Biome



According to Wikipedia, biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems.

Before the Halloween Update, when a world was generated it had either a Snowy or Grassy theme. But after the update, a single world includes diverse themes in a logical fashion determined from the biomes graph.

In Minecraft, from the Halloween Update onward, there are different areas with varying heights, temperatures, humidity ratings, and foliage colors that distinguish each biomes.

Because of the Anvil file format, new biomes can generate in worlds that used the old Region file format.

Biome Types
Biome types may be easily distinguished by the differentiating grass and leaf colors in conjunction with the kind of blocks present, like cacti in deserts and pine trees in the taiga. They are pseudo-randomized based on given seeds.

There are ten biomes as of Minecraft 1.2.3.

Forest


A biome with many trees, occasional hills and a fair amount of tall grass. Oak and birch trees can be found in this biome. (See Tree for more details on trees in Minecraft.)

Desert


A barren biome consisting mostly of sand, large dunes, dead bushes and cacti. No rain occurs in this biome. Sugar Cane can be found sometimes next to pools of water. It has been told (but not been proven) that more hostile mobs like Zombies and Skeletons spawn in the desert than in any other biome. NPC Villages will spawn commonly, and Desert Wells are found exclusively in this biome.

Plain


A relatively flat biome with rolling hills and a large amount of tall grass (more than in any other type of land). The occasional tree does exist, although more in clusters. Gullies and water holes are commonly found in plains. NPC villages commonly spawn in this biome.

Swamp


A flat biome containing swamp-like trees often covered with vines, and many shallow pools of clay, sand and dirt. The shades of the water, grass, leaves, vines and colors of the whole biome in general are much darker than other biomes. The water has floating lily pads in it. Mushrooms spawn abundantly in this biome, which is good news for anyone with a bowl and a crafting table. Stalks of sugar cane are also seen along the shores. Trees have a habit to spawn in the water in this specific biome. A player should be very careful if exploring this biome with a boat, since crashing into lily pads can very easily destroy the boat.

From Beta 1.8 to Minecraft 1.0, due to the very dark water and grass in this biome, there was a drastic color shift from the grass and water on the borders with other biomes. From 1.1 onwards, the transition has been made less abrupt.

Jungle


A biome added in 1.2.1. It consists of jungle trees that can be 30 blocks tall and two blocks wide. The landscape is lush green, and quite hilly, with many small lakes of water. This is the only biome containing ferns and the jungle trees. Leaf "bushes" cover most of the forest floor, and there are large amounts of vines that can be climbed (if the vines are directly attached to any block behind it), allowing the player to reach higher areas of the jungle easily. Caves in this biome are also commonly filled with vines. Ocelots are unique in jungles.

Tundra


A relatively large, flat biome covered in snow. It does not rain in this biome - it snows instead. Lakes and rivers are frozen over, and pine trees are scarce. Hills are formed, but are more mountainous. Sugar cane do spawn in this biome, but it tends to quickly get uprooted when chunks load because of the ice that spreads over open water sources.

Taiga


A biome with many pine/spruce trees and dull grey-blue grass. Snowfall occurs in this biome, forming snow and ice. Hills occur frequently, and Wolves are found on this biome more commonly than others.

Extreme Hills (Mountain)


A mountainous biome with dull grey-blue grass and a few oak trees. Mountains can be found in other biomes, but are uncommon. Cliffs, peaks, valleys, waterfalls, overhangs, and many other structures are formed, creating many outstanding views for players to admire. More underground cave systems are present here than any other biome. There is also a considerable amount of tamable wolves. Brown sheep are much more common in this 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.

Ocean


A very large, flat open biome made entirely of water, with underwater reliefs such as small mountains and plains and usually includes sand and clay at its bottom. Ocean biomes can go down to 30 blocks deep and the occasional island may exist, as a small version of other biome types. Entrances to underground ravines can be also 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). Oceans can be over 25,000 blocks wide.

Mushroom Biome


This rare biome consists of flat landscapes and high 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 other than Mooshrooms (including hostile mobs at night) spawn in this biome. This includes caves, abandoned mines, etc... below mushroom biomes, meaning exploring underground is relatively safe. Monster Spawners will still spawn mobs, however, and caution should still be taken when exploring (as sometimes "fingers" of other biomes project into mushroom biomes).

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 un-plant the sapling. 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 bonemeal on the sapling to grow it. Otherwise, it is advised to collect wood (and saplings) before settling here.

As of 1.1.0, player made structures in this biome are not exempt from the "no mob spawn" rule: All terrain within the biome will not spawn hostile or passive mobs, even if created by the player.

Technical Biomes
Technical biomes are found alongside or within their bigger counterparts. They are not considered as "true" biomes, but more of as part of the terrain itself. However, these technical biomes serve to be important in the Minecraft world, as they make the land and water look more appealing.

There are seven known technical biomes.

River


A biome that consists of water blocks that form in a curvy pattern like rivers. Rivers cut through terrain or separate the main biomes. They attempt to join up with ocean on the other side, but will sometimes loop around to the same area of ocean. They have no current. Rivers have also been known to be a reliable source of clay. Although a technical biome, they are referred as biomes in the code.

Frozen River


This variant of the river only spawns in taiga and tundra biomes. The surface layer of water is frozen and made of ice.

Beach


Generated on the shores of almost any body of water, beaches are composed of sand. Beaches penetrate the landscape, removing the original blocks and placing in sand blocks.

For the history of beaches, check out the Beach page.

Mushroom Shore


Mushroom shores represents the flat shore area of the mushroom biome.

Frozen Ocean


Found near snowy biomes, frozen oceans contain ice on the top layer of water.

Extreme Hills Edge


Acts as a fringe between mountains and most other biomes.

Hills


Hills are generated within certain biomes: forest, taiga, desert, jungle, and tundra. Each separate area of hill biome spawns one hill in the shape of the area. Forest hills seem to be smaller than the other and seem to generate more rarely than the other hill in their respective main biome. Tundra biomes spawn mountains instead of hills.

Anvil File Format
The Anvil format allowed for biomes to be stored in one's world data. This is different from MCRegion because MCRegion was reliant on the seed for biome placement, messing up old worlds after biome code was added. This is no longer so. Also, "edge" biomes allow for biomes to continue generation in older worlds beyond newer chunk borders. This allows for smooth transitions in word generations after the generation code was edited in a newer update.

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 - some old, some new.

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

There have been multiple 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 so players have 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 no problem if the player uses Creative Mode.