Climate and Vegetation

1
Climate and Vegetation

• Chapter 8 Section 2

2
Tropical Climates

• Tropical (most of the region)
• most of Central America and the Caribbean Is.
  And much of S. America have TROPICAL SAVANNA
  CLIMATE hot , very wet (not year round)
• Hot temperatures lots of rain-Southern Mexico,
  Eastern Central America and Eastern shores of
  Caribbean Is., have TROPICAL RAIN FOREST CLIMATE
• During certain times it gets cooler and drier
  than tropical rain forest climate

3
Humid Subtropical
winters are short and mild summers are long and
humid.
4
esert and Steppe Climates

• Desert
• Hot and dry climate
• Northern Mexico, western South America (Chile and
  Peru), and parts of Argentina
• The Atacama desert Chile and Peru- one of the
  driest places in the world-- in some areas, no
  rainfall has ever been recorded

Desert and Steppe Climates
5
Steppe

• Hot summers and cold winters
• light rainfall
• Steppe- little rainfall
• found in northern Mexico, near Andes and coastal
  areas of South America

6
Highland Climates

• 3 major highland zones
• tierra caliente lands at the lowest altitudes -
  sea level to 3,000 ft. above sea level hot
  country
• tierra templada lands from3,000 ft. to 6,000
  ft. means temperate country
• tierra fria lands from 6,000 ft. to 10,000 ft.
  means cold country

7
Vegetation

• tropical rain forest
• grassland and desert
• vertical climate zones

8
Tropical Rain Forest

• Found all over Middle and South America
• Brazils Amazon River Basin is the largest in the
  world covers about 1/3 of South America

9
Grasslands and Deserts

• prairie-like grasses- short and grows in clumps
• because of the rainy seasons, some areas are
  scattered with trees
• In desert areas northern Mexico, southern
  Chile, and Perus coasts few plants grow
• vegetation usually consists of prickly cacti and
  small bushes with thick leaves that store water

10
Vertical Climate Zones

• In the hot, wet tierra caliente the vegetation
  flouishes crops like rice, sugar cane, and
  cacao are grown here
• in the tierra templada,(most people have chosen
  to live here), coffee is the main crop
• in the tierra fria potatoes and barley are grown