Climate and natural zones in Africa 2. Features of natural areas of Africa. Equatorial forest area

In the location of the natural zones, the latitudinal zonality is clearly traced, which is associated with flat relief, the location of the mainland between the tropics, uneven distribution of precipitation. In the Congo pool and along the coast of the Guinean Gulf grow wet evergative equatorial forests.The plant cover is formed in conditions of high humidity, abundant precipitation, however the plants adapted well to these conditions: form many tiers, they have tough, dense, often shiny leaves, roots, etc. A variety of plant species is enormous, many species of trees with valuable wood and edible fruits. There are several types of palm trees in the forests, including oilseeds. Ficuses, tree fern, coffee tree, banana, numerous lianas are growing. The animal world of forests is also extremely diverse. Equatorial forests are replaced by variable-wet forests, and then savannah begin. Savannes occupy about 40% of the continent. Savannes are characterized by a combination of herbal cover with separate trees or their groups, thickets of shrubs. The change of dry and wet seasons of the year in Savannah is associated with the movement of air masses. The soil here is more fertile than in wet equatorial forests, the overalls accumulates in the dry season, the red-brown soils are formed. Opening vegetation is represented by baobabs, acacia with umbrella crowns, mimosami, palm trees. In dry savannas, tree-like milk, aloe with fleshy spiny leaves grow. Along the rivers draw gallery forests. The abundance of herbal vegetation is the condition for the existence of many types of ungulates: antelope, buffaloes, zebras, rhinos. Elephants, giraffes, hippos are inhabited by savanna; Many prey - lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, sacking; From birds there are ostrises, marabou, bird secretary, etc. Many termites building strong high buildings. Tropical deserts and semi-deserts They also occupy huge areas (about 30%). The climate is arid, rain is irregular and occasionally occasionally. The air is dry, the temperature is high in the afternoon, dramatically decreases at night; Frections dust and sand storms. Vegetation is rare, and there is no places at all. In the north of the continent lies the greatest desert of the Earth - sugar, in the south-west mainland - the barren desert of Namib. Soils in the deserts do not form solid cover, contain few organic substances, but many mineral salts. In those places where the soil waters are close to the surface, rich vegetation is developing. These are oasis. In the deserts, the vegetation is scanty, solid cover does not form, well adapted to life in dry conditions. Growing bunches of herbs, spiky shrubs, on the stones - lichens. Palm palm trees are common in Sugara oases. In semi-deserts of South Africa, a peculiar plant is growing - Velvichia. It has a short trunk (50 cm) and very long leaves (from 3 to 8 m), growing throughout life, which lasts several centuries, and in some copies of 2000 years and more. Equally and the animal world of this zone. Some animals can take a long time without water, others can overcome huge distance in her search. For deserts are characterized by small antelopes, snakes, lizards; In Sahara, hyenas, jackals, lions, ostriches are found. Zone of subtropical toll-housing evergreen forests and shrubs It takes the extreme north and south of the mainland. The amount of precipitation changes to the seasons, the summer is roast, and the winter is warm and wet. Under these conditions, fertile brown soils were formed.

You will learn:

On the peculiarities of the soil and vegetable cover of the mainland

On the regularities of the placement of natural zones

Remember:

What is a latitudinal zonality and vertical explanancy

Natural areas of Africa, like climatic belts, are located almost symmetrically on both sides of the equator. In their placement, latitudinal zonality is pronounced. In Africa, natural zones of equatorial, sub-screen, tropical and subtropical geographic belts are formed (Fig. 1). At raising relief, a vertical explanation is expressed.

1 Wet Equatorial Forests.

The zone of wet equatorial forests is occupied by the Congo River Basin north and south of the Equator and the Gulf Coast. The abundance of heat and moisture of the equatorial climate creates ideal conditions for the development of organisms.

The kingdom of equatorial rain forests spread here - hyilets. Their feature is a multi-tier. As if the columns supporting the sky are towering the trees-giants reaching 40-50 and even 80 m. Among them are "pop-off trees" of the Seiba, various types of palm trees, ficuses. Bananas grow in the lower tiers, tree ferns, red, ebenoy, sandalwood, bread trees. All forest vegetation is intertwined by Liana.

