New Biomes

[Fuzzbucket]

I don't think we need oceans and freshwater separated.... And volcanoes and chilly mountains are very different.

 

I did suggest littoral for the - wet places

 

sandy area by body of water, the line or zone where the land meets the sea or some other large expanse of water

[Halfschool]

I agree with most of the suggestions on here however one problem it seems that a lot of people are forgetting the map on the main page ( The one which highlights different areas depending on what biome you put your mouse on ) . So if we were to implement these changes i would recommend a new map .

[Hailwidis]

I would prefer to combine the mountains of Alpine and Volcano to a new "Mountains" area. I agree with Olympe on waterways - that sounds like rivers and canals. Overall, I'd prefer a total revamp of the biomes without too much shuffling of dragon breeds.

 

I suggest:

 

Wastelands: Includes barren regions like tundra, deserts of all types, basically any region that has extreme climatic conditions (temperature, wind etc)

 

Wetlands: rivers, lakes and swamps, including mangroves

 

Woodlands: Forests and djungles

 

Grasslands: ranging from rocky regions like northen Scotland to plains, prairie and african savanna

 

Mountains: includes all types of mountains, snowy as well as volcanic

 

Oceanic: includes oceans as well as as any type of coast (beaches, rocky etc)

I think this is the best suggestion so far. It keeps the current number of biomes, but properly covers all types of environments. I really like it I think it makes sense to keep a "moutain" biome, with the idea of steep terrain etc. The cold flat lands (tundra...) can fit into a wasteland biome.

[Rally Vincent]

And volcanoes and chilly mountains are very different.

What about Mount Saint Helens? The common factor for a Mountain region would not be temperature, but... well, mountains.

[Nectaris]

 

Wastelands: Includes barren regions like tundra, deserts of all types, basically any region that has extreme climatic conditions (temperature, wind etc)

 

Wetlands: rivers, lakes and swamps, including mangroves

 

Woodlands: Forests and djungles

 

Grasslands: ranging from rocky regions like northen Scotland to plains, prairie and african savanna

 

Mountains: includes all types of mountains, snowy as well as volcanic

 

Oceanic: includes oceans as well as as any type of coast (beaches, rocky etc)

 

This one is by far my favorite of the suggestions for possible biomes. I feel it gives the most range, and is the most inclusive.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2013 by Nectaris

[kerrikins]

The only difficulty I see with some of these suggestions is that as Halfschool pointed out, the map highlights where you are going. I don't think it makes sense to say that all the volcanos and regular mountains are all lumped together...

[pinkgothic]

The only difficulty I see with some of these suggestions is that as Halfschool pointed out, the map highlights where you are going. I don't think it makes sense to say that all the volcanos and regular mountains are all lumped together...

Why would they be? The volcano biome isn't lumped together, either; neither is the desert biome. (Unless I'm completely misunderstanding your point? Which is very possible.)

Edited February 27, 2013 by pinkgothic

[Nectaris]

The only difficulty I see with some of these suggestions is that as Halfschool pointed out, the map highlights where you are going. I don't think it makes sense to say that all the volcanos and regular mountains are all lumped together...

I don't see why they couldn't be. Desert is in more than one place on the map, that shouldn't stop mountains from doing so too.

[Cinnamin Draconna]

Update - changed some things.. added 'your' suggestions.. still needs work tho.. we can worry about the map later..

 

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Alpine

1. of, pertaining to, on, or part of the Alps or any other high mountain system, especially one that has been shaped by intense glacial erosion.

Change to Montane

Montane ecology is the branch of ecology that studies life systems on mountains or other high elevation regions on the Earth. The ecosystems on mountains are strongly affected by climate, which gets colder as elevation increases. Because of this, mountain ecosystems form life zones, which are stratified according to elevation. Dense forests are common at moderate elevations. However, as the elevation increases, the climate becomes harsher, and the plant community transitions to grasslands or tundra.

Reasoning - Less limiting: can include mountains, upland meadows, high plains, subarctic regions, etc.

 

Coast

1. the land next to the sea; seashore: the rocky coast of Maine.

Change to Wetlands

The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish. Main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs and fens. Sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, and varzea.

Reasoning - Can cover anything aquatic, freshwater or saltwater, sandy beaches, rocky headlands, riverbanks, ponds/lakes, etc.

