What is a natural zone, every schoolchild knows, and those who have forgotten this concept can familiarize themselves with it by reading this article.
Natural areas: definition and types
The globe consists of all kinds of natural complexes localized in different climatic zones. Despite the diversity of landscapes, plants, and animals, some areas of the Earth are similar to each other. They are combined into a separate group of natural zones. This is the largest gradation of the entire natural complex on the planet.
Natural areas and their features
Natural zones are located in accordance with geographical zones, adapted to certain parameters of temperature and humidity. Mostly they occupy certain latitudes, but the specific area depends on the distance to the ocean and the surrounding terrain. The exception is mountainous natural zones, the characteristics of which are affected by the height of localization. Closer to the top, the temperature becomes lower, so the zoning is located in the direction from the equator to the poles. Below is a natural complex similar to that on the plain. The higher the mountain range, the more northern landscapes are localized at the top.
What is a non-land natural zone? The ocean also has a natural complex, characterized by a climatic location and depth. Its borders are vague compared to land.
Natural areas of the tropics and subtropics, deserts
Equatorial forests and tropics located in Africa, South America and Asia are characterized by high humidity and temperature. What is the natural zone in these areas of the globe? This is a complex of evergreen trees with pronounced multi-tiered (from small bushes to giant trees). The accelerated circulation of substances leads to the formation of a superfertile layer of soil, which is quickly consumed. In the tropics and subtropics, a zone of dry forests is distinguished, where trees dump their foliage during the hot season.
The description of the natural zone includes savannas - a transition zone from the forests of the tropics to the northern landscapes with pronounced sparse forests, constantly high temperatures and infrequent rainfall. This complex is characterized by a dry period; as a result, animals migrate to water bodies.
The evergreen forests of the Mediterranean climate are predominantly composed of plants with hard leaves. There are many coniferous trees, mild winters are characteristic. Most animal species in this natural zone are on the verge of extinction.
The low moisture level of deserts and semi-deserts located in the temperate and tropical zones has led to the formation of various adaptations to difficult conditions in plants and animals. Deserts of warm climate are subdivided into sandy, rocky and clay. Their soils are saturated with minerals, but have little organic matter.
The zonality of the northern hemisphere in the temperate and polar zones
The steppe and forest-steppe zones located in the subtropical and temperate zones differ in hot and dry summers, cold winters and the most fertile soils (chernozems). Rodents, birds of prey and small ungulates live here.
Broad-leaved, mixed forests and taiga are natural temperate zones located in the northern hemisphere. They have a cold winter. In the taiga zone, summers are warm and short, for forests a little to the south the warm period is longer, but the average temperature is lower. Precipitation in the taiga is more abundant than in mixed forests. In these natural areas predators, insectivorous birds live .
The tundra and forest-tundra occupy the territory of the subpolar and polar zones. The vegetation is stunted with a superficial root system due to soil poverty, many mosses and lichens, mainly migratory birds, most of the territory is covered by permafrost.
Animals in the Arctic desert mainly live in water, in the warm period, which lasts several months, birds fly. This is what the northern hemisphere natural zone is.