Under the equatorial forests, red-yellow ferallic soils were formed. They are extremely poor nutrients that are quickly absorbed by plants, since organic residues in heat and moisture are rapidly decomposed by microorganisms.

African hyiley - the homeland of the valuable trees of trees: cocoa, ebony with high-quality wood, oilseed palm. Oil palm - a tree height up to 20-30 m. Family palm oil is obtained from palm fruits.

The animal world of wet equatorial forests is rich and diverse. In the ground tier live small hoofs, forest pigs, forest elephants, gorillas; The coast of the reservoirs there are the rarest animals on Earth - dwarf hippos and relatives of the giraffes - Okapi. A large predator of equatorial forests - leopard (Fig. 2). Numerous monkeys live on the trees. There are also many species of birds, insects, rodents. Universally seizure of amphibians (frogs). Termites are distributed on all tiers.

In the south, the north and east, the zone of wet equatorial forests replaces the zone of variable-wet deciduous forests, and then the editorial and savannah.

Savannah and parel.

Savanns and gentlemen in Africa reach 16-18 ° C. sh., And in the south, they go for the southern tropic, occupying almost 40% of the continent. Savannah is a sub-screen forest-steppe. For most trees, the umbrella-shaped crown is characteristic. Baobabs, umbrella acacias, mimosa, palm trees prevail from woody breeds in the savanna. As you move towards deserts, the duration of the arid period increases; Herbaceous cover becomes short, rarefied, tree-like milk, aloe with meaty barbed foliage appear. Red and red-brown soil are formed in the savannas.

A sufficient amount of herbaceous cover in Savannah creates favorable conditions for the lives of large herbivorous animals: elephants, rhinos, giraffes, antelope, etc. Their big herds attract the attention of numerous predators: Lviv, Cheetahdov, Leopards, Shakalov, Gien. Hippo, crocodiles, flamingos live in water bodies. Very much termites. Savanns and gentlemen, both in the northern and in the southern hemisphere, are gradually moving into tropical deserts and semi-deserts.

Deserts and semi-deserts.

Deserts and semi-deserts - a consequence of a roast and dry climate. Increased dryness of air, exhausting day heat and relatively low night temperatures are characterized by almost 30% of Africa. In the north of Africa, tropical deserts occupy a huge territory - about 7 million km 2, they are united under the general geographical name - sugar. The air in sugar is always dry and saturated with dust, the relative humidity is extremely low, sometimes less than 25%. On a summer day, the air warms up to +40 ° C, sometimes up to +50 ° C, and the sand is glowed to +80 ° C.

Fig. 3. Velvichia is not similar to any of all known plants in the world. I found it in the desert Namib in 1860. Austrian professor at Botanist Friedrich Velwich. Welvichia will not call either grass or a bush or a tree, although in the botanical classification this plant is indicated as a relict tree. He has a wide (up to 1.2 m in diameter) the trunk, which is almost not visible above the ground, and only two sheets that grow throughout the life of the plant, adding 8-15 cm per year. And Welvichia lives long - 1200-1300 years!

Plants Deserts and semi-deserts adapted to habitat conditions: the leaves are replaced by spiners, the root system grows far enough and deep into. There are many years of shrubs from camel barrels and mocharya, there are wormwood, Salvanka on saline sites. Aloe, wild red cucumber, acacia, solid cereals are growing in semi-deserts. In the Namib desert, you can see a unique plant - Velvichia (Fig. 3).

Rich vegetation is developing only in oases. The main plant of oases is a palm tree. Most of the desert are deprived of soil cover, gray desert low-chill soils are formed in places. In the deserts and semi-deserts there are antelopes, camels, spotted hyenas, sacks, foxes, ostriches. There are also many lizards, snakes, scorpions, tarantulas inhabit.

