Biome



Biomes are regions in a Minecraft world with varying geographical features, flora, heights, temperatures, humidity ratings, sky colours and foliage colours. Introduced in the Halloween Update, biomes separate every generated world into different environments, paralleling the real world; examples of biomes include the forest, jungle, desert and tundra. Prior to the Halloween Update, every world had only a single theme, either grassy or snowy.

In the Anvil file format, biomes are stored directly in the world data. This differs from the previous Region file format format, where biomes were dynamically calculated from the seed.

The term biome is analogous to its scientific usage: on Earth, a biome is climatically and geographically defined by distinctive communities of plants, animals and soil organisms supported by similar climatic conditions. They are often referred to as ecosystems.

Biome Types
There are 10 biomes as of Minecraft version 1.2.5. They can generally be distinguished by the grass and leaf colors in the biome, along with the types of block presents (e.g. types of trees or other plants like cacti, sand coverage in deserts). The biomes are pseudo-randomly generated using the map seed.

{| class="wikitable" ! Name ! Description ! Features ! Sample
 * Forest
 * A biome with a lot of trees, occasional hills and a fair amount of tall grass. Oak and birch trees grow in this biome. Mushrooms, tall grass, roses and flowers can occasionally be found. Forests can occasionally be generated as a technical biome in plains biomes. Chickens, pigs, wolves, and cows can spawn here.
 * Oak and Birch Trees, Grass, Flowers, Tall Grass.
 * 1.8 Biomes MixedForest.png
 * Desert
 * A barren biome consisting mostly of sand, large dunes, dead bushes and cacti, just like a real desert. Rain never falls in this biome. Sugar Cane can be found next to pools of water. It has been claimed that more hostile mobs like zombies and skeletons spawn in the desert than in any other biome; whether or not that is true, the lack of visual obstruction and contrast against the light-colored sand make them very easy to see at night. NPC Villages will often spawn, Desert Wells and Pyramids are found exclusively in this biome. Few animals spawn here.
 * Sand, Cacti, Dead Bushes, Sandstone, Sugar Cane.
 * 2012-02-01 16.26.19.png
 * Plains
 * A relatively flat biome with rolling hills and a large amount of tall grass (more than in any other biome) but no trees. Gullies, water holes and NPC Villages are common. Chickens, sheep, pigs, and cows spawn here often.
 * Tall Grass, Grass, Flowers.
 * 1.8 Biomes Grassland.png
 * Swampland
 * A flat biome characterized by shallow pools of water with floating lily pads and clay, sand and dirt at the bottom. Trees are often covered with vines and can be found growing out from the water. Mushrooms spawn abundantly in this biome, which is good news for anyone with a bowl and a crafting table (to make a bowl if necessary) Stalks of sugar cane can be found along the shores. The colors of the water, grass, leaves, vines and the whole biome in general are much darker than in other biomes. The lily pads floating in the water present an obstacle to boat travel, as collision can easily break the boat. Sometimes, the dirt is missing in places and contains barren stone.
 * 1.8 Biomes Grassland.png
 * Swampland
 * A flat biome characterized by shallow pools of water with floating lily pads and clay, sand and dirt at the bottom. Trees are often covered with vines and can be found growing out from the water. Mushrooms spawn abundantly in this biome, which is good news for anyone with a bowl and a crafting table (to make a bowl if necessary) Stalks of sugar cane can be found along the shores. The colors of the water, grass, leaves, vines and the whole biome in general are much darker than in other biomes. The lily pads floating in the water present an obstacle to boat travel, as collision can easily break the boat. Sometimes, the dirt is missing in places and contains barren stone.
 * A flat biome characterized by shallow pools of water with floating lily pads and clay, sand and dirt at the bottom. Trees are often covered with vines and can be found growing out from the water. Mushrooms spawn abundantly in this biome, which is good news for anyone with a bowl and a crafting table (to make a bowl if necessary) Stalks of sugar cane can be found along the shores. The colors of the water, grass, leaves, vines and the whole biome in general are much darker than in other biomes. The lily pads floating in the water present an obstacle to boat travel, as collision can easily break the boat. Sometimes, the dirt is missing in places and contains barren stone.

