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World Bioclimatic Zonation

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Part of the book series: Geobotany Studies ((GEOBOT))

Abstract

Attempts to regionalize world climates began in the early 1800s, based partly on natural landscapes. The first attempts were empirical, but better understanding of global atmospheric circulation led eventually to ‘genetic’ approaches, based on the mechanisms that generate different climate types. It was recognized early that climatic zones follow mainly from temperature, at least in lowlands, but the duration of wet and dry seasons also characterizes many climate types quite distinctly. This paper expands the familiar genetic climate classification of Walter to provide a simple, globally consistent, more complete classification that also recognizes subtypes and transitions explicitly, and facilitates understanding of world soil and vegetation types. This genetic approach is preferable to empirical systems, such as Köppen, because it:

  • has fewer main types

  • recognizes types tied more directly to dynamic mechanisms that cause different climate types

  • has a more general and flexible set of subtype descriptors

  • unifies some climatic concepts better

  • matches natural vegetation and landscapes better, and

  • is more flexible under changing global climatic conditions than are empirical limits.

Zonal climate types are easier to understand and to teach, since they are tied directly to atmospheric dynamics and reflect visible geographic regions and landscapes. The resulting global geographic framework also provides a basis for testing the validity of putatively general ecological models.

Keywords

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Appendix: World Vegetation Regions Within a Zonal Framework, as Needed for Geographic Validation of Global Models

Appendix: World Vegetation Regions Within a Zonal Framework, as Needed for Geographic Validation of Global Models

 

Americas

Africa

Eurasia

Australia-NZ-Oceania-Antarctica

I. Tropical Humid Forests (rainforest and seasonal EG forest)

Amazon Basin

Atlantic Brazil

Chocó to windward

Central America

Caribbean islands

Congo Basin

Guinea coast

Madagascar coast

Malay Peninsula windward S Asia

East Indies

Philippines

New Guinea and archipelagos

Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia

  Subtropical

SE Brazil

 

Assam-N Myanmar

Montane Queensland

  a. Dry Equatorial Scrub

S Caribbean

East Africa

  

 I-II. Semi-Evergreen Forests

Campeche-Yucatan

Colombia-Venezuela

Sub-Amazon Brazil

TRF periphery

E Madagascar

Windward S Asia

Eastern E Indies

N Philippines?

(northern and coastal Queensland)

  Dry EG Forest

  

Inland SE Asia

 

II. Tropical Wet/Dry Woods

  Moist deciduous Forest

Cuba-Hispaniola (Yucatan)

 

E India- Vietnam eastern Java

 

  Dry Deciduous Forest/Woodland plus Thorn-Scrub

Meso-America, incl. Caribbean dry sides

Venezuela -Colombia

Caatingas

Chaco

N Afr below savannas

S-central Africa

Leeward Madagascar

Interior Deccan India

Interior SE Asia

Leeward Sri Lanka

Sumbawa-Timor

Upland W Persia

N-interior Australian thorn-tree scrub

  Semi-EG Scrub/Woods

Cerrado

East Africa

 

N Austr sclerophyll

 II-VII. Thorn-Steppe

Mexico-W Texas

Argentine monte scrub

   

 II-III. Tropical Savanna

Mexico: Tamaulipas and central valley

Cuba

Venezuelan llanos and Caribbean Colombia

Sub-Saharan belts

E Africa

Interior southern Africa

Madagascar

Hejaz thorn savanna

N India- Pakistan

N and NE Australian grassy woodlands

N Australian thorn savanna

  Palm Savannas

Llanos Mesopotamian Argentina

   

  Pine Savanna

Mexico

Nicaragua

   

 Tropical Mountains

Montane TRF, cloud forest, subalpine scrub, páramo (I) or puna (II)

Montane TRF, cloud forest, subalpine ericaceous scrub, páramo

Semi-EG to laurophyll forest, mixed subalpine

Montane rainforest, cloud forest, páramo

III. Subtropical Deserts

  Semi-deserts with arborescents

Sonoran + Baja California

W Kalahari

  
 

