mountain and subtropical species with relict or disjunct populations of Eastern Deciduous Forest species.

Central American Rain Forest

Tropical Rain Forest or Selva

Various Families of Broadleaf Evergreen Trees, with Bromeliads and Epiphytic Orchids; Extreme Diversity

Great Plains Grasslands

Prairie (wetter, taller grass) and Steppe (dryer, shorter grass)often used interchangeably

Big Bluestem Grass, various grasses and forbs, fire is important in maintaining savanna-like habitat in the moist eastern edge

West Indian Savanna

Tropical Savanna is grassland with trees while Tropical Thorn Scrub and Tropical Dry Forests prevail on other sites. Florida Everglades is a unique wetland patchwork within this zone

Gumbo Limbo, Palms, Grasses

Great Basin Desert

Cool Desert

Sagebrush, Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands

Sonoran, Mojave, and Chihuahua Deserts

Hot Desert

Creosote Bush, Large Cacti, Yuccas, Paloverde

Californian Chaparral

Mediterranean Scrub and Woodland

Flammable shrubs, Manzanitas, Ceanothus, Mandrone

Map Number	Name of Region	Winter	Growing Season	Snow	Fire	Winter Moisture	Summer moisture
1	Arctic Tundra	frigid	cold	+	o	dry	moist
2	Boreal Forest	frigid	cool	++	+	moist	moist
3	Rocky Mountain Evergreen Forest	cold	mild	+++	+++	moist	moist
4	Pacific Coastal Evergreen Forest	mild	mild	+++	+	very moist	moist
5	Great Lakes / New England Mixed Forest	cold	mild	+++	+	moist	moist
6	Eastern Deciduous Forest	cool-cold	warm	+	+	moist	moist
7	Coastal Plain Mixed Evergreen Forest	mild-cool	hot	o	+++	moist	moist
8	Mexican Montane Forest	mild	mild	o	?	dry?	moist
9	Central American Rain Forest	warm	hot	o	o	very moist	very moist
10	Great Plains Grasslands	cool-frigid	hot	+	+++	dry	moist
11	West Indian Savanna	warm	hot	o	+++	very dry	moist
12	Great Basin Desert	cold	warm	+	o	dry	very dry
13	Sonoran, Mojave, and Chihuahua Deserts	mild	hot	o	o	very dry	very dry
14	Californian Chaparral	mild	warm	o	+++	moist	very dry