Biomes

Virtually explore the terrestrial and aquatic biomes of the earth through these Web sites. Some sites introduce the idea of biomes, while others describe specific ecosystems or habitats. (ECB also provides excellent video resources on biomes and habitats for Wisconsin teachers.)

High School | Elementary and Middle School | Instructional Video Series for Wisconsin Teachers

High School

The World's Biomes introduces aquatic, desert, forest, tundra, and grassland biomes. The site, created by the University of California at Berkeley, provides detailed information about each.

Wild World provides information about 867 land-based eco-regions on the planet. The World Wildlife Fund and the National Geographic Society have created interactive maps that guide users to detailed illustrated descriptions. A section called Sights and Sounds provides an in-depth look at several specific habitats, such as Southeastern U.S. Rivers and Streams or the Madagascar Dry Forest.

Biomes: Living Worlds is a Web site devoted to land biomes: tundra, taiga, chaparral, rainforest, grassland, desert, and temperate forest. Created by high school students, the site features sections about climate, location, plants, animals, land formation, and soil. The "Impact" section examines how human interference has affected each biome.

Major Biomes of the World is a guide to terrestrial biomes from the Virtual Geography Department of Radford University in Virginia.

Journey to Planet Earth from PBS provides information about current threats to coastal, forest, grassland, freshwater, agricultural and urban ecosystems.

The Slater Museum at the University of Puget Sound offers data about Biomes of the World.

American Field Guide, from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), features video clips from many PBS programs about different ecosystems.

Mysterious Journey is a site created by high school students that explores the rainforest, desert, and grassland biomes.

The Temperate Rainforest and the plants and animals that inhabit it are described in this site from Olympic National Park.

Everglades National Park describes the grasslands of The Everglades Ecosystem, including the different habitats within the park and their flora and fauna.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in provides information about this aquatic ecosystem in Australia. The site features many photographs of the reef and its inhabitants and information on threats and conservation issues facing the reef.

Serengeti: The National Park's Official site provides detailed information on the plant and animal life of the Serengeti plains.

The Wisconsin State Herbarium provides Habitat Descriptions for each habitat type found in the state such as bog, boreal forest, northern upland forest, prairie and more.

Elementary and Middle School

Biomes, from the Earth Science Explorer (NASA Classrooms of Tomorrow), provides basic information on the tundra, deciduous forest, desert, rainforest, savanna, and taiga biomes.

The Missouri Botanical Garden presents information on Biomes of the World - rainforest, tundra, taiga, desert, temperate, grasslands; freshwater ecosystems; and marine ecosystems.

Enchanted Learning's Biomes and Habitats page provides printable maps of some biomes for younger students to color or label. The site also features information and printable pages about animals from each biome.

Life in the Sea from the Boston Science Museum describes the ocean as a habitat and describes the types of plants and animals that live there.

Venture into Hawaii's Coral Reef takes students on an exploration of an aquatic ecosytem. Created by elementary students in Hawaii, the site provides information on coral reefs and the animals that live there and features many photographs and video clips.

Great Barrier Reef Virtual World from the National Geographic Society lets students take a virtual dive into the reef to learn about a few of the plants and animals that live there. A similar site explores the Monterey Bay Kelp Forest.

ReefEd from the Australian Great Barrier Reef Authority features Web Quests, video clips and photographs from the reef that can be downloaded and used by students for reports. The site also includes teaching units for different grade levels.

EstuaryLive allows visitors to take an electronic tour of an estuary or participate in virtual field trips.

Seagrass Adventures lets students explore the importance of seagrass to the marine environment. The site was created by students in Australia and includes games and puzzles as well as information about the sea grass habitat.

In What Is a Prairie? the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources describes the different types of prairies for younger students.

On the Prairie explores the prairie and the animals and plants of this ecosystem. This site from Bell Live and the University of Minnesota also includes an illustrated Field Guide to the Prairie, an interactive game called Build a Prairie, and other resources for researching the prairie ecosystem.

Rainforest at Night from the National Geographic Society allows students to virtually explores a rainforest to learn about some of the animals that live there.

The Mojave National Preserve Web site provides information about different types of deserts, desert ecology, and plants and animals of the desert.

Sonoran Ecosystems, from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, is full of information about this desert ecosystem.

The tundra is the focus of Alaska's Cold Desert from the Bureau of Land Management. The site features information about the plants and animals of the tundra, as well as a section on cold weather adaptations and some classroom experiments.

Discovering Antarctica from the British Antarctic Survey and the Royal Geographical Society gives a multimedia tour of Antarctica. Go on a research journey, take a quiz, make a movie trailer or think of adjectives to describe the habitat. This sites uses video clips, interactive activities, a photo gallery and lots of information in print, audio, and video formats to give students a real feel for the Antarctic.

Teach about the arctic with Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an online magazine for teachers about integrating science, literacy, and the polar regions from Ohio State University.

Biome Investigation is a lesson plan for fourth through sixth grades. Provided by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), the lesson is linked to national science education standards.

These two sites, World Biomes and Cyberzoo, were created by middle school students as resources for other students.

Instructional Video Series for Wisconsin Teachers
Wisconsin teachers may tape these programs for classroom use. Click on each link to find information about the program, teacher guide and broadcast schedule from the ECB Instructional Database.

Habitats from Real World Science (grades 2-4)

Natureworks (grades 4-6)

Observing Living Things (Grades 1-4)

You may also search the Instructional Database for additional programs for cross-curricular use; use the text or topic search using "ecosystem," "habitat," "desert" or other terms to find episodes in series such as American Deserts, Passport to the Rainforest, or Reading Rainbow.

The Text-only menu provides accessible and printer-friendly access to the Surf Report Archives.

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