Mojave Desert

  

Interior Austr mulga

  Shrub Semi-Desert

Chihuahua Desert

  

Interior and west Australia

  Dwarf-Shrub Desert

 

Sahara Desert

Sinai-N Arabia

Persian halophyte basins

Thar Desert

 

  m. Fog-coast deserts with succulents

Atacama Desert

Namib Desert

  

  (no vegetation)

Atacama (inland)

Central Sahara

Rub al-Khali

Arab-Iran- Pakistani rock desert

W-central Australia

III-IV. Semi-Desert Steppe (shrubs/hard grass)

Central Chile

N Sahara margins

Syria-N Mesopotamia

 

IV Mediterranean Woods/Scrub

  Sclerophyll Forest

California coast and foothills

Atlas Mtns

Mediterranean borderlands

SW + SE Australia (e.g. jarrah)

  Sclerophyll Scrub/Shrublands

Calif. chaparral  + Ariz. encinal central Chile

Maghreb uplands

Cape fynbos

Mediterranean maquis

SW + SE Australian kwongan

  Dwarf Shrublands

S California (coastal sage)

Maghreb

Cape fynbos

Mediterranean garrigue, phrygana

 

  c. Continental Scrub (mainly conifer)

Upland Great Basin (mtns: decid. chaparral)

Western Cape

S Maghreb

Interior Turkey

N Afghanistan

 

   Mountains

Calif: montane Pinus, subalp conif, scrub

Chile: mont mixed, subalp Araucaria, etc.

NAfr-EMed: Cedrus, alpine hard cushions

Cape: Cupressaceae

Med: montane Pinus, subalpine conifer, alpine hard cushions

Australia: Cupressaceae  +  Eucalyptus

 IV-Vm Submediterranean Tall EG Forests

Calif. coast + Sa. Nevada central Chile ( Fitzroya)

  

Australia: SW (karri) and SE (Euc.regnans)

 V. Oceanic Forest (EG-BL)

   

NZ North Island

Vm. Temperate Rainforests (tall broad-evergreen)

Valdivian Chile

  

W Tasmania ( Nothofagus )

NZ W coast (mixed)

  Coniferous

Coastal NW N America

 

Japan Alps, Yakushima (Norway, Alps)

 

 Vm-VI. Cool-Oceanic

S Chile to Ta.del Fuego (EG/decid Nothofagus)

  

New Zealand

Ve. Warm-Temperate Forests

  Laurophyll Forest

SE Brasil uplands (SE USA: topogenic)

S African montane

Canarias montane

Across S China

S Japan -Taiwan

SE Asian mtns to E Himalaya

E and SE Australia, incl. mountains

  Semi-EG Sclerophyll Forest (mixed)

SE USA ( Quercus) Sa. Madre Oriental

 

Yunnan ?

Himalaya?

E and SE Australia ( Eucalyptus)

 Ve-IV. Submediterr. EG Forests (opposite rainfall seasonalities)

 

Knysna (S Africa)

 

Coastal Victoria ( Eucalyptus)

VI. Temperate Forests

  Deciduous Forests

Eastern N America (NW USA: scattered)

 

Manchuria- Korea- Primorye-N Japan

 

  Cool-Temperate

S Andes- Ta.del Fuego

 

Europe: Scandinavia and Britain to Russia

 

  c. Low decid.woods

S-central USA

 

N China

 

  Warm-Temperate (deciduous)

Interior SE US

 

N Balkan-Caucasus-Hyrcanian

N China and interior Japan

 

 VI-IV. Submediterranean Deciduous Woods

Interior California

 

S Europe: N Iberia, S France, Italy, S Balkan

 

 VI-VII. Forest-Steppe (summergreen)

Grove Belt (N America)

Cross Timbers (S USA)

 

Eurasian belt: Roman-Ukr-China

N China elm grasslands

Hungarian Basin

Iranian uplands

 

