Biomes

[jellyfishmon (ፕቿክፕልርረቿ ረዐዪዕ)]

I saw that on the wiki there’s not a lot of biomes (only 4 for land if I recall and 9 in all) but there is 7 land bioms on earth

• tundra.
• taiga.
• temperate deciduous forest.
• scrub forest (called chaparral in California)
• grassland.
• desert.
• tropical rain forest.
• temperate rain forest.
  and for water
• Ponds and lakes.
• Streams and rivers.
• Wetlands/swamps
• Oceans.
• Shallow seas
• Coral reefs.
• Estuaries.
  I know the wiki is out dated so maybe these’s are already planed. Also biomes should be determined by the geology, temperature and precipitation, they should be generated after the would is generated instead of having biomes be randomly generated first like in most open world games like minecraft.
  (this could also be planed and I just misinterpreted it)

[Untrustedlife]

I agree they should be determined by geology and temperature, and weather, they however should not be defined by the life forms there as the life forms are fundementally alien,your planet may not have trees for example, so how could you get a forest without trees? we talked about this on the dev forum,:

Microbe Stage, More Procedural Biomes and Backgrounds

[Poodelicus]

After reading some recent posts on the development forum, i thought I would put my two cents in on biomes. More specifically, Wetlands and Subterranean.

First, Wetlands are a very diverse group that cannot be summed up in one biome. They are also not technically a land biome, they are places where aquatic and terrestrial biomes meet. In most classification systems, they are listed as Aquatic biomes. That being said, I believe it would be better in Thrive to define them either A: in a separate category (Aquatic, Terrestrial, Wetlands, and Subterranean), or, better yet, as a set of modifier types.

Wetlands are usually categorized 3 ways: Type of Water, Source of Water, the Dominant Plant Life (could be replaced with Land Biome Type)

Types of Water are usually: Freshwater, Saltwater, Brackish (Fresh and Salt mix), Alkaline, or Acidic

Sources of Water are:

• Tidal (can be Fresh, Salt, or Brackish)
• Estuary (where Tidal and River meet, always Brackish)
• Floodplains (Overflow of Lake or River, usually Freshwater, but can be Salty or Brackish)
• (Special) (Rain and Melt Water can form Vernal Pools and some (though not all) Peatlands (Fens and Bogs) (Fens can be Alkaline, Neutral, or Slightly Acidic, while Bogs are always Acidic))

Excepting when they are Vernal Pools or Peatlands, Wetlands are Swamps if the dominant plants are Wood-Stemmed, or Marshes if the dominant plants are Herbacious. Vernal Pools cyclically (usually but not always seasonally) flood with water, take months to evaporate, then are completely dried out for a time until it floods again. If a Peatland gets most of its water from ground water it is a Fen. Fens are more often than not nutrient rich and support a variety of life. The same can not be said of Bogs, which get most of thier water form rain and are Acidic do to peat building up above ground. Peat forms when water that cant drain has rotting organic material building up in it.

When you consider the varying temperatures, water sources and types, and other factors, there are many types of Swamps, a near equal amount of Marshes, even more Fens, and Bogs (which despite rising in diverse climates do not support diverse life). Rather that defining each one (and making a sound track for each) it would probably be easier to define sets of “augments” and a specific way to alter any music track for each. I will use Rainforest as an example.

• Saltwater Tidal Rainforest
• Brackish Tidal Rainforest
• Freshwater Tidal Rainforest
• Rainforest Estuary
• Freshwater Floodplains Rainforest
• Brackish Floodplains Rainforest
• Saltwater Floodplains Rainforest
• Vernal Pool Rainforest
• Alkaline Peatland Rainforest
• Neutral Peatland Rainforest
• Slightly Acidic Peatland Rainforest
• Bog (AKA Acidic Peatland Rainforest)

As for the soundtracks, as an example, if its “Tidal” the soundtrack could play much faster, if its “Floodplains” it could play slightly faster, if its “Vernal Pool” it could play slightly slower, and if its “Peatland” it could play much slower. If its Saltwater, the song could be a higher octave, and a lower octave for Freshwater. Or something like that. Bogs are distinct enough to consider giving their own soundtrack. I believe with this augmented biome and altered soundtrack system it would easier to represent Wetlands in their diverse variety without needing to define each and every one, or each and every soundtrack, which I believe was the original point of the dev topic that inspired this.

