World Biomes
Biogeography is the scientific study of the way plants and animals are distributed across the globe. Because climate and soil determine which plants thrive in a particular region, similar types of vegetation, as well as the animals associated with them, occur in places with climates that are similar. These places, occupying large areas and identified by their vegetation types, are known as biomes. For example, the belt of mainly evergreen coniferous forests that runs across Canada and northern Eurasia constitutes a biome known as boreal forest in North America and taiga in Russia. The character of this forest is essentially the same throughout the biome, but the plant and animals species found there vary.