 VI-VIII. Mixed Forest (sub-boreal)

Great Lakes to NE USA and Maritime Canada

 

Fennoscandia-N Russia

Manchuria- Dahuria

 

VII. Temperate Grasslands (tall, mixed, short)

Great Plains

Palouse (NW USA)

S African Veld (upland)

Russian-Ukrainian-Kazakh steppe

Mongolian steppe

 

  m. Tussock Grasslands

Pampa

Patagonian steppe

  

NZ Canterbury Plain (interior Victoria)

  Montane Steppe

  

Anatolian plateau

Azerbaijan-Iran

Western China

 

  a. Cold-Winter Deserts (non-summer rain)

   Tree Semi-Desert

  

Mid-Asian sand deserts

 

   Shrub Semi-Desert

Great Basin

 

Middle Asia

Persia-Afghanistan

 

   Monsoonal (summer rain)

  

Gobi Desert

Tarim Basin

 

   Cold High Plateau

  

Tibetan Plateau

 

  x. Cool-Maritime Semi-Desert

Patagonian semi-desert

   

  Temperate Mountains

   (a) Humid

Montane mixed forest, subalp conif, alp tundra

 

Mont pine/ laurel, mixed, subalp conif, tundra

SE Australia: Eucalyptus

   (b) Dry

NAm: montane Pinus, subalp conif, dry tundra

 

Montane Pinus, subalpine conif, dry steppe/ tundra

NZ: mont/subalp

BL-EG, tundra

VIII. Boreal Forest

Canada– Alaska

 

Scandinavia-Russia- Siberia- Kamchatka

 

  c. Decid Larch Woods (ultracontinental)

  

Interior E-NE Siberia (+ Manchurian mtns)

 

  m. Deciduous Broadleaf Woods and Scrub (maritime)

Labrador-Newfoundland

W and coastal Alaska

Ta.del Fuego ( Nothofagus)

 

N Sweden-Kola peninsula

Iceland

Kurils-Sakhalin-Hokkaidō

 

 VIII-IX. Forest-Tundra (sparse conifers)

Across subpolar N America

 

Across subpolar Eurasia

 

IX. Polar Tundra (low, upland)

N Canada– Alaska coastal Greenland

 

Across Arctic Eurasia

Antarctic peninsula

  m. Maritime Tundra

W Alaska  + Aleutians

 

Iceland

Kuril-Komandr Isls.

Falklands (+ Isla Estados)

S Georgia, S Orkneys, S Shetlands

 Vm-IX. Everwet Oceanic Moors (EG)

Outer islands of southern Chile

  

Wet subantarctic islands (Macquarie, Kerguelen)

 IX-IXf. Polar Cold Deserts

N Canadian islands

Coastal Greenland

 

Novaya Zemlya and Siberian Arctic islands

Antarctic peninsula and periphery

  1. Boldface signifies the main divisions of the table, i.e. the main climatic zones
  2. The idea that global and other large-area ecological models are inherently geographic models and should be evaluated geographically was emphasized by Box and Meentemeyer (1991). This implies validation in a stratified manner, by bioclimatically and ecologically distinct geographic regions, not just by statistical pixel counts over a whole mapped area. This Appendix lists different occurrences of the world’s main vegetation types, within a climatic framework, as a basis and checklist for geographic validation of models. Roman numerals denote these main climate type s (cf. Fig. 1, Table 4); lower -case letters (except V and temperate mountains) denote climatic subtypes (see Table 5): a = arid, c = continental, m = maritime, x = controverse (e.g. rain-shadow but oceanic).
  3. EG = evergreen, SG = summergreen, BL = broad-leaved, NL = needle-leaved, conif = coniferous, alp = alpine belt , subalp = subalpine belt, mont = montane belt

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Box, E.O. (2016). World Bioclimatic Zonation. In: Box, E. (eds) Vegetation Structure and Function at Multiple Spatial, Temporal and Conceptual Scales. Geobotany Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21452-8_1

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