The Dictionary meaning of biome is a major climax community of plants and animals. It generally corresponds to a climatic Region.
According to F.E. Clements and V.E. Shelford, “Biome is defined as biotic community of geographical extent characterized by distinctiveness in the life forms of the important climax species”.
The biome represents the largest recognizable subdivision within terrestrial ecosystems. Despite the fact that biome includes both plants as well as animal life, the green plants because of their biomass dominate it physically.
A biome, as defined by Christopherson, is a large stable terrestrial ecosystem characterized by specific plant and animal communities.
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However, each biome usually is named for its dominant vegetation. Various types of plant species may be divided into 6 broad biomes: forest, Savanna grassland, shrubland, desert and tundra.
It is to be noted that plant distributions respond to environmental conditions and reflect variations in climate and soil. etc.
These general biomes are further divided into more specific formation classes i.e. vegetation units that refer to the dominant plants in a terrestrial ecosystem. Remember that life form designations are based on outward physical properties of individual plants.