On to the next topic. Subterranean Biomes. Not only would this be a good way to represent scientifically plausible biomes not existing on earth, but it would a place to put caves other than “special”.

Consider the following: an underground heat source for thermal synthesis, radioactive material, a light source other than the sun for photosynthesis, iron eating, sulfur eating, there are many ways a completely subterranean world could have its own diverse ecosystem. Theoretically, there could even by a cycle of condensation and evaporation, or otherwise “rain”, in a deep down underground chamber. Their could even be an entirely subterranean wetlands. Wouldn’t that be something.

Hope you find this useful.

[Nein99 (aaronmkersh)]

This is some excellent feedback, thank you for your input!

First, my initial reasoning for having a ‘Special Land Biomes’ category is that some environments, like wetlands and caves, cannot be defined with humidity and temperature alone, but are also defined by their geography. You’re right that Wetlands are a transition zone between aquatic and land biomes, meanwhile caves aren’t on the surface at all, instead being totally unique spaces underground. With that said, I will admit that I don’t care too much for having a ‘Special’ category of biomes that don’t fit in the system, and I’ll integrate some of your proposed solutions at the end of this post.

The ‘Special Aquatic Biomes’ category, now that I look at it again, doesn’t hold up to my original logic. This category is for aquatic biomes I added that aren’t in the microbe stage, but that division is totally arbitrary. I realize that we lack a way to quantify boundaries between aquatic biomes, with the exception of the -pelagic biomes which are defined by depth. If we define an ‘Aquatic Biome’ as a habitat dominated by liquid water, there is at a glance no reason for having two separate categories.

It seems that in the real world, aquatic biomes are usually divided broadly into ‘marine’ and ‘freshwater’ categories. I think this is a good place to begin. For a specific definition of ‘freshwater’, I am using this definition from USGS:

Freshwater - Water that contains less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids.

I am considering brackish (semi-salty) water to be saltwater. Ideally, we will track the salt content in each aquatic patch, just like moisture in land patches. 1,000 mg/L is roughly the same as 1,000 ppm, and ‘dissolved solids’ can be simplified to mean salt.

Based on all of this, we can divide the aquatic biomes as follows:

The Marine category includes saltwater biomes. The Tidepool patch (which to my understanding is different from Tidal Wetlands) is a subtype of the Coastal biome. When the player reaches the 3D stages, ‘Tidepool Coastal’ would be a Coastal patch with an abundance of tidepools, which at the scale of the 3D stages would be terrain generation features rather than entire patches. Things like tar pits (which harmonyjpetersen mentioned on the Dev forum) would also be terrain generation features, and perhaps could also constitute a biome subtype(s) if they are abundant enough.

I think Wetlands, though diverse, are still important enough and easy enough to define as a group (transition environment between water and land) that they should be a major biome type. As such, I’ve added Saltwater Wetland and Freshwater Wetland to their respective categories. Each will have subtypes based on the kinds of species present (belgium vs. herbacious plants), the pH level, salinity, and so on, just like how terrestrial biomes will have subtypes based on moisture, temperature, native species, etc.

Based on Holdridge, a ‘Scrubland’ patch might be ‘Tropical Desert Scrubland’ or ‘Tropical Thorn Woodland’; based on our eventual system, a ‘Wetland’ patch might be a ‘Brackish Estuary Wetland’ or a ‘Seasonal Freshwater Floodplain’. As with land biome subtypes, I am leaving the specific numerical boundaries between wetland biome subtypes to be determined by more knowledgeable theorists and the people who will implement these biomes into the game, but this is a good start.

You may notice that the Underwater Cave biome is missing from the Aquatic categories. This is because I’ve removed the Special categories entirely, and made both the Cave and Underwater Cave biomes part of the new Subterranean category. Barrens, and all of the former land biomes, now belong to the Terrestrial category.

This means there are now four biome categories:

• Terrestrial
• Subterranean
• Marine
• Freshwater

I think this is altogether much more grounded approach to classification.

