Climatic Regions and Natural Vegetation: notes

Climates

• Equatorial: hot and wet all year, rain nearly every day. Tropical rainforest grows here.
• Tropical (savanna): hot, with a wet and a dry season. Grassland with scattered trees. Much of Zimbabwe is like this.
• Hot desert: very little rain, big gap between day and night temperature.
• Mediterranean: hot dry summers, mild wet winters.

Vegetation

• Rainforest: tall, dense, evergreen trees in layers.
• Savanna: tall grass and flat topped trees such as acacia. Plants have long roots and thick bark.
• Desert: cactus and thorny shrubs that store water and have small leaves.
• Zimbabwe: miombo woodland on the high plateau, mopane in the hot low veld.

Conservation

• Deforestation: cutting trees for fuelwood and farms causes soil erosion and lower rainfall.
• Remedy: plant trees, control fires, use fuel efficient stoves.