 

Desert

1. a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all

2. any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil.

Change to Savanna

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are a grassland terrestrial biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees. Shrublands are dominated by woody or herbaceous shrubs.

Reasoning - Less limiting; allows for anyting from arid to humid, with or without trees.

 

Forest - no change

1. A dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large area. Forests exist in all regions of the Earth except for regions of extreme cold or dryness.

 

Jungle

1. a wild land overgrown with dense vegetation, often nearly impenetrable, especially tropical vegetation or a tropical rain forest.

Change to Tropics

"Tropical" is sometimes used in a general sense for a tropical climate to mean warm to hot and moist year-round, often with the sense of lush vegetation.

Reasoning - Less limiting; allows for anything that needs a hot/humid climate with any type of terrain

 

Volcano

1. A cone-shaped mountain or hill created by molten material that rises from the interior of the Earth to the surface.

Change to ???

Not sure what to do with this one. I still think Desolate/Desolation would work if we just leave out the bit about being unpopulated.

Reasoning - Less limiting; can include sand deserts, ice deserts, volcanic regions, radiation problems, raw chaos, pure evil, etc.

 

Badlands - extensive tracts of heavily eroded, uncultivable land with little vegetation.

Barrens - level or slightly rolling land, usually with a sandy soil and few trees, and relatively infertile.

Desolation - a desolate region; barren waste

Wasteland - a barren or desolate area of land, not or no longer used for cultivation or building

Edited February 27, 2013 by Cinnamin Draconna

[Slaskia]

One thing we should be careful about is what term we use to name the biomes: stick to more 'common', world wide names for them. For instance 'Montane'? I would have had no idea what that is (my brain tried to 'autocorrect' it to 'Montana') if the description wasn't put right after it: would the averge, non-former player know? Same with 'littoral'.

 

As for the Volanco name, I think 'Badlands' may work.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Slaskia

[MaggieXawesomeness]

One thing we should be careful about is what term we use to name the biomes: stick to more 'common', world wide names for them.  For instance 'Montane'?  I would have had no idea what that is (my brain  tried to 'autocorrect' it to 'Montana') if the description wasn't put right after it: would the averge, non-former player know?  Same with 'littoral'.

 

As for the Volanco name, I think 'Badlands' may work.

I like the Badlands idea.

 

That could maybe cover deserts, as well.

 

I support using fuzzbucket's idea, using Taiga for both forest and alpine. It's one of my favorite environments.

 

I don't really like the idea of "Wasteland". At least the idea of putting the alpine in with it. I think of a wasteland as something flat and open, for some reason.

Edited February 27, 2013 by MaggieXawesomeness

[Nectaris]

I support using fuzzbucket's idea, using Taiga for both forest and alpine. It's one of my favorite environments.

 

Terms like taiga and littoral are rather specific. I really think we should be trying to find as broad of terms as possible, at least so long as we are keeping to six biomes.

[cyradis4]

Update - changed some things.. added 'your' suggestions.. still needs work tho.. we can worry about the map later..

 

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Alpine

Change to Montane

 

 

Coast

Change to Wetlands

 

 

Desert

Change to Savanna

 

Forest - no change

 

Jungle

Change to Tropics

 

 

Volcano

Change to ???

Alpine

Dislike Montane, because it's not well known. I'd have to use a dictionary to look it up. I kinda like "Coldlands", or "Glacial".

 

Coast

Wetlands has a very specific connotation to me, as:

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem.

It doesn't cover oceans or seas.

How about... Aquatic? Covers everything of and relating to water and what lives in it.

 

Desert

Savanna works for me.

 

Forest

Works for me

 

Jungle

I really like the change to Tropics, covers Jungles, Rainforests, and more.

 

Volcano

I like Badlands or Barrens a lot.

[TradeMark]

I have to say I strongly disagree with changing alpine to Tundra or Montane, or anything along those lines really.

 

Mountains, though often having a fairly broad range of biomes, is still a very specific geological region. Merging it with Tundra wouldn't work at all, because, although there is technically 'Alpine Tundra' above the treeline, Tundra generally is reserved for regions like the Arctic; Very barren; with very few trees and a small range of plantlife due to the extreme conditions. (Though I do think a tundra biome would be nice since alpine is really the only cold biome we have right now) Montane wouldn't work because, not only is it a very specific, commonly unknown biome, but it also technically refers to a specific level of mountainous terrain, if I recall correctly (Correct me on that one if I'm wrong. ).