In review, from your suggestions:

I believe it would be better in Thrive to define them either A: in a separate category (Aquatic, Terrestrial, Wetlands, and Subterranean), or, better yet, as a set of modifier types.

I’ve incorporated your suggestion to make Subterranean its own category, as I think that makes sense. I’ve also renamed the Land category to Terrestrial. As for the aquatic biomes, I felt that Marine vs. Freshwater was a better major distinction than ‘Wetlands’ and ‘Aquatic’, because in real life it seems that’s the primary distinction people go with, and as you mention in your other suggestion, I believe that the various kinds of Wetlands work better as biome subtypes or modifiers.

Finally, since I’ve been throwing around words like ‘patch’ and ‘biome’ a lot, for my own sanity I’ve added a Definitions section at the top of the spreadsheet for all the important terms. The definitions themselves may need some work.

Here is the spreadsheet where you can view everything put together: Thrive Biomes - Google Sheets

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

i’ll be honest, i had no idea land was implemented to this point

what did i miss? i was only gone for a few updates…

when are actual continents coming anyway

[hhyyrylainen]

This is just some theory planning for future patch types needed in later stages, no actual programming work has been done on any of this.

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

I inspected it a second time after posting and did in fact realise that.

Still, seems pretty robust. I assume the plant types are Herbacious, Tree-like, and Grass-like?

[Nein99 (aaronmkersh)]

Each will have subtypes based on the kinds of species present (belgium vs. herbacious plants),

The forums censored… belgium?

Edit: Wood, but with a -y at the end, is indeed censored. I can’t wait for Thrive to have belgium plants

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

…belgium…

(Jesus, the forums does censor that. I’ll replace it with wood-like, then…)

So, NeinNeinNein proposes that one property of biomes would be the dominant form of vegetation, which checks out. 999 lists Wood-like and Herbacious as two of these variants. Where does grass fit in? I’d suggest that being added, if it’s not already in, so the vegetation types fit into three rough orders of magnitude; grassy, herbacious, and wood-like.

You know what, Belgium-type plants should totally be added in as an easter egg. I don’t know how, but it sounds perfect. Maybe Belgium can just appear as a specific region?

[Poodelicus]

Herbacious plants are:

• Grass-Like
• Wild Flowers Forbs
• Fern-Like

Wood Stemmed Plants are:

• Shrub-like
• Tree-like

So Grass IS Herbacious

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

Ah, that makes sense.

I don’t really like the ‘Wild Flowers’ category. Grass, Fern, Shrub, and Tree-like all make sense, but Flowers feels out of place. Probably just the specific reference to flowers there - if it was changed to refer to small-ish plants, in an intermediate form between grass and ferns, maybe it could work?

Where do reeds fit into this model? They have a fundamentally different shape than ferns…

I’d imagine that this should be divided by shape, size, and material. The materials are Herb and Wood, of course, and the sizes are Grass, Fern, and Tree. IG. The shapes would be straight and spherical (well, roughly spherical - better terms needed). This expands the theoretical room to 12 types and permits reeds.

Not sure if this is a better or worse classification than the current plant divisions, but I think they definitely need a bit more work. Maybe some botanical help, I don’t know much about botany. I’d like to see a similar take to how you’ve divided up all the wet habitats.

[Poodelicus]

Reeds, Bamboo, and Cereal Grain are all types of grass. Grasses are plants that have " elongated culms with long, blade-like leaves". Wild Flowers Forbs are non-wood stemmed plants that don’t fit into the fern-like or grass-like category. Ferns are vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.

I would need some time to research plants to try to classify them the way I did wetland habitats. As far as Wild Flowers, the two things that come to mind are: Flooded Meadows and Nectarivores.

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

There’s a definite difference between thin grazing grass, like you see in a meadow, and something thicker like bamboo or reeds, although I’m not sure exactly how much there.

Ignoring the system in respects to food sources, I still think it could probably use a bit more depth. I’m uncertain whether it’s complete in the current stage. It might be, but I don’t know. From what I can tell, biomes in your model will be an overarching category with a number of lesser traits. Could do to apply that to plants too.

