Food Webs

The miombo woodland of southern and eastern Africa covers over 2.7 million square kilometers, making it the largest tropical dry woodland in the world. Brachystegia …

The Amazon basin harbors the most biodiverse terrestrial food web on Earth, with an estimated 10% of all species. The canopy, understory, and forest floor …

The paramo is a neotropical alpine ecosystem found above the treeline and below the snowline in the northern Andes, from 3,000 to 5,000 meters. Giant …

The Appalachian temperate deciduous forests harbor exceptional salamander diversity and support a food web structured by mast-producing trees like oaks and hickories. Periodic mast years …

The Arctic tundra food web operates under extreme seasonal light and temperature variation, with a short growing season driving intense productivity. Lichens, mosses, and dwarf …

The Australian outback encompasses vast arid and semi-arid ecosystems dominated by spinifex grasses and mulga woodland. Marsupial herbivores and seed-eating birds form the primary consumer …

The boreal forest or taiga is Earth's largest terrestrial biome, forming a circumpolar band of coniferous forest. Spruce budworm outbreaks and fire shape forest structure …

Borneo's tropical rainforest is one of the oldest on Earth at approximately 140 million years old, supporting extraordinary endemism. Dipterocarp trees dominate the canopy, and …

The Cerrado is a vast tropical savanna covering 21% of Brazil, with biodiversity rivaling the Amazon for plant species. Deep-rooted trees and grasses access deep …

The Canadian prairies once supported vast bison herds that shaped the grassland through grazing, wallowing, and nutrient deposition. Although wild bison are largely gone, the …

The Carpathian Mountains harbor Europe's largest remaining old-growth forests and the continent's healthiest populations of brown bears, wolves, and lynx. Beech-fir-spruce forests transition through altitudinal …

Cloud forests exist in tropical mountain zones where persistent fog provides moisture beyond rainfall. These forests harbor extraordinary epiphyte diversity and unique fauna like the …

The Chihuahuan Desert is North America's largest desert, spanning the US-Mexico border region. Creosote bush flats, desert grasslands, and playas support a food web adapted …

The Congo Basin contains the second-largest tropical rainforest on Earth, spanning six countries. Unlike the Amazon, the Congo forest has a relatively intact megafauna including …

Tropical dry forests are among the most endangered ecosystems on Earth, with less than 2% of their original extent remaining in Central America. Santa Rosa …

Eastern Australian eucalyptus forests support iconic marsupials including koalas, wombats, and possums in a food web shaped by fire and drought. Eucalyptus leaves are toxic …

The Ethiopian Highlands are the largest continuous area of high-altitude terrain in Africa, supporting the endemic Ethiopian wolf, gelada baboon, and giant lobelia. These Afro-alpine …

The Western Ghats of India are a global biodiversity hotspot with high endemism among amphibians, reptiles, and plants. Monsoon rains drive a seasonal pulse of …

Madagascar's western dry deciduous forests support extraordinary endemism including over 90% endemic plant species. Lemurs fill ecological niches occupied by monkeys, woodpeckers, and squirrels on …

Mediterranean maquis and garrigue shrublands are shaped by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, with fire as a key ecological driver. Aromatic shrubs like …

The Namib is among the world's oldest deserts, receiving moisture primarily from coastal fog rather than rain. Fog-basking beetles, sand-diving lizards, and the endemic Welwitschia …

New Zealand's ancient podocarp forests evolved in the absence of land mammals, creating a unique food web dominated by birds and invertebrates. Flightless kiwi, giant …

The Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest is characterized by towering Douglas fir, western red cedar, and Sitka spruce in one of the most productive terrestrial ecosystems …

The Serengeti savanna supports one of the most complex terrestrial food webs on Earth, driven by the annual migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest. Grasses …

Pleistocene Park in Siberia is an experimental rewilding project attempting to restore the mammoth steppe food web that dominated northern Eurasia until 10,000 years ago. …

The Sonoran Desert is unique among North American deserts for its columnar cacti, including the iconic saguaro that can live over 200 years. Summer monsoon …

The Cape Floristic Region is the world's smallest plant kingdom, with over 9,000 plant species on a landmass smaller than Portugal. Fynbos shrublands are fire-dependent, …

Sumatra's tropical rainforests support three critically endangered large mammals: the Sumatran tiger, orangutan, and rhinoceros. These forests are among the most rapidly deforested on Earth …

The Tibetan Plateau, the world's highest and largest plateau, supports alpine steppe and meadow food webs above 4,000 meters. Pikas are keystone herbivores whose burrows …

Yellowstone's food web was famously transformed by the reintroduction of gray wolves in 1995, demonstrating a powerful trophic cascade. Wolves reduced elk overgrazing, allowing riparian …