 

I don't honestly think alpine should be changed, or, if it is, something more along the lines of 'Mountains', or something like that.

 

Though theoretically volcano could be merged with alpine (Or, just, 'Mountains'), I don't really think it would work well because, well, the volcanoic breeds are very much, eh, volcanic. What I mean is, it would be rather odd to see a Magma egg sitting right next to an Ice egg, no?

 

I do like the suggestion of renaming Volcano to something like Wastelands or Badlands though. Barren wouldn't really work though as it's more of a broad description of something than a terrain.

Perhaps something like Volcanic Plains? That is actually fairly accurate, yet still easily recognizable.

 

I think desert is fine as it is, to be honest. I don't think Savanna would work well because that is quite a different biome and would remove broad things like sand dunes and the lot. (It would also make the spitfires description seem rather odd. ) Though that does still keep the issue of having no grassland-esque biome. So I'm not sure on that one. If we can find a term that perhaps covers both desert and grassland regions, that would be best, I think.

 

As for forest and jungle, I do not think the should be merged at all. Although technically jungles are forests, the biological diversity of jungles as opposed to lowland forests or general wooded areas like such is quite different that I think they serve best as two separate biomes.

 

For example, it might get confusing if you're walking through the merged jungle-forest biome and see a Monkey chasing a Moose.

 

Woodlands might be an acceptable rename for forest, if one is even necessary.

 

I don't really think tropics would work for jungle, as I think in most people's minds 'Tropics' would be more reserved for tropical islands than cloud forests or rainforests like one would see in Borneo or South America. I think jungle is actually the best and broadest term one could think up for such a geographical region.

 

I actually really like the idea of changing 'Coast' to 'Wetlands'. The only problem I could see would be that it kinda excludes the oceanic region, since wetlands doesn't necessarily border the ocean.

 

So, in short (Sorry if you stubbed your toe on my wall of text. );

 

Alpine - Stays as is, 'Mountains', or something along those lines.

 

Coast - Changed to wetlands, or, preferably, something more broad (To include oceans).

 

Desert Stays as is, or something to include grassland regions.

 

Forest Stays as is, or 'Woodlands'.

 

Jungle Stays as is.

 

Volcano Volcanic Plains, or something like that.

 

In the end really I think all that matters is that the names are broad, and easily recognizable.

[Nectaris]

 

As for forest and jungle, I do not think the should be merged at all. Although technically jungles are forests, the biological diversity of jungles as opposed to lowland forests or general wooded areas like such is quite different that I think they serve best as two separate biomes.

 

For example, it might get confusing if you're walking through the merged jungle-forest biome and see a Monkey chasing a Moose.

 

Woodlands might be an acceptable rename for forest, if one is even necessary.

 

I don't really think tropics would work for jungle, as I think in most people's minds 'Tropics' would be more reserved for tropical islands than cloud forests or rainforests like one would see in Borneo or South America. I think jungle is actually the best and broadest term one could think up for such a geographical region.

 

I strongly disagree. To me, when I hear jungle, I think tropical forest. That is the issue to me of keeping them separate, it is the same issue of people wanting to rename alpine to taiga, essentially we would have three different kinds of forests, while still excluding essential biomes. Plus, the rainforests in South America are properly called Tropical Rainforests, as there are temperate equivalents.

[Pokemonfan13]

No matter what, I don't think volcano should be its own biome. It should either be merged with mountains or become a "wastelands" type biome that includes all harsh environments.

 

My suggestion:

 

 

Mountains/highlands/etc

 

Woodland - covers all wooded environments

 

Wasteland/etc - Covers all near lifeless environments, be it desert or any of the other things Cinnamin mentioned

 

Tundra - For cold weather dragons that do NOT live in the mountains

 

Grasslands/Savannah

 

Shore - More inclusive than coast, as shore can describe lakes and rivers and such freshwater as well as salt water

 

 

The only real question is does the volcano environment belong in mountains [volcanoes being mountains most of the time] or should it be under the wasteland environment?