[Poodelicus]

Roses are a popular flower, but they are not herbacious wild flowers, they are wood stemmed shrubs. Bamboo and grazing grass are different sizes of grass, scientifically speaking. Scientific classifications and names don’t always make sense. The system does need work, but its also probably going to be 3-4 years more of stage 1, and I am guessing Biomes will likely not be 1.0.x (Planet Generation wasn’t till 0.8.x and you need a planet to be born on). So there is time to consider the best way to approach this.

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

There is time, yes. But now is just as good a time as later. You never know when this might be needed, and in any case, having a plan before beginning work is pretty good. Saves you time later.

[Poodelicus]

Alright, this is by no means perfect, but its a starting place.

Subterranean: Some Algae do not require sunlight

• Cyanidiophyceae (Terrestrial Red Algae)

Marine:

• Phytoplankton
• Marine Algae (Marine Forest): Seaweed
  • Marine Red Algae
  • Brown Algae
    • Kelp
    • Sargassum
  • Marine Green Algae
• Marine Flowering Plant (Marine Grassland): Seagrass
  • Emergent: Rooted underwater but sticking out
  • Submergent: Fully underwater rooted plants
• Marine Wood-y Plants
  • Marine Wood-y Flowering Plants (Mangroves)
  • Marine Wood-y Non-flowering Plants (Do not exist on Earth as far as I can tell)
• Marine Floating Plant (Do not exist on Earth as far as I can tell)

Freshwater:

• Freshwater Red Algae (5% of Red Algae)
• Aquatic Ferns
  • Floating Ferns
  • Rooted Freshwater Ferns
• Flowering Freshwater Plants
  • Floating Flowering Plants (duckweed, water hyacinths, water lettuce, and water lilies)
  • Submergent Plants (Freshwater Grassland Plants): Fully underwater rooted plant such as pondweeds, wild celery, and bladderwort.
  • Emergent Plants: Rooted underwater but have part that sticks out, such as cattail, honeysuckle, milkweed, and american lotus
• Freshwater Wood-y Plants
  • Freshwater Wood-y Flowering Plants
  • Freshwater Wood-y Non-flowering Plants ( Do not exist on Earth as far as I can tell) Edit: I was Wrong

Terrestrial Plants

• Terrestrial Non-vascular Plants (Do not require Soil) (Barrens and Bog)
  • Bryophiytes (liverworts, hornworts, and mosses)
  • Terrestrial Green Algae
  • Cyanidiophyceae (Terrestrial Red Algae)
• Wood-y Plants
  • Trees
    • Flowering
    • Non-Flowering
  • Shrub
    • Flowering
    • Non-flowering
  • Wood-Stemmed Vines
  • Bamboo (Wood-like Grass)
• Herbaceous Plants
  • Ferns and Horsetails
  • Flowering Terrestrial Non-Wood-y Plants
    • Grass-like (other than Bamboo)
    • Forb (flowering Herbaceous Non-Grass-like plant (which I wrongly called wild flowers earlier), I believe this includes most vines)

Edit: This does not include Reef because Reefs are animals, that is another biome problem all together

[Deathwake (i nuked zenzone and will never let him forget it)]

@Poodelicus

are animals, that is another biome problem all together

A lot of biome have this sort of issue… grasslands, rainforests, maybe whales count as biomes to small parasites, who knows. I think the abilite to dynamically base biomes where creatures live and assign creatures to biome or vice versa is a very important problem.

[Poodelicus]

Agreed. What is a Biome is size relevant. So the entire world of something small like a parasite or some tiny arthropods and vertebrates may be just a small piece of what another creature considers a home, or of another creature itself.

This list is an early attempt at classifying the plants used to classify biomes. Classifying animals as at how they define/are a Biome will need addition research and discussion, and is not yet included.

At some point, we may even want to consider Urban Biomes, for the NPC stage 3 creatures living in our stage 6 and 7 worlds, or even a scenario in which we are a stage 3 creature in an NPC’s stage 6 and 7 world, waiting for them to mess up so we can replace them. But 1 step at a time.

[thriveuser1454 (Occasional Thrive Player)]

The problem with a stage 3 creature in an NPC world is that timescales don’t line up there. A stage 6 or 7 world might be a single generation for a player creature. The inverse is valid though.

The biome size thing will definitely be relevant for simulating the increase in biodiversity at smaller body sizes, but I don’t know how you’d actually simulate it. It would be… pretty tricky.