4 Tighted evergreen forests and shrubs.

In the north-west and south-west, the mainland in areas with the subtropical Mediterranean climate on brown soils formed a zone of severe evergreen forests and shrubs. It is a bright forest with evergreen pine, cedar, cypress, cork oak, oily. The slopes grow thick thickets of myrta, laurer, oleander, dwarf palm trees. Wild goats, viper, turtles, eagles, scorpions, etc. live in the forests.

The latitudinal zonality in the location of natural zones on the territory of Africa is due to the predominance of plain relief and the uneven distribution of precipitation.

The most extensive areas on the mainland are occupied by savanna and parel, deserts and semi-deserts.

Questions and tasks for self-test

1. What natural zones have been formed on the African continent? 2. Why do zonal natural complexes prevail in Africa? 3. Name the main features of wet equatorial forests. 4. Why are Savannas and Raddhodassy in Africa large areas? 5. How did the organic world representatives adapt to the natural conditions of the desert?

Practical work 3 (continued)

Application on the contour card names of the main geographical objects of Africa.

Apply geographic objects to the contour card: deserts: sugar, Namib. Practical task

Using the text of the paragraph and the atlas map, make a brief description of the natural areas of Africa. Represent the answer in the form of a table (in the notebook).

Geographic research

1. Imagine that you participate in the expedition, exploring the features of African deserts. What kind of general and distinctive features of the deserts of the South and Northern Hemispheres will you record in your travel diary?

2. Using knowledge of natural areas of Africa, make an imaginary journey along the Congo River from the Rippiece to the mouth. Make a list of necessary equipment, name the features of the surrounding nature, provide possible difficulties and dangers.

This is the material of the textbook

Natural zonality

The largest natural complex of the planet is the geographic shell.

The natural complex of the Earth is heterogeneous both vertically and horizontally, which is expressed in the vertical explanation and the latitory presence of a variety of natural zones on Earth.

Definition 1.

The natural zone is the natural complex of sushi or world ocean, elongated in breadth and having similar natural conditions.

There are a number of factors that affect the formation of natural zones.

For natural zones, as components of the geographic shell, a certain set of natural components having features are characterized.

These components are:

• climatic conditions of the territory;
• the nature of her relief;
• water resources;
• soil structure;
• flora and fauna.

The climatic characteristics of the territory include its temperature regime, the nature of moisturizing, the properties of the dominant air masses.

The criterion of the general nature of the relief has an impact on the configuration of the natural zone. The proximity of the ocean or the presence of currents off the coast also affect their formation, but these factors will be secondary.

The formation of natural zones primarily depends on climatic conditions, on the number of incoming solar heat and light, but their names are associated with the nature of vegetation, because the bright component of any landscape is precisely Flora.

The plant world acts as a kind of indicator that displays all the depth processes of forming a natural complex.

In the hierarchy of the physico-geographical zoning of the planet, the natural zone is the highest step.

On the map of the natural zones of Africa, it is clearly seen that all of them are located in the form of belts having a sub-lift direction, i.e. Extracted from west to east.

Figure 1. Natural zonality of Africa. Author24 - Student Internet Exchange

Sometimes this direction of natural zones can be violated due to the features of the relief of this territory. On the boundary map between natural zones is shown very clearly, which cannot be in real reality.

Each zone, almost enough smoothly "goes" to the next natural zone.

At the junction of two natural zones, border or transition zones are formed, for example, at the junction of forest and steppe zones, a transitional forest-steppe zone was formed. The formation of natural zones, thus, the influence has many factors, the set of which for any territory be it mainland, the country, the small area will be the same.

Note 1.

On the surface of the planet, geographers allocate more than a dozen large natural zones that replacing each other from the equator to the polar latitudes.

Natural areas of the mainland

Since Africa is located on both sides of the equator and is removed from it to thousands of kilometers to the north and south, then various natural zones are formed on its territory, which are energized mainly from the west to the East.

Eliminate among the main species zone of wet equatorial forests, savannah and edging, deserts and semi-deserts, evergreen forests and shrubs.

In the conditions of a hot and wet equatorial climate on red and yellow ferallotic soils, wet equatorial forests were formed. Some wood plants in this zone are up to 3000 species.

