Page 105 - ICSE GEOGRAPHY

of the deserts and are also referred to as the South-East Asia, the desert vegetation is
steppes. Vast expanses of short grass are found towards West Asia and the tropical
found here. Antelope and deer reside in these monsoon forest resides mostly in the Indian
grassy regions. subcontinent. Th e map below shows the
vegetation that is prevalent in Asia. Let’s
Fact Corner discuss some of them in detail.

A warming trend of about 0.75°C Tundra
has been observed in annual mean
temperatures in southern part of Asia Tundra is a Russian word which means
over the past century. ‘marshy plain’. Arctic tundra is found in
the North Pole whereas alpine tundra is the
vegetation prevalent at the top of tall cold
Mediterranean Region
mountains such as Mt Everest.
Th e Mediterranean region experiences hot, It is a region of cold, treeless plains with

dry summers and cool wet winters, and permanently frozen subsoil. Lichens, mosses,
includes the region of Turkey, Syria, and the sedges and some grasses may occupy more
coastal areas of Israel and Lebanon. Istanbul favourable locations. In the summers, when the
in Turkey is the best example. Th e hottest snow melts, bogs and shallow lakes are formed.
month records 23°C and the coolest month Insects swarm around the bogs and millions of
is recorded at 6°C. Th e total annual rainfall is migratory birds come to feed on them. A few
736 millimetres of which 500 millimetres are plants bloom fl owers for a short spell. Polar
experienced from November to March. Th e bears, reindeer, arctic foxes, seals and walruses
summers in this region are very dry. are some animals found here.

Vegetation
Natural Vegetation Highland vegetation Hot desert vegetation
and Wildlife Tundra vegetation Cold desert vegetation
Taiga vegetation
Tropical deciduous
Deciduous Tropical monsoon forest
Asia is divided into Mixed forest
Equatorial rainforest
various natural vegetation Temperate grassland
regions which are based Europe
Black
on the richness and the Sea
type of fl ora found in each Caspian Sea
of them. Th e tundra and
taiga vegetation is found
in North Asia, deciduous
forests and the steppes in
Central, West and East
Asia, highland vegetation Africa ARABIAN SEA
and mixed forests mostly
occur in Central Asia.

Equatorial rainforests are INDIAN OCEAN
mainly scattered across
The natural vegetation regions of Asia

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