In Beta 1.8 to Minecraft 1.0, there was a drastic color shift for water and grass at the border of other biomes, due to the very dark water and grass in this biome. As of version 1.1, the transition has been made less abrupt.
 * Oak Trees, Grass, Vines, Lily Pads, Clay, Mushrooms.
 * 1.9Swamp.png
 * Jungle
 * A biome in 1.2 consisting of jungle trees that can reach 31 blocks tall and 2 blocks in diameter. It can often be found next to desert biomes. The landscape is lush green and quite hilly, with many small lakes of water. When inside a jungle, the sky will become noticeably lighter. This is the only biome containing ferns and jungle trees. Leaf "bushes" cover most of the forest floor, and there is a large number of vines, which can be climbed if they are directly attached to another block, allowing the player to reach higher areas of the jungle easily. Caves in this biome are also frequently filled with vines. Cocoa Plants and Jungle Temples spawn exclusively in this biome.
 * Jungle Trees, Grass, Ferns, Flowers, Vines, Ocelots.
 * JebJungle.jpg
 * Tundra
 * A relatively large, flat biome with a huge amount of snow. It does not rain in this biome&thinsp;&mdash;&thinsp;it snows instead. Lakes and rivers are frozen over, and oak trees are scarce. Hills tend to be more mountainous. Sugar canes will spawn in this biome, but tend to become uprooted when chunks load because of the ice that spreads over open water sources.
 * Snow, Snowfall, Oak Trees, Ice, Sugar Cane, Flowers.
 * TundraBiome.png
 * Taiga
 * A biome with a lot of pine and spruce trees and dull gray-blue grass. Snowfall also occurs in this biome, forming snow and ice. Hills are common, and wolves are found in this biome more frequently than in others.
 * Snow, Snowfall, Ice, Spruce Trees, Grass, Flowers, Wolves, Tall Grass.
 * Taiga.png
 * Extreme Hills
 * A highly mountainous biome with dull gray-blue grass and a few scattered oak trees. Cliffs, peaks, valleys, waterfalls, overhangs, lavafalls (not very likely), and many other structures exist, creating outstanding views. More underground cave systems are present here than in any other biome. Falling is a significant risk, as there are many ledges and sudden drops, often not visible, and the drops can be large enough to cause severe fall damage or even death. Extreme Hills are the only biome where Emerald Ores spawn.
 * Oak Trees, Grass, Flowers, Emerald Ore.
 * 1.8 Biomes Mountain.png
 * Ocean
 * An extremely large, flat open biome made entirely of water, with underwater relief such as small mountains and plains which usually include dirt, sand, and clay on the sea floor. There is no maximum limit to the size of oceans . Oceans have been seen to extend over 100,000 blocks in rare situations, but are generally less than 25,000 blocks long in any direction. (this is 25km, or 15.53 miles) Occasional small islands, which usually do not have larger vegetation such as trees, can be found in oceans. Epic caves are very common below sea level, and entrances to underground ravines can be found at the bottom of the ocean, as well as abandoned mine shafts (whose upper parts are mostly flooded due to the proximity of the ocean).
 * Water, Sand, Clay, dirt.
 * 1.8 Biomes Ocean.png
 * Mushroom Biome
 * This highly rare biome consists of flat landscape and hills, has mycelium instead of grass as its common surface block, and tends to appear as islands far from the spawn of a map and any significant landmass, though this is not always true. It is the only biome where huge mushrooms can spawn naturally, and where mushrooms can grow in full sunlight.
 * An extremely large, flat open biome made entirely of water, with underwater relief such as small mountains and plains which usually include dirt, sand, and clay on the sea floor. There is no maximum limit to the size of oceans . Oceans have been seen to extend over 100,000 blocks in rare situations, but are generally less than 25,000 blocks long in any direction. (this is 25km, or 15.53 miles) Occasional small islands, which usually do not have larger vegetation such as trees, can be found in oceans. Epic caves are very common below sea level, and entrances to underground ravines can be found at the bottom of the ocean, as well as abandoned mine shafts (whose upper parts are mostly flooded due to the proximity of the ocean).
 * Water, Sand, Clay, dirt.
 * 1.8 Biomes Ocean.png
 * Mushroom Biome
 * This highly rare biome consists of flat landscape and hills, has mycelium instead of grass as its common surface block, and tends to appear as islands far from the spawn of a map and any significant landmass, though this is not always true. It is the only biome where huge mushrooms can spawn naturally, and where mushrooms can grow in full sunlight.
 * This highly rare biome consists of flat landscape and hills, has mycelium instead of grass as its common surface block, and tends to appear as islands far from the spawn of a map and any significant landmass, though this is not always true. It is the only biome where huge mushrooms can spawn naturally, and where mushrooms can grow in full sunlight.

