Biomes of Brazil

Biomes are large geographic ecoregions with specific environmental conditions that determine typical plant and animal communities in that area. A fundamental classification of biomes is into aquatic and terrestrial biomes.

Terrestrial Biomes can be distinguished according to the following criteria:

• vegetation type (desert, grassland, shrubland,
  woodland or forest).

• latitude (tropical, temperate warm and cold or
  arctic) and altitude,

• climate (humid, semi-humid, arid semi-arid,
  continental or marine influenced) and soils,

• geological history.

Despite of all attempts to internationally standardize the classification of biomes, they often are given local names. For example, a grassland or shrubland biome is known commonly as steppe in central Asia, savanna or veldt in southern Africa, prairie in North America, pampa in South America and outback in Australia. According to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Brazil can be divided into the following 6 biomes: