A global biome model based on plant physiology and dominance, soil properties and climate

A model to predict global patterns in vegetation physiognomy was developed from physiological considera- tions influencing the distributions of different functional types of plant. Primary driving variables are mean coldest- month temperature, annual accumulated temeprature over 5"C, and a drought index incorporating the seasonality of precipitation and the available water capacity of the soil. The model predicts which plant types can occur in a given environment, and selects the potentially dominant types from among them. Biomes arise as combinations of domi- nant types. Global environmental data were supplied as monthly means of temperature, precipitation and sunshine (interpolated to a global 0.5" grid, with a lapse-rate correc-