### ground | plain:

Floodplain
* also provide habitat for wildlife, recreational opportunities, and aesthetic benefits.
* are a low plain at the edge of a big dropoff
  - particularly rich zone for biodiversity and agricultural soils
  - almost always next to or on a river or creeck
  - also the commercial, social and environmental arteries of the state
  - any areas of land susceptible to inundation by floodwaters from any source
  - areas of flat land bordering a watercourse
  - covered by silt and clay
* are important habitats for many types of fish
  - to slow the overbank storms and prevent flooding downstream
  - nature's storage area for flood waters
* are often fertile because of the sediment deposited there by previous floods
  - only superficially alluvial
  - the flat areas of land covered by materials deposited by the river when it floods
* can also contain sediments deposited from the lateral migration of the river channel
  - support particularly rich ecosystems, both in quantity and diversity
* contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes.
* generally contain unconsolidated sediments, often extending below the bed of the stream.
* have functions essential to maintaining high-quality salmon habitat
  - meanders and many swampy sloughs where river channels have shifted their courses
* provide habitat for plants and animals
  - habitats for many plants and animals
* serve as temporary storage areas for water, thus preventing flooding in populated areas.
* typically have multiple terraces that increase in elevation away from the river channel
  - support important riparian ecosystems and a variety of associated wildlife
* usually host parkland or ragged wildland and feature good camp spots.
  * A 'Flood plain' or 'Floodplain' plain or nearly flat surface close to the bed of a river or stream. If there is little water in the river, the plain will be dry, if there lot of water, the surplus water will flood this area. Floodplains provide habitats for many plants and animals.
* wetlands store water when rivers over-top their banks, reducing flood risk downstream.

### ground | plain:

Steppe
* are also under the category of tableland but they are non-raised large flat areas of land
  - dry areas of grassland with hot summers and cold winters
  - short grass grasslands found furthest away from the equator
  - virtually semi-arid deserts in the making, and are highly threatened by overgrazing
* occur in the interiors of North America and Europe.
* possess a semi-arid climate as well.
* receive slightly more rain than deserts do
  * It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude. It is the sort of climate that is in regions too dry for a forest, but not so dry that there are only deserts. The soil is too moist for a desert, but too dry for normal forest life. Steppes receive slightly more rain than deserts do

### ground | plain:

Tundra
* Most tundra has natural resources
  - includes arctic tundra
* Most tundras are lowlands with many lakes, but some also have mountains
  - south of the north pole
  - receive little precipitation
* Some tundra contains fungi
  - is dominated by grass
  - supports hares
* are arctic plains that are dominated by sedge, heath, willow, and lichen
  - areas with short growing seasons and low temperatures
  - dry with long, cold winters and short, usually cool, summers
  - extremely cold areas with land that remains frozen year-round
  - located at very high elevations and are near the poles
  - most common in the Low Arctic, and polar barrens are dominant in the High Arctic
  - the biomes found farthest north
* is plains.
* typically migrate in large groups.