Among them is an iron tree, sandalwood, ebenic wood, oilseed palm, rubberos, bread, coffee, nutmeg and dr. Liana and orchids intertwine crowns and tree trunks.

Rich and diverse fauna of equatorial forests, represented not only by man-like monkeys.

Fresh hoofs, otpi, dwarf hippos, pigs, dwelt within the terrestrial tier. From predators you can meet a leopard.

Snakes, lizards, termites, earthrooks are connected with the forest underlining. Characteristic for wet equatorial forests are such insects like mosquitoes, ants, but a little birds in wet forests.

Savanns and gestands come to replace the variable-wet forests, where herbal cover prevails.

Some places can be found alone low trees or small groups. In dry areas, red-brown soils of deserted savannah were formed, and closer to the border with wet forests of the soil red ferroll-highly erased savannas.

The grass in the arid period burns out, and the trees are discharged by the foliage. With the arrival of the rainy period, the plant world comes to life.

The symbol of African savanna is Baobab, an umbrella acacia grow, mimosa, some palm trees.

In areas of arid, Aloe is growing, Mokha.

Fauna Savannan is represented by a large variety of herbivores - antelopes, zebras, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, hippos. Where there are herbivores, there are predators - lions, cheetahs, sacking, hyenas. Thunderstorms of animals and man is a crocodile.

The world of birds is also diverse, a necarian, secretary, African Ostrich, Flamingo, Ibis, Storks, Marabou live here. Know the tset fly, whose bites are fatal for horses and cattle. The bite of this flies causes a sleepy disease.

To the north of Savannnes and the edge of the tropical deserts and semi-deserts begin. The north, wide part of the mainland occupies sugar, where huge areas are occupied by stony areas alternating with clay and sandy. In some places, Sugara accumulate dunes and vegans.

Flora Sugara is very poor, and in some places it is deprived of it at all. Lichens, solicky and wormwood are common in rocky deserts - on saline soils. Near the water develops oasis, with a finished palm tree common in them.

Animals are lizards, turtles, snakes, well adapted to the conditions of the desert climate and can do without water a long enough period. Characteristic are beetles, scorpions, locusts, and on the outskirts there are lions and hyenas.

The deserts in southern Africa are employed by the coast of the Atlantic Ocean - the desert of Namib.

In the field of Mediterranean, in the west of Africa, a zone of subtropical harshous evergreen forests and shrubs has been formed. Plants grow on chestnut soils in hot summer and wet warm winter.

To the east, this zone on the plains of North Africa is replaced by the zone of subtropical deserts and semi-deserts.

Ecological problems of Africa

Environmental problems affect not only individual countries, but all the mainland, but the government of African countries is not strongly concerned.

There are no modern environmental technologies on the mainland. Problems to reduce or completely eliminate waste are not solved.

Chaotic, irrational and ill-conceived use of natural resources leads everything to new and new problems.

The richest floral and animal peace of Africa suffers from poachers, and their criminal activities are not supposed by states.

Many representatives of wildlife very soon can completely disappear from the face of the planet.

Svagga has already been fully exterminated - a non-parunning close relative of the zebra. The last part was destroyed in 1878. There was an attempt to preserve this animal in the zoo, but also this attempt was failed.

In the north of Africa, an environmental problem is associated with desertification, the reason for which is the uncontrolled cutting of forests, which leads to the degradation of the soil.

The problem of destroying the arrays of the tropical sector is characteristic of South Africa. Not far from the capital of Ghana - the city of Accra appeared a place for the disposal of electronics waste collected from the entire planet. Here are old TVs, scanners, computers, phones and other devices.

Danger is that in the soil of this garbage, salt, salt acid, arsenic, lead dust, various chemical compounds, and in such quantities that all extremely valid norms are hundreds of times exceeded.

The soil in the area has no herbs, birds are not solved to fly through this air, and there is no fish in the reservoirs.

The life expectancy of people living in the area is very short.

The waste of the chemical industry on the basis of a contract signed by the governments of local countries, which is monstrous, is also convicted of Africa's territory.

The nature of Africa for mercenary purposes is destroyed not only by representatives of other countries, but those who should protect it.

