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<p>In biology, a biome is the totality of all the biological objects and their networks.<br /><br />In ecology, a <strong>biome</strong> is a major regional group of distinctive plant and animal communities best adapted to the region's physical natural environment, latitude, elevation, and terrain. A biome is made up of ecoregions or communities at stable steady state and all associated transitional, disturbed, or degraded, vegetation, fauna and soils, but can often be identified by the climax vegetation type.<br /p><pbr />The biodiversity bioversity characteristic of each biome, especially the diversity of fauna and subdominant plant forms, is a function of abiotic factors and the biomass productivity of the dominant vegetation. Species diversity tends to be higher in terrestrial biomes with higher net primary productivity, moisture availability, and temperature. <sup class="reference" id="_ref-0">[1]</sup></p>
<p>A fundamental classification of biomes is into:</p>
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<p>Biomes are often given local names. For example, a Temperate grassland or shrubland biome is known commonly as <em>steppe</em> in central Asia, <em>savanna</em> or veld in southern Africa, <em>prairie</em> in North America, <em>pampa</em> in South America and <em>outback</em> or <em>scrub</em> in Australia. Sometimes an entire biome may be targeted for protection, especially under an individual nation's Biodiversity Action Plan.</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">Terrestrial biomes</span></h2>
<p>Climate is a major factor determining the distribution of terrestrial biomes. Among the important climatic factors are:</p>