Stability and Equilibrium of the Biosphere

Different kinds of biomes pose a variety of environmental challenges. Some of these have come about from the conversion of biomes to cropland. Grasslands in which the sod has been broken to support wheat and other crops have proven susceptible to wind erosion, which gave rise to the catastrophic Dust Bowl that caused such great hardship on the U. S. Great Plains during the 1930s. 

FIGURE 12.5 Estuaries, biomes where freshwater mixes with ocean water, are important nurseries for a number of aquatic species. 

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