In Africa, natural zones are elongated mainly from the west to the East.

Wet equatorial forests

The Equatorial belt of Africa is covered with humid evergreen forests that develop in a wet roast equatorial climate on red-yellow ferrollic soils.

In the pile of Africa there are up to 3,000 species of alone wood plants. Here we grow an iron tree, sandalwood, red, black (ebenic) wood, rubberos, oilseed palm, palm tree, breadwinner, cocoa tree, coffee, nutmeg. The trunks and crowns of trees are intertwined by Lianov, orchids.

The animal world of wet equatorial forests is rich and diverse. Only here people live monkeys. Small ungulates live in ground tier, pigs, otpay, dwarf hippos. Leopard is found from predators. In the soil and forest litter, snakes, earthling, lizards, termites are found. Insects are common in the forests - mosquitoes, ants, etc. Birds in wet forests are relatively few.

Savannah and edging

The zone of variable-wet forests is replaced by savannahs and gentlemen. In Savannes, herbal cover predominates, among which lonely or small groups of low trees and shrubs of a hot belt are rising.

In more dry places, red-brown soils are formed by the saboan deserted, and closer to wet forests - red ferretic soils of highly old savannah. In the arid period of grass, many trees are discharged by foliage. As soon as rains come - herbs rise, trees are covered with foliage. Where rains go long, dense and high herbs grow. Baobabs, umbrella acacias, mimos and some species of palm trees are common from trees in the savanna. In the arid areas of the savanna, Aloe, Mokhai, are found.

In savannas, many large herbivores: a variety of antelopes, zebras, giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, hippos. Among the predators are spread lions, cheetahs, sacking, hyenas. Thunderstorms of many animals and man - crocodiles.

In Savannah Africa, many birds: Naknican, African Ostrich, Secretary, Flamingo, Ibis, Storks, Marabou. Tsetz fly bites are fatal for cattle and horses. In humans, it causes a sleepy disease.

Desert and semi-deserts

In Africa, savanna and gentlemen are moving into tropical semi-deserts and deserts. In Sahara, huge areas occupy rocky deserts, with which clay and sandy and sandy, where dunes and vegans accumulate in places.

The vegetation of sugars is very poor, and there is no place in some places. Lichens, saline soils and wormwoods are common in the rocky desert. In large sources and in the valleys of rivers, where the groundwater is suitable close to the surface, rich vegetation (oasis) develops. A widespread oasis plant is a palm tree.

Sugar animals are adapted to the conditions of the desert climate. Lizards, turtles and snakes can do without water for a long time. Various beetles, locust, scorpions are also numerous. In the outskirts of the desert there are hyentes, lions.

In South Africa, the desert occupy the coast of the Atlantic Ocean (Namib desert). In the west of the mainland, in areas with the Mediterranean climate, there is a zone of subtropical jorstalky evergreen forests and shrubs.

Roast dry summer and relatively warm (+4 ... +10 ° C) Wet winter favorable for evergreen vegetation, which grows on chestnut soils. On the plains of North Africa, this zone is replaced by the zone of subtropical deserts and semi-deserts.

Human impact

The consequence of cutting, burning, improper management of the farm was the reduction of forests, depletion of their species composition, an increase in the area of \u200b\u200bSavannan and the desert. Reserves and national parks are organized from the disappearance of many species of plants and animals. They are of great importance for learning and nature conservation.

The famous National Park of Africa is Serengeti, where landscapes are guarded by grassy savannas with plots of shrubs and individual trees, and in the valleys of rivers - gallery forests. Elephants, lions, leopards, GNU, Gazelle Grant and Thomson live here.

Natural phenomena and environmental problems

African natural phenomena of Africa are drought, locust attack, sandstorm in the deserts (Samum). The main environmental problems of Africa: an increase in the territory of the desert, the destruction of wet and variable-wet forests of the equatorial belt, reducing the number of wild animals.

Slide 2.

Tasks

• Determine with the cards of the geographical position of natural zones.
• Examine the climatic and soil features of this zone.
• Read the typical representatives of the plant and animal world.