[Poodelicus]

This isn’t really comprehensive, and I’ve no idea how/if any of this will be implemented, but:

Reefs

Animal External Biomes
• Follicle Jungle
• Feather Jungle
• Whale (Barnacle have Commensalism relations with them (does not affect the whale at all for better or worse, but helps the barnacle))

Animal Internal Biomes
• Respiratory System
• Circulatory System
• Digestive Tract
• Reproductive System
• Brain

Plant Internals

Edit: So it turns out Geological reefs are a thing. So:

Reefs

• Biotic (Coral, Oyster, Sponge, (Non-Earth Species Here), Etc.)
  • Fringing Reef
  • Barrier Reef
  • Atolls
• Geological
  • Coastal
  • Epipelagic
  • Mesopelagic
  • Bathypelagic
  • Abyssopelagic
• Artificial (Ship Wreck, Construction Debris, Class Project, Etc.)
  • Intentional
  • Accidental

Edit Alright, here is everything I have worked on towards 1.x. Biomes (I am also working on Anthropogenic Biomes, but those are for 5.x)

Plants That Define Biomes

Definitions:

Avascular (Non-Vascular) Plants: Lack Xylem, Phloem, Roots, Stems, or Leaves. NOTE: Terrestrial Avascular Plants do not require soil. In fact, they predate and helped to create it, paving the way for other plants.

Vascular Plants: Evolved Xylem, Phloem, Roots, Stems, and Leaves. NOTE: Some secondarily lost these.

Aquatic Vascular Plants: Plants that, like mammals, developed on land, then secondarily returned to water.

Wood-y: A vascular plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem.

Tree Fern: Members of the order Cyatheales

Softwood (AKA: Gymnosperms): “Naked-Seed” producing plants. Includes Conifers, Cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetophytes

Hardwood (AKA: Wood-y Angiosperms, Broadleaf): Flowering/Fruit bearing wood-y plants. All non-Cyatheales or Gymnosperm Wood-y Plants,

Herbaceous Plant (AKA: Ferns (other than Cyatheales) and Fern Allies and Non-Wood-y Angiosperms): A vascular Plant with no persistent wood-y stems above ground.

Fern and Fern Allies: Seedless Vascular Plants. Includes Horsetails. NOTE: A few Ferns appear to be Wood-y/Herbaceous Hybrids, but are classified as Herbaceous and not as Wood-y. There are also Tree Ferns.

Grass-Like: Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes

Grasses: Includes Cereal grasses, the grasses natural Grasslands (Savannahs and Prairies), cultivated grasses for Lawns and Pastures, Reeds, and Bamboo

Forb: Herbaceous Flowering Non-Grass-like Plant

Scrubland, Savannahs, and Grasslands:

Scrublands: Dominated by Wood-y or Herbaceous Scrubs

Savannahs: A mixed Woodland/Grassland Biome characterized by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close.

Grasslands: Dominated by Grass-like Plants and Forbs

Softwood, Mixed, and Hardwood Forests:

Whether the forest (or rain forest) is composed of all Softwood, all Hardwood, or a mix of the two.

Notable Subtypes of Aquatic Vascular Plants:

Submergent Plants: Rooted plants that have most of their structures below water. Examples: milfoils and wild celery.

Emergent Plants: Rooted underwater but emerge or have a large portion of their shoots, leaves, or flowering structures out of the water. Examples: cattails, bulrushes, wild rice, sedges, bur-reed, honeysuckle, and milkweed.

Floating Leaf Plants: Rooted underwater but also floating. Example: water lilies.

Free Floating Plants: Non-rooted vascular aquatic plants. Examples: duckweed, water hyacinths, and water lettuce.

Notes about aquatic plants:

Seaweed (Aquatic Forests) are Submergent or Free Floating Multicellular Macroscopic Algae. They can be Red, Brown, or Green (Defined by Subtypes of Photosynthesis (they absorb different light colors)).

Seagrass (Marine Grassland) represent all known Submergent or Emergent Saltwater Herbaceous Plants.

Freshwater Herbaceous Plants can be Submergent, Emergent, Floating Leaf, or Free Floating.

