biogeographic realms

• terrestrial & freshwater
  • na | nearctic : most of n. america
  • pa | palearcti : bulk of eurasia and n. africa
  • at | afrotropic : trans-saharan africa and arabia
  • im | indomalaya : indian subcontinent, s.e. easia, s. china
  • aa | australasia : australia, new guinea, new zealand, neighboring islands
  • nt | neotropic : s. american, c. america, caribbean
  • oc | oceania : polynesia (except new zealand), micronesia, fijian islands
  • an | antarctic : antarctica
• marine
  • arctic
  • temperature northern atlantic
  • temperature northern pacific
  • tropical atlantic
  • western indo-pacific
  • central indo-pacific
  • eastern indo-pacific
  • tropical eastern pacific
  • temperate south america
  • temperate southern africa
  • temperate australasia
  • southern ocean

biomes

• terrestrial
  • tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (tsmf) : humid; ex - rainforest
  • tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests : semihumid
  • tropical and subtropical coniferous forests : semihumid; n. and c. america
  • temperate broadleaf and mixed forests : humid; china, e. n. america
  • temperatre coniferous forests : humid to semihumid; pine forest, pacific northwest
  • boreal forests/taiga : subarctic; humid; inland canada, alaska, n. contiguous u.s.
  • tropical and subtropical grasslands/savannas/shrublands : semiarid; grassland (grass & herbaceous plants) v savanna (grassland with scattered trees) v shrubland (dominated by woody or herbaceous shrubs); ex - serengeti
  • temperature grasslands/savannas/shrublands : semiarid; ex - prairie (n. america); pampas (s. america); veld (s. africa); steppe (asia)
  • flooded grasslands and savannas : fresh or brackish water inundated; ex - everglades, pantanal
  • montane grasslands and shrublands : alpine or montane climate;
  • tundra : arctic
  • mediterranean forests/woodlands and srub or sclerophyll forests : semihumid to semiarid with winter rainfall; ex - mediterreanean basin, chilean matorral, california chaparral and woodlands, w. cape of s. africa, sclerophyll forests in australia
  • deserts and xeric shrublands : arid; ex - sahara, gobi
  • mangrove : salt water inundated
• freshwater
  • large lakes
  • large river deltas
  • polar freshwater
  • montane freshwater
  • temperate coastal rivers
  • temperate floodplain rivers and wetlands
  • temperate upland rivers
  • tropical and subtropical coastal rivers
  • tropical and subtropical floodplain rivers and wetlands
  • tropical and subtropical upland rivers
  • xeric freshwaters and endorheic basins
  • oceanic islands
• marine
  • polar
  • temperate shelves and sea
  • temperate upwelling
  • tropical upwelling
  • tropical coral