Edited February 28, 2013 by Pokemonfan13

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I don't think Forest and Jungle should be combined, as the two are fairly different things. I also think Volcano should be left alone, as a lot of the dragons in it specifically require, well, Volcanoes to live, or at least insanely hot places. It seems kind of counter-productive to merge Volcano in with another biome when you're trying to make the biomes more specific instead of less. A Volcano is not necessarily a Badland, and vice-versa. I think Desert already includes badlands, though, as a badland is really just any really dry, barren place. Deserts aren't ALWAYS the sandy super-hot sort, after all.

 

I do agree with these ideas, though:

- Grassland biome

- Tundra biome

- Turning Coast into Shore (or splitting the biome into Ocean and Freshwater)

Edited February 28, 2013 by angelicdragonpuppy

[Pokemonfan13]

The problem is, without merging biomes, there isn't enough room for grasslands or tundra.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

The problem is, without merging biomes, there isn't enough room for grasslands or tundra.

Ah, just saw TJ's post. Welp, if they need to be merged...

 

- Taiga (Mountains + Tundra)

- Shore (Ocean + Freshwater)

- Wasteland (Desert + Volcano)

- Grassland

- Forest (Forest + Jungle)

- Cave*

 

*Still pushing for this one, heee. Either a place where all dragons can be found or a place where the creepy-crawlies of DC land live. Otherwise just have either Forest and Grassland separate or Desert and Volcano.

[Pokemonfan13]

Looks good to me. I was personally avoiding Taiga because it isn't a well known term, but I'm fine with it if others are.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Looks good to me. I was personally avoiding Taiga because it isn't a well known term, but I'm fine with it if others are.

Yah, I understand what you mean, and I originally would've avoided it too, but... I feel like mountains and the cold north fit together a lot better then do temperate forests and tropical rainforests or volcanoes and deserts. So if my derpy Cave biome suggestion is discounted (as I imagine it will be), I'd rather see the two different forests split up or the two barren places then the mountains and the tundra. ^^;

[kerrikins]

Why would they be? The volcano biome isn't lumped together, either; neither is the desert biome. (Unless I'm completely misunderstanding your point? Which is very possible.)

I actually forgot that different parts of the map light up (can you tell the last time I looked at it?) so I was thinking that everything was lumped together.

 

That said, I just don't agree with merging the volcano and alpine. All the other areas make sense because they're similar, but volcano and alpine are drastically different.

[Fuzzbucket]

I actually forgot that different parts of the map light up (can you tell the last time I looked at it?) so I was thinking that everything was lumped together.

 

That said, I just don't agree with merging the volcano and alpine. All the other areas make sense because they're similar, but volcano and alpine are drastically different.

I absolutely agree.

[Cinnamin Draconna]

The reason for splitting the Cave into biomes, was to separate the species, not combine them. So I'm totally against the 'cave' biome.. not to mention, that a cave is a very specific kind of place in general terms and would be VERY limiting as to what dragons could be found there.

 

But we NEED more diversity, so the dragons can be spread out better and hopefully reduce some of the blocking. It isn't the AP causing the problem anymore, it's the same eggs stacking up in the biomes.

 

So, in regards to everyones suggestions and concerns, I think we need to both simplify and separate things in the broadest general sense.

 

Alpine > Mountains > high peaks or low hills included, warm or cold based on elevation, in general it's for any dragon that likes high places and rocks

 

Coast > Aquatic > fresh water, salt water and everything in between, regardless of actual location.. if it needs water, it goes here

 

Desert > Grasslands > deserts get rolled into the Wastelands and we get a new region for dragons who like areas that can be arid or humid, hot or cold, with or without trees, but are mostly flatlands.

 

Forest > Forest (no change) > because a forest is a forest is a forest, this is for anyplace that is mostly trees, but isn't too hot or too cold.

 

Jungle > Tropics > adds a little wider choice of what types of dragons are found here. But is basically for any dragon that prefers hot and humid conditions, with or without trees. From lazy dragons who like to lie on the beach, to small, agile nighthunting dragons who stalk the rainforest.

 

Volcano > Wastelands > includes volcanic regions, hot deserts, glacial deserts, magic dead areas, radioactive wastes, regions of pure chaos, and/or any weird environment that might be needed.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Cinnamin Draconna

[Pokemonfan13]

Should desert be under grasslands or under wasteland? And should volcano species go under wasteland or mountain?

 

Or both? x3

Edited February 28, 2013 by Pokemonfan13