Biomes

Future Game
201

I have been thinking more on this and, while I am going to continue working on a list of plant growth subtypes because I think, at some point, it will be useful, I think they are off topic enough from biomes that, when my list is good enough, I will make a new topic for them.

Also:
Subshrub: A plant with a Wood-y base and roots, but which is mostly Herbaceous above ground. Will be classified as Herbaceous because that is what is what animals are interacting with.
Prostrate Shrub: A Wood-y plant that grows no more than 0.5 meters tall, but spreads very wide and grows additional support roots. Can be vine-like or mat-like.
Liana: A vine like tree that wraps itself around other trees. This is a Forest/Rainforest plant. They like temperate and tropical weather, usually preferring tropical.

And I have been thinking more on the forbs biome issue. Much like bryophytes, ancient earth probably had a biome that was dominated by forbs and not grass. On modern earth, many crop fields are dominated by forbs and not grass. And Short Grassland, while it does have its uses, still does not really address this. I a thinking . . .

Herbland

I am open to other naming suggestions.

Does anyone think I should try to classify other vines under biomes, or should I leave that for the growth subtypes that I am thinking of making a separate thread for?

Thoughts and opinions?

202

I think at this point the floral biome classification stuff is probably complex enough already as it is.

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203

Then I will leave plants as they are with the new Herbland, Subshrub, and Prostrate Shrubs additions. I might change or lose Liana. We still need a good caverns list. And a few more plausible non-earth biomes wouldn’t hurt.

204

Could there exist a “brackish sea” biome? Since apparently some seas in the northern reaches of the northern hemisphere are rather brackish in composition.

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205

I like it. There should also be the other extreme. “Brine Pool” I believe (8 times the salt content of surrounding patches).

206

Would a water body like Dead Sea be considered a brine pool?

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207

Ooh, good catch. I like it. There should probably be Brackish and Brine Seas, Lakes, and Rivers.

208

How large would a body of water need to be for it to be called an ocean?

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209

The ocean is seven seas, and no one can agree what those are. How large is a sea vs a lake vs a pond. How tall is a tree vs a shrub. Let the dev’s figure out the nit picky stuff.

210

Also would all completely surrounded bodies of water be called lakes or would the largest of them also get the title of seas?

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211

If they are large enough and have a tide.

212

So I guess Paratethys for example would’ve fit this definition?

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213

Why not? Smaller bodies of water than that are effected by the moons gravity.

214

We need to set a lower barrier for just how small can such “seas” get though.

215

For rivers, how will you determine their size/length, or overall complexity of a river? What will you use for stream order, or counting the number of tributaries converging into a river, like the Strahler number? A simple river, or creek/stream, can have very few, or any tributaries. A complex river, like the Mississippi-Missouri, or the Amazon, has an inordinate number of tributaries.

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216

We can only get so complex with the simulation. I guess atleast the watershed boundaries will be simulated.

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217

After further consideration, I think Saltwater biomes should all have a subtype (Brackish, Saline, or Hypersaline). Also, I am adding Saltwater Inland Sea and Freshwater Inland Sea.

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218

What other water biomes are left for possible adding?

219

Dead Zones? Areas with hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions. Can be permanent, temporary, seasonal, or Diel Cycling (seasonal, but only at night)

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220

Also brackish seas can have freshwater-like upper layers and saltwater-like lower layers.

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