No mobs (including hostile mobs) other than Mooshrooms spawn naturally in this biome. This also applies to caves, abandoned mine shafts, etc. below mushroom biomes, meaning exploring underground is relatively safe. However, Monster Spawners will still be able to spawn mobs, Golems can still be created by players and Spawn Eggs can still be used to spawn mobs.

Contrary to popular belief, trees can be grown in this biome, but not next to mycelium, which will take over the dirt square from the sapling and uproot it. A player can create a mycelium-free zone with cobblestone and grow a tree in the middle of it on freshly placed dirt. A player is also able to place saplings on mycelium and use bone meal on the sapling to grow it. Otherwise, it is advised to collect wood (and saplings) before settling here. Also, Snow does not generate in this biome.

Player-made structures in this biome are not exempt from the "no mob spawn" rule: All terrain within the biome will not spawn any mobs (except for Mooshrooms), even by the player.
 * Mushrooms, Huge Mushrooms, Mycelium, Mooshrooms.
 * MushroomBiome19pre.png

Ice Mountain Biome
Ice Mountain Biomes are somewhat a mix of tundra and extreme hills,but taller,with more caves,more cliffs and no emarald ore.They are a bit less rare than mushroom biomes.Wolves will spawn here and the most common mobs are skeletons.

Technical Biomes
Technical biomes are found alongside or within their larger counterparts. They are not considered true biomes, but more a part of the terrain itself. However, these technical biomes serve an important role in the Minecraft world in creating more appealing terrain.

There are seven known technical biomes.

Biome History
Biomes were added in Alpha 1.2.0, also known as the Halloween Update. In Beta 1.8, biomes got an overhaul, removing some biomes and others replaced with nine fractal-based biomes that were a mix of the previous biomes and new biomes.

Anvil File Format
The Anvil file format allows for biomes to be stored in the world data. In contrast, the Region file format relies on the seed to dynamically calculate biome placement. This would cause biome placement in older worlds to change when the biome generation code was changed. With the current Anvil format, the biome data is stored along with the rest of the world data, meaning it will not change after the world is generated and can be edited by third-party map-editing tools. Furthermore, "edge" biomes allow for biomes to continue extend beyond the edge chunks of an old world. This allows for smooth transitions in world generation after the generation code changes in an update.

Effect on Gameplay
It can be difficult to play and gather sufficient resources if the player starts in the middle of a biome with no trees, such as deserts, tundras, and especially oceans.

There have been several reports of players spawning on tiny islands in the middle of a vast ocean with no trees for several Minecraft days in any direction. It appears that these desert islands generate in the Ocean biome, where animals cannot spawn (on the water); sometimes, the island spawns with no trees, forcing players to delete the world and start again, swim great distances to a landmass, or search for nearby underwater openings into abandoned mineshafts to acquire wood. Of course, this is not a problem if the player uses Creative Mode.