EarthMapped Biomes
World map of terrestrial biomes

Biomes Map

A biomes map shows the world's major kinds of natural land cover, such as forests, grasslands, deserts and tundra. This one draws the 14 terrestrial biomes of the RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017 map.

  • Biome. A large group of ecoregions with similar vegetation and climate, such as tundra or tropical moist forest. RESOLVE uses 14 land biomes. Source

Data source: RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017, Dinerstein et al. (2017), CC BY 4.0. Download: GeoJSON , CSV .

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What the map shows

Each color is one biome Biome. A large group of ecoregions with similar vegetation and climate, such as tundra or tropical moist forest. RESOLVE uses 14 land biomes. Source , built by merging the ecoregions Ecoregion. An area of land with a distinct set of natural communities and species. The RESOLVE 2017 map has 846 of them. Source of the RESOLVE 2017 map. The layer list groups them into forests, grasslands, dry lands, tundra and mangroves; turn a group off to see the rest. Tap a shape for its biome. Small islands are left off to keep the map light.

Biomes follow climate. The broad desert belts match the dry classes on the climate zones map, and montane grasslands sit on the high ranges of the mountain ranges map.

Key facts

  1. The RESOLVE map splits Earth's land into 846 ecoregions grouped into 14 terrestrial biomes. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience
  2. The authors set a goal to protect half of all land by 2050, assessed one ecoregion at a time. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience
  3. 98 ecoregions (12%) already have more than half their area protected. 207 ecoregions (24%) are rated in peril, with about 4% of their natural habitat left. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience
  4. Deserts & Xeric Shrublands cover the most land: 26.4 million km², 18.0% of the mapped area. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience
  5. Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests hold the most ecoregions, 230 of 847 in the data. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience
  6. Mangroves are the smallest biome, at 333,032 km² in 19 ecoregions. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience
  7. Forest biomes together cover 38.1% of the mapped land. Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience

Biomes by area

Terrestrial biomes, area, share and ecoregions
BiomeArea (km²)ShareEcoregions
Deserts & Xeric Shrublands 26,382,216 18.0% 102
Tundra 22,658,657 15.5% 52
Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands 21,438,986 14.6% 58
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests 19,623,949 13.4% 230
Boreal Forests/Taiga 15,350,888 10.5% 26
Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests 12,587,916 8.6% 83
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands 10,595,265 7.2% 48
Montane Grasslands & Shrublands 4,883,288 3.3% 46
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests 3,886,633 2.7% 56
Temperate Conifer Forests 3,770,373 2.6% 47
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub 3,303,398 2.3% 40
Flooded Grasslands & Savannas 1,156,391 0.8% 25
Tropical & Subtropical Coniferous Forests 684,601 0.5% 15
Mangroves 333,032 0.2% 19

Data source: RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017, Dinerstein et al. (2017), CC BY 4.0. Download: GeoJSON , CSV .

Biome groups

Biome groups used in the map layers
GroupBiomesArea (km²)Share
Forests 6 55,904,360 38.1%
Grasslands and savannas 4 38,073,930 26.0%
Deserts and Mediterranean scrub 2 29,685,614 20.2%
Tundra 1 22,658,657 15.5%
Mangroves 1 333,032 0.2%

Data source: RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017, Dinerstein et al. (2017), CC BY 4.0. Download: GeoJSON , CSV .

Areas are computed from the full-detail ecoregion shapes before simplification.

Glossary

Biome
A large group of ecoregions with similar vegetation and climate, such as tundra or tropical moist forest. RESOLVE uses 14 land biomes. Source
Ecoregion
An area of land with a distinct set of natural communities and species. The RESOLVE 2017 map has 846 of them. Source
Köppen-Geiger classification
A climate classification that sorts places into 5 main groups and 30 classes by monthly temperature and rainfall and how they change over the year. Source

All terms in the glossary

Biomes FAQ

How many biomes are there?
The RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017 map uses 14 terrestrial biomes, made up of 847 ecoregion records. Other schemes count biomes in other ways, so numbers differ between textbooks.
What is the largest biome on Earth?
On land, deserts & xeric shrublands, at 26.4 million km² in this data. Tundra come next, at 22.7 million km².
What is the difference between a biome and an ecoregion?
A biome is a broad type of plant cover, such as tundra or tropical moist forest. An ecoregion is one area of land with its own mix of species. Each ecoregion belongs to one biome.
Why are mangroves hard to see on the map?
Mangroves grow in thin strips along tropical coasts, 333,032 km² in all. At world scale most strips are smaller than a pixel, and small islands are left off the map to keep it light. The table uses the full-detail areas.
Can I download the biome data?
Yes. The GeoJSON has one shape per biome with its area and ecoregion count, and the CSV has the table. Both come from RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017, CC BY 4.0.

Sources: Dinerstein et al. (2017), BioScience, for ecoregion counts, protection figures and areas.