All known Wood-y Aquatic Plants are Emergent.

Types of Wetland:

Estuary: Where ocean water and river water come together. All estuaries are Tidal Wetlands.

Intertidal: Places that are above water at low tide and above water at high tide. When salt-resistant vascular plant life is present in sufficient quantities, they are considered Saltwater Tidal Wetlands.

Floodplains: Places where overflow from rivers and lakes result in wetlands.

Swamp: A forested wetland.

Marsh: A wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by belgium plants.

Peatland: A type of wetland whose soils consist of organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia.

Peat Swamp: A forested Peatland.

Fen: A type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water

Bog: A Peatland where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients.

Vernal Pools: A seasonal wetland that goes through cycles of inundation from rain/precipitation, followed by desiccation from evapotranspiration. Some pools may remain at least partially filled with water over the course of a year or more, but all vernal pools dry up periodically. Typically, though, a vernal pool has three phases each year: it is inundated in the winter (inundated phase) with the vernal pool holding onto the water from 10–65 days, it dries slowly during the spring (flowering phase), and it dries completely during the summer (dry phase).

Important Plant Types by Biome

Subterranean: Some Algae do not require sunlight

• Cyanidiophyceae (Terrestrial Red Algae) (Thrives in Hot Acidic conditions like sulfur hot springs)
• Myco-heterotrophs

Marine:

• Avascular
  • Phytoplankton (Includes Microalgae)
  • Macroscopic Algae (Aquatic Forest Plants): Seaweed
    • Marine Red Algae (Blue (shortest) Light)
    • Brown Algae
      • Kelp (Anchored)
      • Sargassum (Free Floating)
    • Marine Green Algae
• Marine Flowering Non-Wood-y Plant (Aquatic Grassland Plants): Seagrass (Fully Aquatic)
• Salt Resistant Herbaceous Plants (Saltwater Marsh Plants) (Semi-Aquatic)
• Marine Wood-y Plants (Saltwater Swamp Plants)
  • Marine Softwood (I have yet to find an existing example)
  • Marine Hardwood (Mangroves)
• Marine Floating Plant (I have yet to find an existing example)

Freshwater:

• Freshwater Algae
• Freshwater Herbaceous Plants
  • Aquatic Ferns and Fern Allies
  • Flowering Freshwater Non-Wood-y Plants (Freshwater Marsh Plants)
• Freshwater Wood-y Plants (Freshwater Swamp Plants)
  • Freshwater Softwood
  • Freshwater Hardwood

Terrestrial Plants

• Terrestrial Non-vascular Plants (Do not require Soil) (Can survive in Barrens and Bog)
  • Bryophytes (liverworts, hornworts, and mosses)
  • Terrestrial Green Algae
  • Cyanidiophyceae (Terrestrial Red Algae)
• Wood-y Plants
  • Tree Ferns
  • Softwood
    • Trees (Rainforest, Forest, Taiga)
    • Shrubs (Scrubland and Savannah)
  • Hardwood
    • Trees (Rainforest, Forest)
    • Shrubs (Scrubland and Savannah)
    • Wood-Stemmed Vines (Liana)
  • Wood-like Grass (Most (but not all) Bamboo) (Forest)
• Herbaceous Plants
  • Ferns and Horsetails (Except Tree Ferns)
  • Flowering Terrestrial Non-Wood-y Plants (Savannah and Grasslands)
    • Grass-like (other than Wood-Like Bamboo)
    • Forb (flowering Herbaceous Non-Grass-like plant (which I wrongly called wild flowers earlier), I believe this includes most vines)

New Biome Types and Subtypes

Marine

• Saltwater Lake
• Reef
  • Biotic (Fringe Reefs, Barrier Reefs, and Atolls) (ex. Tropical Coral Fringe Reef)
  • Geological (Defined based on Zone) (ex. Temperate Geological Mesopelagic Reef)
  • Artificial (Can wait until 5.8.x)
• Aquatic Forest (Seaweed (Kelp))
• Marine Meadow (Seagrass)
• Wetlands (Saltwater)
  • Estuary (Swamp or Marsh)
  • Intertidal (Swamp or Marsh)
  • Floodplains (Saltwater) (Swamp or Marsh)

Freshwater

• Lake/Pond
• River/Stream
• Wetlands (Freshwater)
  • Estuary (Swamp or Marsh)
  • Floodplains (Freshwater) (Swamp or Marsh)
  • Peatland (Peat Swamp, Fen, or Bog)
  • Vernal Pools

Subterranean

• Deep Cavern
• Void (ex. An air pocket not connected to the surface (but could be connected to water, or a sea of lava))
• Saltwater Underwater Cavern
• Freshwater Underwater Cavern
• Underground Lake
• Underground River

A Suggested Alteration to Biome Classification

Note: Any forest can be: Softwoofd Hardwood, Mixed, or Fern

Wow, now I know not change font size, use bold, or underline in Word, or to color code or merge cells in a table, BEFORE posting. That did not copy/paste well at all.

Edit: Betterish.
Edit: And now the first Table is legible, sort of.
Edit: Fixed a typo and added Tree Ferns.

Edit: For Graphical Comparison

Note: If you would like a version 3, just ask.

Edit: For the record, I based the differences off “Olson & Dinerstein (1998) biomes for WWF / Global 200”
about halfway down Wikipedia’s entry for Biome. I chose not to distinguish Conifer (Softwood) or Broadleaf (Hardwood) forests because I feel that could go any way on another world. Though Thrive may wish to specify sub-types in game.

Edit: Fixed a line issue in the corner of Cart V2

Edit: Kept thinking something looked off about version 2, so I though I would see if this looked better. Needs work.

Edit: And here we have a prototype of Anthropogenic Biomes. It needs work, but its something to think on and discuss at least.

5.8.x: Anthropogenic Biomes
Farm: An area of land dedicated to growing consumables and/or domesticated animals.

Plantation: A large Farm dedicated to one specific crop.

Ranch: An area of land dedicated to raising livestock.

Arable Land: Cropland that requires yearly replanting. (Example: Root Vegetables)

Permanent Cropland: Cropland that can be re-harvested without replanting. (Example: Fruit Trees)

Rangeland/Pasture: Places for grazing livestock. Rangelands have primarily native vegetation and pastures are more intentionally grown with seeding, irrigation, and fertilizer.

Aquaculture: Farm for aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants.

Agricultural Land

• Farmland
  • Arable Land Plantation
    • Arable Crops
    • Most Cereal Grain (Includes some but not all rice; on earth, includes all non-rice Cereal Grains)
    • Timber Trees
  • Permanent Cropland Plantation
    • Fruit and Nut Trees
    • Grapevine (Vineyard)
    • Sugarcane
    • Some Rice
  • Non-Cropland Farmland
    • Ranch
    • Nectar Farm (Bee Farm: for Honey)
  • Mixed/Cluster of Small Farms
• Rangeland/Pasture

Artificial Wetlands

• Semiaquatic and Aquatic Croplands
  • Semiaquatic Paddy Fields (Flooded Arable) (Some Rice, Taro)
  • Aquatic Deepwater Cropland (Water is more than 50 cm (20 in) deep for at least a month) (Some Rice)
• Freshwater Aquaculture
• Canals
  • Waterways
  • Aqueducts
• Reservoir

Urban

• Streets
• Dump
• Indoors
  • House
    • Cellar
    • Attic
    • Walls
  • Apartments

Marine

• Marine Aquaculture
• Submerged Structure
  • Ship
  • City
• Oil Spill

Subterranean Freshwater

• Subterranean Canals
• Flooded Mines
• Freshwater Pipes
• Sewage System
  • Industrial Sewer
  • Sanitary Sewers
  • Storm Drain
  • Combined Sewage System
• Industrial Waste River

Artificial Shoreline

Subterranean (Non-Aquatic)

• Landfill
• Artificial Cave-like System
  • Underground Mine
  • Subway
  • Catacombs
  • Utility Tunnels
  • (Other Tunnel Network)

Destroyed and Abandoned Surface Areas

• Abandoned Excavation Site
  • Open Pit Mine
  • Strip Mine
  • Mountaintop Removal Mine
• Abandoned Deforested Forest
• Abandoned Urban Area

Polluted (Biome Name)

• (Pollution Subtype)
• (Pollution Subtype)